‘They Cloned Tyrone’ Is Quite The Ride

This interview took place prior to the SAG-AFTRA union strike.

Teyonah Parris takes her hoop earrings off for a minute for a not-so-brief break at The Edition in Miami, Florida. She’s had a busy few days at the American Black Film Festival promoting her latest project, “They Cloned Tyrone,” which she stars alongside John Boyega and Jamie Foxx.

Every minute of “They Cloned Tyrone” is a ride. It blends and bends genres, taking from sci-fi, action, blaxploitation and comedy. The film follows a pimp, a sex worker and a drug dealer as they uncover a conspiracy to keep the hood and the Black folks residing there in perpetual ruin premiered opening night of the festival. It debuts on Netflix Friday and is in select theaters. The energy and laughs stayed consistent throughout the watch, with the audience showing a bit of extra love when Foxx, also an executive producer, had a special moment on screen.

It was an “exhilarating” moment for Parris, 35, because it was her first time seeing it with an audience. And as a new mom, this was also her first press run away from her daughter.

“I’m very grateful for this being the space that I was able to do it,” she said.

A Juilliard graduate, Parris boasts critically acclaimed titles under her belt, including “If Beale Street Could Talk,” “WandaVision″ and “Dear White People.” With “They Cloned Tyrone,” Parris said the script, written by director Juel Taylor and Tony Rettenmaier, stood out to her. It didn’t hurt that the film occupies several lanes, giving the actors ample room to play.

“You have sci-fi, you have mystery, comedy, horror, all of it — it’s challenging. But it’s also freeing because you’re not really tethered to boundaries. You can break them,” the actor said. “It’s Juel’s job to figure out where we have to stay inside, what those boundaries may be, but we really got to create our own. It’s Juel’s job to figure out where we have to stay inside, what those boundaries may be, but we really got to create our own.”

The actor sits at a table in the hotel suite across from me with gentle strength. One that she brings to her character, Yo-Yo, in the film. Yo-Yo is the group’s backbone, keeping Boyega and Foxx’s characters grounded in their mission to take down an underground government-backed lab experimenting on Black people. Parris knows she’s not the hero folks expect, but there’s more than enough room to stretch beyond the traditional suit and cape.

“Even though these start off as stereotypical characters, they evolve into fully fledged, thought-about characters that we get to go into their journeys with,” Parris said. “They didn’t just make Yo-Yo a one-dimensional character. We got to follow her and watch her evolve. Our initial assumptions of who she is are quickly broken down when you realize she is smart, she is determined and she really is truly the one who mobilizes these men to fall in line.”

For “I Run This,” Parris discusses breaking stereotypes with her character, going toe to toe with Jamie Foxx, and her role in the forthcoming “The Marvels.”

How did you get involved in this project? What initially excited you about the script?

I read this script in 2018. When I read it, I knew I wanted to be in this film. Then I met Juel [Taylor] and Tony [Rettenmaier], and I was like, “Look, I’m going to be on y’all ass. I like this role.” It’s very few and far between when you see a script that makes you laugh and keeps you turning the page so quickly right off the bat when it’s sent to you. A lot of things you have to work on, you figure it out, with this, as soon as I read it, I was like, I’ve got to get this part. And then I wanted to work with Juel. He’s a first-time director. He’s such a dope, creative and so smart and imaginative. Once I spoke to him, I was like, “I need to do this.”

I auditioned, I think, a couple of times. I think it was a couple of years before anything actually materialized, but I’m so grateful that it did. Just the way we became a family so quickly on the set between myself, John and Jamie ― it just felt good. Also, the crew and the creatives had a good time.

“They Cloned Tyrone” is expansive and imaginative. How were you all able to lean into that and play with your own imagination on set?

Well, I think what’s exciting about this film is that we throw up so many different genres. You have comedy, horror, satire, thriller, sci-fi ― and so there really are no boundaries. We did get to use our imagination and create our own world, pulling from so many different, not only genres but time periods. It’s like, what time period does this really happen? It feels like ’70s blaxploitation, but then you have very modern elements in the film that you’re like, “Well, that’s clearly today.” The same as where this place is. It could be anywhere in a community that has been pushed to the side and ignored, so anywhere in the world. Dealing with the film as an allegory to real-life situations, even though it’s fictional, things are so closely tied and intertwined.

Yo-Yo is such a multidimensional character and truly the hero in this film. How did you channel her? What characteristics does Yo-Yo have that you see in yourself?

In Yo-Yo, I feel that she’s really ambitious. I feel that she has a big heart and really cares about those around her. Like many of us, she has hopes and dreams, some that she’s accomplished and some where she’s miserably failed, but she owns it. I think that I share a lot of those traits with Yo-Yo. Like it is what it is, and I’m doing the best I can with what I got, as Miss [Mariah] Carey said.

