January 26, 2023

By Zon D’Amour

Contributing Writer

 

 The year was 1990, Christopher “Kid” Reid and Christopher “Play” Martin would make an indelible mark in Black cinema, with “House Party”. The cult classic would become a franchise that’s spawned five additional films over three decades. When it was announced that LeBron James’ production conglomerate, SpringHill Company, would be at the helm of the sixth and latest iteration, it was met with mixed reactions. Shot amid the global pandemic, the film was up against many obstacles.

Triumphantly, “House Party” directed by Calmatic was released in theaters on January 13, 2023. The GRAMMY and VMA award-winning director for Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” utilized his feature film debut to create a ‘love letter to Los Angeles”. Where he personified the city as the preeminent place where transplants and natives alike are willing to do whatever is necessary to accomplish their goals.

The film stars Jacob Latimore as Kevin and Tosin Cole as Damon. Kevin is a young father and aspiring music producer. He and Damon are party promoters who also work as house cleaners to make ends meet. When Damon allegedly steals jewelry from their adversaries, he and Kevin are kicked off a party that they were slated to host. The pair now find themselves in need of fast cash, especially Kevin who also needs to pay for his daughter’s school tuition.

Unbeknownst to them, they’re assigned to clean LeBron James’ mansion. Kevin and Damon decide to use James’ home to throw the ultimate house party to not only meet their financial goals, but Damon also wants to establish himself as the premiere party promoter in the city. What they think is a foolproof plan is anything but seamless. As a result, chaos ensues.

Calmatic speaks exclusively with L.A. Watts Times about the process of bringing this film from pitch to production as well as a critical scene that he had to convince the studio was culturally relevant.

LAWT: Can you talk about your transition from being a music video and commercial director to a feature film director? How did you prepare yourself to pitch your vision for the film to the studio?

Calmatic: I’ve done my fair share of treatments for music videos and commercials so I knew the formula of how to state my case as far as my approach. This was special because once Springhill decided that they wanted me to be the director, the head of film at Springhill, Spencer Beighley made me come to the WB studios every day for like three weeks to practice my pitch with him. He would give notes like, ‘say this, don’t say that’. He taught me how to come into the room and look and sound like a filmmaker.

There were the things that made the folks at New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. perk up. These were also things that I needed to consider in making the film. Like, ‘it’s a love letter to Los Angeles’ is something I wasn't saying at the beginning. Initially, I was saying, ‘this is an LA story’ but if you say, ‘it's a love letter to LA’ that means a few more things and now there's a way to separate LA and make it its own character which it is in this film.

When it was finally time to pitch in front of all of these people, I was knocking it out of the park, the pitch was that embedded. Spencer even told me to scribble on the script, have notes on it, rip pages, and make it look like I've been really tearing this script apart to make sure it’s the right fit.

So I went in really showing my dedication to the project and that helped me to get the job.

LAWT: Were you involved in the casting process? And how did you help teach Tosin Cole, who has a British accent, how to embody the characteristics of an LA native?

Calmatic: When I first read the script I was ‘like Damon gotta be super LA! He has to be the most annoyingly LA guy. At the same time when you look at the landscape of actors today, I don't want to say that person doesn’t exist but that person hasn’t been given the chance to be on everyone's radar. Going into this I said, “Man we have to find someone who's super LA..”

We got a bunch of video auditions from the who’s who of young Black Hollywood. It was right at the beginning of the pandemic so I think everyone was vying for the job. When I came across Tosin’s tape, I said, “He’s for sure from L.A., we gotta get him in this role. And he was on a show in the UK, that’s dope, he has the range!”

It wasn’t until I met with him after the first casting session that I heard his British accent. I was like ‘Yo! What's going on?’ (Laughs) I know there's a lot of controversy about British actors “taking American roles,” but no one thinks about it from the perspective of a director. If I need to fill this role with this particular type of energy and I see it, why would I change my mind just because he’s “not from where he’s supposed to be from?”

 

One thing about Tosin, he’s a student of the culture and not just broad hip-hop culture Tosin follows ratchet Instagram pages, and he knows all of the underground lingo. There were a couple of words he had trouble with but for the most part, he nailed it.

Early on in the production process, we had Tosin spend a day with the rapper Problem, who’s from Compton. They hung out and Tosin definitely got some things from Problem that he incorporated into the film.

Tosin bought his A-game and made it an authentic role and I’m super grateful. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t know who would have played that role and I don't think it would have been the same.

LAWT: In addition to the various Covid compliance protocols that made filming a literal house party challenging, what were some other hurdles that you had to overcome to bring this film to fruition?

Calmatic: The biggest challenge for me was having battles with the studio over certain decisions. The collaboration with New Line and Warner Bros. was streamlined and pretty positive for the most part but there were times when we didn’t see eye to eye.

For example, the moment with Juvenile and “Back That Azz Up,” they didn’t think Juvenile was relevant, they didn’t think that was the best song for that moment. If a party isn’t crackin’ and you need folks to go to the dance floor, there’s literally only one song to play and it’s “Back That Azz Up!”

 

But, I couldn't just go in and say, “Naw, trust me.” I had to learn how to state my case and how to have a professional argument with the studio. I had to find all of these links to videos of kids in college dancing to the song.

I even found a video of Ellen DeGeneres dancing to “Back That Azz Up” and that was the thing that made them consider it. It's so funny because right when we decided to do it, Juvenile released, “Vax That Thang Up” (to encourage people to get COVID vaccinations) and when that went viral, they were sold.

 

To this day, folks from the studios will send me messages about Juvenile. I had to learn how to educate them as opposed to shutting them out and saying, ‘I got this.’ I had to find ways to bring them along so that they could learn at the same time. Because that song will never get old.

LAWT: Between the Illuminati scene and the koala, were you taken aback by any aspects of the script? Were the screenwriters Jamal Olori and Stephen Glover a part of the production process to help shape some of your directorial decisions?

Calmatic: Jamal and Stephen were writers on “Atlanta.” I think they did a really good job of adding that twist, adding that, “Oh wow, we’re taking it here, I didn’t see that coming.” As I was reading the script I was looking for that the whole time and it was like, “Yes, here it is, this is the moment.”

When people think about the original movie they only think about the house party but there are so many other scenes outside of the party that we tend to forget when thinking about the highlights of the first film so we wanted to make sure that we weren’t stuck in the house the whole time and that was the perfect way to get out.

We started to work on the actual movie, Steven and Jamal were in the offices when we were prepping. One of the things about film, the script never stops changing, there will be ideas. When certain celebs couldn’t make it, we had to pivot. We had the idea of Odell Beckham sitting down on one of the inflatable couches and all of the sudden it throws him off the couch, injuring him.

We were just joking around and said what if he fell in a hole and Lil Wayne came in and said, “Now you know he dead” (lyrics from his song, “Go DJ”).

It became an inside joke because we didn’t think we were going to get Wayne, but we figured out a way to reach both him and Odell and they did it! But that was something that we thought of later in the process.

LAWT: In your quest to create "A Love Letter To Los Angeles," is there a particular scene that you're most proud of?

Calmatic: The opening sequence is probably my favorite part. Opening up on the American Legion Post on Slauson, seeing someone sweeping up and then seeing that “Hollyhood” license plate, the skaters in Leimert Park, the girls walk out of the wig shop on Crenshaw that's a classic wig shop I've been looking at my whole life.

When the weekend is coming, that’s what people do, they go to the beauty supply and go to the barbershop on Crenshaw. These are all things that we’ve all done before, and those shots made me most proud. As well as going to the Hollywood sign and then panning all the way down to the avenues in Leimert Park, that’s super LA for me and I’m glad I was able to do that.

 

LAWT: You mentioned that there should be remakes of certain films like “House Party” because each film is pertinent to that generation. Do you feel like remakes are a safe space because they have reference material?

Calmatic: When you say “safe space,” it’s actually a war zone. It's hard to create when you know everyone has a reference for this thing. It's interesting because I know I said “House Party” is a movie that I think should be remade, but I feel it’s because of the subject matter - young people living it up in hip-hop culture. A party is like a pinnacle celebration of culture. It's ever-changing and it's important to keep that going and to look back and document that.

I can’t wait to do my original stuff and do something that doesn’t already have a reference where people don’t have any expectations going into it. They’re not judging, they’re not rolling their eyes when they hear the title. I want to tap into some of the stories that inspired me to start making films in the first place and use what I’ve learned from directing “House Party” and “White Men Can’t Jump” to tell stories my way without being tied to other franchises. I’m ready to carve out my own lane and show ‘this is how I do my movies when I write it and when I control every aspect.’

Category: Arts & Culture