Your new movie Red Pill – in a few words, what is it about?

Red Pill is a point of view I’ve never seen on screen – a black women’s perspective on the horror that is American politicals.

From what I know, Red Pill is your first feature film as a director – so what made you choose exactly this story for your debut?

I had been shadowing as a director in TV for three years and was no closer to getting hired to direct anything. I decided to finance my own movie. The movie I wanted to make was afrofuturistic. My collaborators became unavailable and in July 2019 I was sitting in my friend Kim Syke’s house discussing the mass shooting at the garlic festival. Kim’s house felt like a house for a horror movie. Our conversation and her dismissal of the mass shootings combined with her saying I could use her house to shoot a horror film made it a done deal. I wanted to talk about how I knew the election was going to go in 2020 the same way I knew it was going to go in 2016. Different results but I understood the ramifications, In 2016 people treated me with contempt for knowing the outcome. So instead of talking I decided to create.

The white supremacist cult, was this always a key element when conceiving the idea for your movie, or did that only sneak into the script during writing?

The cult was there from the beginning. I’d done a lot of research in the meta verse and also been reading about scatalogical rites. I don’t think the Democrats or the Republicans are any good and I wanted to show that through action vs talk which is how I see the two parties.

(Other) sources of inspiration when writing Red Pill?

Get Out and Midsommar and all the comedy horrors I love.

What can you tell us about Red Pill‘s approach to horror?

Oh it is smart and black, rather nerdy. Black people get it and smart people get it. There are lots questions to answer and puzzles to solve. Plus I am saying unspeakables, things blacks think and feel but only say to one another. It’s also my specific taste. I like humor with tragedy. The darker it gets the funnier it has to get. Richard Pryor is an inspiration “When you’re running down the street on fire people will get out of the way,” referring to the time he set himself on fire freebasing. I also consciously wanted to make white people uncomfortable the way I as a black person have felt uncomfortable about the images of my people my entire life.

A few words about your directorial approach to your story at hand?

Directorial approach? Hire great actors. Do every job that I couldn’t afford to hire or find a volunteer for.

You also play one of the leads in Red Pill – so what can you tell us about Cassandra, what did you draw upon to bring her to life, and have you written her with yourself in mind from the get-go?

Do talk about the rest of your cast, and why exactly these people?Cassandra for the mythological women who is cursed to forever speak the truth and never be believed. That is the story of most black women’s lives in America. Yes it is very personal for me. I wrote it for myself because I didn’t have to pay myself. Ha ha I thought it was an ensemble piece but Minji Kang our editor showed me that it was Cass’s story.

You know I’ve written a 75,000 word book Red Pill Unmasked telling lots of stories and background on everything. It’s available on Amazon and the audible should be available soon too. I wrote for people whose voices I hear in my head that fulfill the themes and qualities I’m playing with. I also write for actors that I have access to. I don’t use casting directors or go through agents and gatekeepers.

I wanted the world of the movie to look like my world. My friends come from all walks of life. Latino/Indigenous – Rubén Blades, Eastern European – Luba Mason. They just happened to be married. Caribbean/British- Adesola A. Osakalumi. Kathryn Erbe called me after reading the script and said “Thank you for inviting me to play this  terrible woman.”

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09PC5KKN6

Ten days, I was catering for the first two cooking. It snowed on our final day of shooting so we had to relocate scenes. Only four professionals on the crew; John Hudak jr – DP, Steven Franchek – AC,  Gunnar Nagle- sound, second week of production Danielle Paiwonsky – script supervisor. Everyone just helped everyone with everything. We had so little time and money. One day the van got trapped in the mud and twelve of us had to push it out. The rest of our crew was friends and family working on their first film set.A few words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?

The $64-question of course, where can Red Pill be seen?

