By Iain Blair
Director Shaka King has been getting a lot of attention for his timely debut film, Judas and the Black Messiah. In fact, he picked up two Oscar nominations for his efforts, one for his role as producer (Best Picture) and one for writing (Best Original Screenplay).
Set in the late 1960s and inspired by true events, Judas and the Black Messiah tells the story of Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), a Black college student whose community activism brought him to the attention of the FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover. When Hampton became the chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party in 1968, the FBI placed him on its “Agitator” index. Simultaneously, the FBI planted an informant, William O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield), into the ranks of the Black Panthers to track Hampton’s messaging and movements. In 1969, the FBI assassinated him. He was 21.
The film’s behind-the-scenes creative team includes DP Sean Bobbitt, BSC, editor Kristan Sprague, supervising sound editor Rich Bologna and re-recording mixer Skip Lievsay, CAS.
I spoke with King, whose credits include Random Acts of Flyness for HBO and People of Earth for TBS, about his work on the film and his self-declared love of post.
How did you prep for your studio movie directorial debut? Did you get advice from directors you know?
Not really. I’ve done a lot of TV directing, and I did the small indie film, Newlyweeds, back in 2013, so I was pretty comfortable with that side of it. But the whole development process on this was all new to me, and I asked (producer) Ryan Coogler for a ton of advice on that throughout the process. Basically, you have to find your own way through it all.
Why did you shoot in Cleveland instead of Chicago, and how tough was the shoot?
Tax credits. It was the only way we could make the film with the budget we had, and we only had 41 days for the shoot, which was almost all practical locations. But the shoot was pretty great. We had incredible locations, everyone was so hospitable, and we had a great cast and a great crew. We all had a lot of fun.
What did DP Sean Bobbitt, a frequent collaborator with director Steve McQueen, bring to the mix?
He brought so much — an incredible eye, great attention to detail and specificity, and an incredible understanding of light and color, as well as of motion and performance. He’s a storyteller in his own right, and we complemented each other in many ways, both in our aesthetic approach and temperament and in not being wasteful, but economical and purposeful, in our decision-making.
We shot on the ARRI Alexa LS with the LS lenses, and we all did a lot of scouting and archival research to help with the shot list.
Tell us about post. Where did you do it?
All at Company 3 in New York, except for the sound, which we did at the Warner Bros. stage, also in New York, where I’m based. I love every part of post, especially as it’s your final rewrite, and you get to cherry-pick the best moments from the shoot. You also get to try stuff you’d never have thought of at the moment and reshape everything, from the overall narrative to a tiny moment in a scene.
Editor Kristan Sprague cut this. How did you work together, and what were the main editing challenges?
We went to college together, and he’s cut all my projects except for one. The pandemic was a big challenge, as we had to do it remotely after the first cut, and then you’re dealing with all the usual elements — tone, pacing, performance, rhythm and so on.
But the biggest challenge was dealing with all the music, which is so important in this and to me. I just love pairing imagery and music, and I actually love music more than any other art form. Our original plan was to get composers Craig Harris and Mark Isham in a room with a bunch of jazz musicians, record some improvised sessions and then notate them. But when COVID hit, we couldn’t do that, so Craig and Mark were working remotely.
Ultimately, I also hired music supervisor Zach Cowie, who sent me all these great jazz temp pieces that worked great. I also brought in Quelle Chris, a musician friend who came up with an amazing percussive click track for a scene. Then Mark structured some more music around it, and eventually we arrived at a score that really nailed it for me. We recorded it at Manhattan Center Studios and Reservoir and then mixed at Valhalla. Then it was delivered to mixer Skip Lievsay, who did the final mix of the film.
There are a few VFX by Zoic and Powerhouse VFX. What was entailed?
All the cleanup and removal stuff you need to do for any period piece. Then the whole Hoover sequence had a ton of VFX and prosthetic makeup cleanup, and the stuff playing on the screen in the background had to be replaced. Jeremy Newmark was our VFX supervisor, and he did a great job, as it’s all invisible work.
What about the DI at Company 3 and working with colorist Tom Poole?
Tom is amazing and he and our DP Sean have been working together a long time. We all based the whole look on these vintage photos I had of Chicago in the late ’60s and early ’70s, and that was our reference point. So when I came to the grade after they’d done the first pass, I was like, this is perfect. They’d nailed it, and the few changes we made were very minimal.
What sort of film did you set out to make?
It was a chance to present Fred’s ideas, politics and beliefs to a wide audience in the shape of a genre movie — a drama about power and politics. But I didn’t want to make a straightforward biopic. I also wanted to frame it in the bigger picture of the causes he was fighting for.
Did it turn out the way you first envisioned it?
No, not at all. It got radically reworked, and the end result is far better than I’d ever imagined.
Awards season is treating you kindly. How important is that for a film like this?
It’s very important, especially this year, as we don’t have the usual wide release and theater box office to determine its success. So awards really count. And you also have to recognize that movies like this don’t get made without a huge global hit like Black Panther and someone like Ryan Coogler, who helped develop this and produced it.
Industry insider Iain Blair has been interviewing the biggest directors in Hollywood and around the world for years. He is a regular contributor to Variety and has written for such outlets as Reuters, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe.