Born and raised on the south side of Chicago, The Blackening star/co-writer (with Girls Trip writer Tracy Oliver) Dewayne Perkins graduated from Curie High School and was t he first Black male student to receive an International Baccalaureate Diploma. He went on to attend DePaul University where he continued to hone his craft in writing and comedy. Eventually, he worked at Second City and performed at iO Theater, and was a member of the improv trio 3Peat, where the sketch The Blackening was developed and eventually became an acclaimed Comedy Central digital short of the same name that went viral with more than 15 million views.
As the sketch went viral, Perkins became in demand as a writer. One of his first big breaks was becoming a staff writer on The Break with Michelle Wolf for Netflix; he then joined the writing staff for season seven of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, where he was the only Black writer, and The Amber Ruffin Show (Peacock). Named one of The New York Times’ Queer Young Comics Redefining American Humor, Perkins is an Emmy and WGA Award-nominated writer, producer, actor, and comedian who has steadily built his comedic portfolio over the years. As an actor, Perkins has appeared on Netflix's The Upshaws, Peacock's Saved by the Bell, and IFC's acclaimed sketch series Sherman's Showcase.
Debuting at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, The Blackening centers around a group of Black friends who reunite for a Juneteenth weekend getaway only to find themselves trapped in a remote cabin with a twisted killer who uses an overly racist board game as the basis for deciding who gets to live and die. Directed by Tim Story (Ride Along, Think Like A Man, Barbershop), The Blackening skewers genre tropes and poses the sardonic question: if the entire cast of a horror movie is Black, who dies first? Along with Perkins, who just happens to play a character also named Dewayne, the cast includes Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Antoinette Robertson, Sinqua Walls, Jay Pharoah, and Yvonne Orji.
I had a chance to sit down with Perkins recently in Chicago, and we walked through the process of using the original short sketch as a jumping off point to writing the feature film; the more serious themes behind the jokes in The Blackening; and why the crossbow is indeed the whitest weapon imaginable. Please enjoy our conversation.
So I’ve seen the short sketch that this was based on, and I didn’t know going into it that it’s basically the entirety of that one scene where the friends are all introduced to the game and have to determine who among them is the most Black. In the film, that feels like a really important moment. Why is that the focal point of the movie, and how did that become a sketch initially?
Yes, creatively, because it did stem from the sketch, we wanted to write the movie around the sketch to show the process of knowing that this was the premise of this group of Black friends and then there’s this killer who is forcing them to discuss what Blackness is and who is the Blackest. Then the goal was to create a full feature that expanded on that idea, so we had to create authentic representations of the different facets of Blackness, to speak to that original premise. Then we just wanted to continue the journey from stage to short to feature, but keeping that core premise intact. This original premise was the nugget that everything came from. That was part of the challenge, knowing that we wanted to track the journey of the sketch, so I’m very excited for people to see it and recognize the short.
I couldn’t believe I was watching a scene featuring all Black characters, not really deciding who was the Blackest but finding reasons they are the least Black, denying their Blackness in a sense, because the killer is going to kill the person determined to be the Blackest.
Oh yeah, similarly to most things in life, I wanted to discuss Blackness but not through a basic lens, but to subvert the expectation and to say something without being on the nose, to discuss and showcase that Blackness is not a monolith. “Oh no, here are all the things that people don’t associate with Blackness that I do as a Black person, which negates the question in the first place, because everything I do is Black.” That’s the whole point; there’s no way to define Blackness, which is why it’s so funny.
Speaking of subverting expectations, you take the idea that white characters are always running into the most dangerous situation in horror movies, and here you not only have your characters go away from danger but you go a little deeper and wonder why would that be the instinct, and it’s because Black characters don’t always have the luxury of not feeling in danger most of the time. Again, I couldn’t believe I was watching a movie that had the guts to say that.
It’s about survival. It’s very interesting that something I think is very simple becomes complex because it’s not a thing that people discuss that often. By simply putting all Black people in this movie and writing truthfully to the experience of Blackness, it creates a statement without having to say something. You’re showing that, yes, these people are Black in a world where they have to survive, and that is part of the identity of these people. Therefore, being put in a situation where they have to survive, they’re simply better at it because they have to be. And watching horror and seeing white people make dumb choices, we’re like “Yeah, you’re doing that because your daily life is not dependent on making choices to survive.” Simply changing that aspect while keeping the same environment and all of the same things we know and love about horror but changing the identity of the people and giving them identities that are truthful to their experience, it changes the genre. It’s very simple, and we see what happens when you let people whose point of view isn’t seen simply exist. It creates new things, while still giving you what you already know.
Let me go back a bit. How did you get together with Tracy Oliver on this, and how did horror end up being the conduit to tell this story?