Amazon Prime

Vimeo (TVOD): https://vimeo.com/ondemand/redpillmovie

Vudu (TVOD): https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/Red-Pill/1891550

Microsoft/Xbox (TVOD): https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/red-pill/8d6kgwxn6bdm

SpectrumOn Demand: https://ondemand.spectrum.net/movies/20920770/red-pill/

Xfinity/Comcast

Fandango 

DirectTV

Reception falls along racial lines. The biggest hate comes from white people  but not all white people. Smart white people really like it because they get all the metaphor and symbology. They don’t think it’s satire. They understand irony.  And 90% of black people LOVE IT and watch it more than once. The calls and emails and tweets form black people is why I made the movie. I wanted us to be seen and heard and to know that somebody in the business understands how we see the world.Anything you can tell us about audience and critical reception of Red Pill?

Any future projects you’d like to share?

Red Pill Unmasked – kindle, paperback, audible

REd Pill Twine game

Women of the Movement – ABC/HULU

The Chicago Strangler – narrator (Discovery)

What got you into acting in the first place, and did you receive any formal training on the subject?

I studied the Meisner method from the time I was 15. William H. Macy was my first professional acting coach. John Mahoney was in class with me.

My readers would probably tar and feather me if I didn’t ask you about your involvement with Fear the Walking Dead – so could you talk about working on that series for a bit, and how did you even get the part?

OH YES, when I met my agent Pete Kaiser I said anything zombie! I got it from a self tape. My teenage son was the reader. Ian and Andrew write scenes just for auditions. It was an amazing scene. I sent it in and didn’t hear back for months. It is the highlight of my episodic career.

You’ve also done a long stretch on the soap All My Children – so do talk about your involvement with that series, and how does acting in a daily soap compare to working on a movie?

Soap operas are more like theater, you can perform with a bigger style. Episodic and movies are small scale even smaller than life.Chicago was the number one AMC audience in America. I grew up watching AMC and dreamed of being in Pine Valley.

Any other films or TV series you’ve worked on you’d like to talk about?

Women of The Movement, which is The Roots of this generation. I play Emmett Till’s grandmother Alma Carthan, with Adrienne Warren as Mamie Till, Cedric Joe as Emmett and Ray Fisher as Gene Mobley

How would you describe yourself as an actress, and some of your techniques to bring your story to life?

I think I channel in all of my creative work. I empty myself and let something move in through and as me. I let go of the outcome. I’m not afraid to fail or do it wrong. In fact if there is no risk of failure I’m not interested in the opportunity.

I enjoy the roller coaster of life emotions. I know how to take people on that ride. The audience is a scene partner and in every role I play I want to make an audience dislike my character because it so much deeper when I then make them see themselves in my character. If they can find compassion for my character they can find it for themselves.

Actresses, filmmakers, whoever else who inspire you?

She just died, Lina Wurtmueller, Jane Campion, Jennifer Kent.

Your favourite movies?

The Korean Bedevilled, Full Metal Jacket, Return of The Living Dead with Clu Gallagher, The Babadook, Three Idiots.

… and of course, films you really deplore?

I don’tdeplore much except stupid. And making a movie requires so much work. I respect anyone who can accomplish the task.

Your website, social media, whatever else?

www.redpillmovie.com

www.tonyapinkins.com

www.instagram.com/tonyapinkins/ 

twitter.com/tonyapinkins 

Anything else you’re dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?

I love horror, tell your story, build a world and don’t try to please anyone but yourself. There will be other people who share your point of view and it’s thrilling when you meet them through their experience of your work.

Thanks for the interview!