I think what’s great is that what Juel and Tony did with it is they didn’t. Even though these start off as stereotypical characters, they evolve into fully fledged, thought-about characters that we get to go into their journeys with. They didn’t just make Yo-Yo a one-dimensional character. We got to follow her and watch her evolve. Our initial assumptions of who she is are quickly broken down when you realize she is smart, she is determined and she really is truly the one who mobilizes these men to fall in line and just follow me. I’ll figure this out. I just need some muscle. I can take them, and I will try, but at this point, what I really need for y’all to do is support.

We see them eventually do that. I would definitely say that Yo-Yo saves the day, but she doesn’t do it alone. Ultimately that’s what I think we as Black women want, is that support. We are very much capable and can do many things, and we’re happy to do it when we have that support. With that support, there’s just so much more we can do together. I do think that’s beautiful, and I think that’s represented beautifully in the script.

The banter between you and Jamie Foxx is a hilarious highlight. I never knew I needed to see you two opposite of each other until it happened. How much of that was improv, and how much was scripted? What was it like going back and forth with him?

A lot of it was scripted, and then Jamie would do Jamie, the legend. I just tried to keep up, and it was fun. Our first scene we filmed, I was so incredibly nervous. I had so much to say, and I hadn’t worked with him or rehearsed with Jamie. I showed up on set, and it was go time, and I’m like, “Oh, Teyonah, just pull it together.” Also, it’s Jamie Foxx. I’m standing in front of Jamie Foxx, going toe to toe with Jamie, someone I’ve admired for years. I’m thinking about it. It’s giving me anxiety.

He was so kind and open and just a supportive scene partner. He wasn’t giving me a reason to freak out. It was just a complete film nerd, theater nerd-like vibe. That’s when the training kicks in because it’s like it is not about me. It is about what my character needs and wants. Get it together, girl. That was intense. It was just a lot to say, like logistically, to get out and tell this story and all the movement. There’s a scene when Jamie says, “Shut up, Yo-Yo, before you pass out from losing your breath,” whatever it is, it was so funny. I think there’s a take where I laughed because he was right. I was literally on the verge of passing out. I was so nervous and excited. He was very right. That was an improv ― he’s just so intuitive and just picks up on what people are doing and giving.

We’re going to see you in “The Marvels” in November. What will we see from your character, Monica Rambeau? Do you think we’ll get to see even more from her in the MCU down the line?

I love Monica Rambeau. She’s great. She’s such a baddie, and it’s been great to have the opportunity to play her. I’m definitely open to exploring her story further, be it in film or in television or whatever medium we might be able to do. It’s just so many stories to tell here.

I am excited that Monica’s story and her being the first Black female super-powered superhero in the MCU is going to come soon. We get to see that. We get to get behind that and be excited for that and keep pushing for more, more representation, more stories being told from characters that we don’t always get to see.

It feels like there’s a through line in all of the characters that you’ve portrayed on screen where you channel a sense of both strength and tenderness. I’m wondering if that has to do with how you choose your roles. What goes into that?

I think when I look for projects to be a part of or certain characters, what’s interesting to me is mess, flaws and people who don’t have it all together but are just trying to figure it out. Because I am a Black woman, the characters I play are Black women. I think a lot of those women or Black women in this case, these particular people, there is a strength there.

We all know through just going through life that there’s also a vulnerability and a tenderness that we want to come out of, but we’re not always given safe spaces to allow it to come out. Finding those moments in film or in television, in these characters, I should say, is important to me because that is a part of how I walk in the world. I think in these characters that there’s a bit of that as well and that we’re not just walking around strong all doggone day. Sometimes we have to, but we don’t mean we want to. That’s important to me to show a full 360 of who we are as human beings.

Is there a character or role that you want to play that you haven’t yet?

I want to do a rom-com again. I want to be a part of putting into the universe or further putting into the universe the messiness of who we are as human beings, as Black women, in the sense of you can heal from it, you can be loved, you can be soft, and you can be cared for. I want to see that on screen. I want to be a part of something that helps tell that story.

What impact do you hope to leave on Hollywood?

I think with all the projects I do, I try to find stuff that I try to gravitate toward, projects that have something to say, that have a strong point of view, a strong opinion. Whether I agree with it or not, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist and that that person’s story doesn’t deserve to be told. I hope that when people look at my work, they say, “Wow, she really has done a service to us in telling so many different types of stories and showing that the diaspora runs deep and that our experiences within the diaspora are so varied and nuanced, and there’s room for us to see stories that don’t look like our own.” That they appreciate the heart that I’ve put into telling these stories.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.