I got in contact with Tracy because she saw the short when it went viral, and she said, “I saw the short and think it should be a movie.” And I said, “You know more than me, let’s do it.” That’s what happens. She’s made movies before. We sold it and wrote it, and it became a film. Her being a fan of horror, she saw that there was this hole in the genre and recognized that we could do something that has been spoken of but hadn’t been done, in a very fun, interesting way. And we both just generally like horror movies, and we’ve seen a lot of them and we have a lot of information about horror movies, and we’ve both been Black all our lives , so it was very easy. We know this genre very well and we’ve lived lives that are very different than what we’re seeing on screen. If we can combine those things, it can create something very unique. We always felt that horror was the perfect conduit for this story because it also pairs well with comedy—fear and laughter are the antithesis of each other, so knowing that we can use fear as a tool to grab people and comedy as a way to dissolve that tension, it creates joy and fun. That was always the perfect tool for entertainment.
You also have Tim Story as your director, and I think the only genre he hasn’t tackled before is horror. Again, how did that happen?
He was a producer first, and once Tracy and I wrote the script and he read it, he said that he laughed out loud and had not read a script like that, and he was determined to make sure our vision stayed what it was. We could have easily given it to someone else, but he saw the journey firsthand and wanted to be the father of it, basically. And I call Tim my father and Tracy my mother, and she hates it. Mommy and Daddy! The team we put together was very clear about what we wanted to make, and Tim was one of those people who saw the vision and made sure it was done the way we wanted to do it.
Your character has your name. Does that mean he’s basically fully an expression of you and your beliefs, or did you do that so no one else would be cast in the role?
Mostly that! I was very clear that I wanted this role, but at the time, I was not in a position where I had much leverage, so I just embedded me in the screenplay, and anyone who reads this will find it very hard to separate—so, manipulation. Second, and this is more a personal thing, I grew up with a stutter and at times, I used to have a very difficult time saying my name, so I thought if everybody knows my name, I don’t have to say it. I was going to beat the system. The character is definitely an extension of myself, and I wanted to make it clear that this is my story that I want to tell. Power moves.
What's interesting is that you begin with the premise that the Black character always dies first in horror movies, but you’re lucky if there’s even one gay character in a horror movie at all. I’m not sure what the mortality rate is…
Oh, it’s not great.
Was that important to have that be a part of the story too, about how queer characters are treated in horror?
It was absolutely important, because Black people do not have a good history in horror, neither do queer people. So to combine both of those identities in one character, the chips are stacked against me from the beginning. I thought that was very funny. If you watch the movie, there are a lot of subtle things that speak to, within this group of people, who is the most marginalized. If you look from the outside, objectively, it goes straight Black men, Black women, queer Black men, etc.—within that sphere. Who is still more a part of an oppressed group? In the movie, you’ll see that the people who are the most oppressed are the people who have the most power. That’s something I wanted to speak on.
Whose idea was the crossbow as the weapon of choice for the killer? It is, in fact, the whitest weapon. I’ve seen the studies.
That was a combination of things. Something that was important with this film was making something entertaining. If you are a consumer of films, I did not want to see a movie in which a group of Black people were brutalized in ways that were traumatizing to the audience. A crossbow is a way to inflect damage without creating traumatic injuries that Black people are flooded with in normal life.
It’s also something we haven’t seen much of in horror. But you’re right, it’s more about inflicting wounds than killing someone.
Right, and I think those small things go a long way. A lot of the things in this film are show not tell. But if you think about it, there’s a very specific reason why we chose a lot of things.
About the cast in general, had any of you worked together before? The chemistry among you all is undeniable, and it feels like you’ve all known each other for years.
I’m glad you think so. I knew one person before filming, X Mayo; we were friends before. There’s one scene where our two characters meet for the first time, there’s a very real, loving interaction. But among the cast, we were the two who had the least credits, so it was exciting that we were filming a fucking movie together. The rest of the cast we didn’t know, but we bonded very quickly, and in a very real way that was pretty surprising. There aren’t many projects I’ve worked on where I felt so much real love on set, and I think that really did translate, and the chemistry on screen is real friendship.
We filmed mostly in chronological order, so the more the film goes on, the closer we were becoming in real life, so you see the stakes get higher. In real life, that reflected how deep the friendships were getting, so that tracks in the film and ultimately makes the film so much better. You’re seeing real people really care about each other in situations where care is necessary.
You have deep roots in Chicago. What do you think is the most Chicago thing about you?
The way that I move through life. “You’re going to get this truth.” If we’re not telling the truth, then we’re lying, and I’m not a liar. It is what it is.
Are you really working a show or movie based on Clue?
It’s an animated TV show for Fox, with Tim Story. I actually have a degree in animation from DePaul. I have so many skills .
What lured you away from Chicago ultimately?
Money, baby! No, really it was opportunity. I moved to New York to do late night and stand-up, and then I wanted to work on narrative TV writing, and how many writing shows do you think are in Chicago? Not too many. I went where the opportunity was.
All right. Dewayne, thank you so much. Best of luck with the movie.
Thank you so much.
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