With the 2020 American election only days away, a sextet of liberals of diverse ethnic background – Lily (Kathryn Erbe), Cassandra (Tonya Pinkins), Rocky (Rubén Blades), Emelia (Luba Mason), Nick (Jake O’Flaherty), and Bobby (Adesola A. Osakalumi) – travel deep into rural Virginia for a bit of partying at a rented house, and blissfully ignore all of the red flags, from the deeply racist sign by the side of the road to the noose in the barn, to the creepy uniforms of the local (white) women. Only Cassandra interprets all of this as tell-tale signs of an active white supremacy movement, but she’s labeled as alarmist and her pleas to turn back ignored. Then after a night of partying, Bobby disapppears – but maybe that’s just because he was roaringly drunk the previous night. Searching the area though shows no clue of him. What’s worse, the friends lose their car keys, find they have no cell reception, and thus are basically stuck here – and then they are attacked by locals with bow and arrow. The attack kills Rocky while the others manage to barricade themselves inside the house. The problem is though, the locals don’t relie just on bows and arrows but also have high tech weapons like sniper rifles with target lasers at their disposal. And it becomes more and more clear they have plans for our heroes more sinister than just killing them …

A very inspired blend of horror motives and socio-political commentary, and one that works, too, because it stays clear of just preaching to the converted but takes its horror aspects seriously and richly delivers when it comes to suspense and scares and cleverly weaves its theme – the threat of white supremacists – into its genre context. And a genre savvy directorial effort and a strong ensemble make this into one cool piece of genre cinema that’s as intelligent as it is effective.

Tonya Pinkins has won or been nominated for nearly every award there is in the American theater. She is a Fulbright Specialist. As a producer, writer and director she conceived “Truth and Reconciliation of Womyn; Narrative Stories and Songs for the Soul in ten minutes or less.” The women involved in this project span the globe in age, culture and ethnicity.

– First, it is a great pleasure for myself to make this interview with you Tonya Pinkins.
Thank you for your time for the Fans on The-Entertainment-junkie.de

​

– Tonya, you work nearly 40 years in the business. When did you first discover your
passion for the world of Entertainment?

I have always been very shy and being a performer has always been hard for me

– In 2018 you had your part in “Fear The Walking Dead” as Martha. Could you share some
funny, remarkable, weird stories regarding the filming of your scenes?

Well one funny/strange story was that the script said that I was digging the grave for my dead husband. So i totally expected that they would make a fake grave with nice soft dirt for me to dig in. But no I was really digging with my hands in hard rocky dirt filled with ticks and we shot for hours. Lou Diamond Phillips was a great director and it was the first time I ever got to feel like a star on camera because they shot me at Golden hour and they picked lenses for me. It was the pinnacle of my Tv career

– Working in Fear The Walking Dead will be a dream for every
TWD/FTWD Fan, what can you say about working with some of the guys?

Love , Love the cast. Colman Domingo is a buddy of mine from working together in the theater in New York and my first day on the show was his first episode directing the show. So that was a real treat. Lou Diamond Phillips was also a wonderful director. I so wanted to live longer. Working with Lenny James was the best. Mo and Jenna and Chill. Everyone was really great

– Tonya , did you watch the show or read the graphic novel, prior to
your casting to Fear The Walking Dead?

I had read some of the Walking dead comics before hand and I am a total dead head. when I signed with my agents, I said anything Zombie. I actually lost a relationship in the theater because a writer/producer wanted me to choose their play over Fear and I was like NOT! People in the theater can be so snobby about actors doing TV. But I’ve got my Tony award. i wanted to play a zombie

– When I look at your list of movies and series there is not many you don´t work for. Do
you still have a dream of a movie or series you would love to play?

I would love to be on OZARK or WESTWORLD  or MONEY HEIST because I love those shows

– What does the future hold for you? There a Post Production projects on IMDb. Anything
you would like to plug to our readers?

Please tell your readers to look out for my feature film RED PILL. It’s a horror and stars a bunch of Fear people Ruben Blades and Colby Minife. www.redpillmovie2020.com, It will be released in December by Midnight Releasing?Acort International

– Tonya at the last you can say some words to your fans. Is there anything else you would
like to let Fear The Walking Dead Fans and your fans know?

Thank you for being fans and for giving so much support to us cast and crew. We love you and what we do. Stay Safe and Blessed

Love

Tonya

FOLLOW Tonya Pinkins on Instagram

Tonya Pinkins on iMDB

RED PILL, 87min., USA, Horror
Directed by Tonya Pinkins

LISTEN to Podcast Interview with Director Tonya Pinkins: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/wildsound-the-film-podcast/id1406973270

Halloween weekend of the 2020 election, six old friends ride into red country armed with humor and naiveté.
When the meet an immovable force their plans are thwarted and their fight to win the election becomes a fight for their lives.

Six progressives, one deadly weekend.

Host, Tonya Pinkins, the Tony award winner who brought down the house with “Lot’s Wife” in CAROLINE, OR CHANGE….the woman who roasted herself on YouTube….who started #BlackPerspectivesMatter and #OtherPerspectivesMatter when she published an essay on leaving the titular role of MOTHER COURAGE, will get down and dirty with her peers about life on The Boards.

In the horror film, Red Pill, a group of liberal friends finds themselves fighting for their lives on the eve of the 2020 election in the hands of White supremacists

On the eve of the 2020 election, six old friends ride into red country armed with humor and naiveté. When they meet an immovable force, their plans are thwarted and their fight to win the election becomes a fight for their lives. Writer, director, producer and actress, Tonya Pinkins, states, “I wrote my own personal Get Out. Red Pill is a dose of what’s coming to America if liberal White people don’t wake up.”

Red Pill premiered at the Pan African Film Festival that ran from February 28th to March 14th. The cast of Red Pill is impressive and includes the likes of Rubén Blades (Fear the Walking Dead), Catherine Curtain (Orange is the New Black, Stranger Things, Homeland), Kathryn Erbe (Law & Order: Criminal Intent), Tonya Pinkins (Fear The Walking Dead, Madame Secretary), Colby Minifie (The Boys, Fear the Walking Dead), Luba Mason (Person of Interest, NYPD Blue), Jake O’Flaherty (Criminal Minds, Shameless), and Adesola Osakalum (Sex and The City 2, Ice). Red Pill is written and directed by Tonya Pinkins, produced by Katie Rosin (Closure), and Paul Hsu (The Glorias, Salt, Captive State, Fighting, The Giver), and Edited by Minji Kang (The Five, And the Dream That Mattered, Anniversary).

The film is the self-funded directorial debut from Pinkins, a Tony Award-winning veteran of nine Broadway shows, numerous off-broadway shows, day-time dramas, nighttime series, an author and podcast host.

On a video call with Tonya Pinkins in Mississippi and Okayplayer contributor Ciku Kimeria in Nairobi, Pinkins discusses the inspiration for her film, invisibility of Black women, and the ongoing horrors of white supremacy in America.

What was your inspiration for telling this particular story?

The film came to me as a vision. The vision is a culmination of the invisibility I experience as a Black woman daily in America. This is the same way that Cass [played by Pinkins in the film] is gaslit and not believed in the film. That and all the ways that I have experienced White women’s violence inspired me to make this film.

Interesting – this was something I noticed a lot in the film. The fact that the major atrocities were committed by White women. I would love to hear you speak more about this.

When White people created the mythology of the Black person as this violent, sexual, dangerous being that has no feelings, they also created another mythology of the White woman as innocent, the damsel in distress, in need of protection. Let’s not forget that White women were slave owners too. They were sometimes more brutal than the male slave owners. When slavery ended, white women controlled the institutions that took Native American children from their homes. They have been as deeply involved in the oppression of non-white people, as white men have been. To say otherwise is a lie and it prevents us from moving towards equality. They need to acknowledge and own their role in that.

Let’s talk about the opening scene. There is a recurring theme of pregnancy, the weaponization of women’s wombs, babies, and brutality all around this.

Yes, the opening scene is about the fact that there is violence against Black women everywhere, all day, every day. This is why we open the film with a scene of violence against a pregnant Black woman. Another scene with sexual violence against White women harks back to the White supremacist organizations that have a theory that they need to overpopulate the world with White babies to take power back. They have this obsession with White women’s bodies and White women’s vaginas. It’s an obsession I found in carrying out my research when I looked at manosphere sites on the internet [manosphere is a collection of websites, blogs, and online forums promoting masculinity, hostility towards women, strong opposition to feminism, and exaggerated misogyny.]  Many espouse that they should rape White women in order for them to have more babies. These women shouldn’t even get the right to vote. They should settle down and have more White babies so that they don’t get erased from the world. They even celebrate mass shooters such as the Santa Barbara one who kill white women saying, “Yeah, these women don’t want to have sex with us. What do you think we should do to them?”

This is all quite terrifying. You also talk about a concept called Redpilling. I would love to hear more of the concept.

Originally people think of The Matrix when we talk about Redpilling. You take the red pill to wake up to reality. There is also that in White supremacy circles. The idea that White supremacists will cloak themselves as liberals, get jobs in certain organizations, and over time convince everyone in the organization to believe their ideals. Infiltrating a group and destroying it from the inside is what I define as redpilling. What we haven’t seen so much is redpilling in reverse – where black people infiltrate White supremacist organizations and destroy them. Perhaps this is what is going on with the Black leader of the Proud Boys. Redpilling has been historically used to destroy organizations such as The Black Panthers, Nation of Islam — by infiltrating and then destroying it from the inside.

Why is Virginia the chosen location?

When the US abolished the transatlantic slave trade, Virginia was the center of where they were raping Black women to make more slaves. They would send men to gangrape women and if you weren’t producing babies, you were therefore useless and killed. That’s also the irony of the film – that there is a couple (Rocky and Emilia) who get a surrogate from Virginia. “Is the irony of hiring a surrogate from the slave breeding capital of the world not lost on you?,” Cassie says.

The film alludes to many horrific acts of white supremacists that might not be known by the average person. What was your research process like?

I’m a curious person and I find people interesting. I’m a chameleon. I have a podcast where I often have conversations with people I don’t agree with. My awareness as a Black Woman is vital to my survival – I have to be aware because my survival depends on it. People who are racist are actually incongruity with their authentic selves and a lot of Northern “liberal” progressives are not in congruity with themselves. They are performing tolerance, allyship. I feel safer with an outright racist than I feel with many Northerners because I can see that incongruity and I know that when it serves them, they will always align themselves to their races. When it gets uncomfortable, they will choose whiteness over protecting me. That’s something I know in my being – which means that I never feel safe.

We just recently picked up awards in Sweden, another in Amsterdam, another in Birmingham UK. It was very important to me that I got this film to international festivals. It was clear that America was not going to be receptive to what I put out there as we are in such denial about who we are. Every time there is a mass shooting or the insurrection people say, “This is not who we are.” The truth is that it is exactly who we are and who we have always been. The international community will get it. The US will not. I knew the film would make White people uncomfortable. I make art in order for someone to feel something/get a reaction. Being invisible is much harder for me than getting a negative response.

I would love audiences in Africa to see it too as I know the concept of Blackness doesn’t really exist there – since being Black is the norm in most countries. I want them to see this through the lens of a Black woman – a view that rarely exists in films. I want them to see my world through my eyes.

What are your next projects?

I have so many scripts that I am working on. I have a film about a Black activist assassinated by the system because she is having a lot of success creating autonomous communities in the US. It’s Afrofuturistic – goes into the future and past multiverse. I have another story that is a trilogy on social justice, the environment, and my experience as a Black woman.  It’s called Blarachnophobia — black people and our fear of spiders and spiders are the monster heroes. I would love to shoot it in Madagascar.

Where can people watch Redpill?

They can buy single film tickets at the Pan African film festival. Through the movie site too, they can subscribe to the newsletter that will update them when it’s available in different locations. I’m also happy to have people reach out directly to me through social media and also directly via email ([email protected] ). I would love to hear viewers’ reactions.

Tonya Pinkins: Tony Award-Winning
Actress, Writer, Producer and Director