March 11, 2025 • 18 mins
Mark Anthony Green talks about his directoral debut film "Opus" & more.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Movies. I'll break you down. Let break you down, TV?
What do you mind? This step aside and there will
be violence like violence, video games, cover music and celebrities.
Yeah yeah, Ladies and gentlemen stay connected. Right here the
Feature Presentation podcast where movies and music leaves all right, Yo,
(00:26):
what up? It's the Feature Presentation DJ suss One. We
got a young man right here that did his directorial
debut thriller horror movie called Opus. I got a chance
to see it. We're gonna talk to him, Mark Anthony Green.
What's good, my brother?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah? How you feeling? I'm so stoked to be here?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Of course, man, I got a bunch of questions obviously,
But first of all, how does it feel to have
your first directorial debut about to be released to the public.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yeah, it's it's nuts, it's crazy, it's you know. I've
been working on this phone for six years and the
response has been great. I'm in Atlanta right now. I
went to graduated for more House. So we've been going
around and like I'm showing it to places and like
to students and folks that really really mean a lot
to me. So the honest answers that I'm overwhelmed and
(01:11):
I'm just you know, hanging on by the skin of
my teeth. But man, I feel so so good and anytime,
you know, it's honor to just talk with you, to
chop it up.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
So yeah, I feel good.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Man. Well, I want to pick your brain a little
bit because you used to be at GQ. I work
at iHeart. You know what I'm saying. I'm a DJ
out here. I'm trying to do horror movies. You came
from GQ, and not only did you do a horror
thriller movie, but you worked with A twenty four, You
work with John Malkovich, work with Io, Like, how did
(01:47):
that come about? How did you go from that world
to you know, working with some of the biggest.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Yeah, it's it's wild because I think to a lot
of people, I never thought about one. I didn't want to,
like talk about making this movie for six years because
that would make me feel like I'd go crazy.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
So I didn't really talk about it.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
And for a lot of people, it seemed like I
just popped up one day and I was like, here's
this movie, and they thought, you know, but it takes
it takes a while, and I think it's incredible, like
I would love to see the DJ suss one horror film.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Do you have an idea of mine? Like if?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Oh, I like thirty ideas, but yeah, we have have
one idea that I'll tell you about offline. But yeah,
I mean I grew up in the Don't you look
like you're significantly young, younger than me, but I grew
up in the eighties thirty Yeah, I'm a decade older.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Than you, but I'm an old thirty six though.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Well, look I grew up in the Freddy Krueger era. Yeah,
I grew up in the Jason for He's era. I
grew up in the Michael Myers or even though some
of this is still going on now, I grew up
in the Chucky era when he was an actual horror
out of comedy. And I just you know, and the
way the Nightman ELM Street Brand built New Line cinema,
it just inspired me to want to create my own
horror movies. But I've just been so focused in the
(03:10):
music world. It hasn't come about yet, but that's what's
going to be.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
But I'm excited to see to see your directorial debut.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I have to interview you.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
We'll have to flip the That would be amazing. That
would be amazing. Tell me why it took six years?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Though it takes forever.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
I mean, one, you know, it's an original idea, so
you have to write it, and then you have to
get people that want to spend millions of dollars on it.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
That's the part I'm having trouble with.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
It's one of the hardest parts. And you got to
cast it. So you got to get people that are
talented enough that everyone's excited by that want to do
the film, and then you have to work within their schedule.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
And then you have to shoot the movie. That's the
best part. And then you have to edit the film.
That can take forever, and then you have to schedule
the film to put the film out. And by the
time you look up at least on this one, it's
been six years.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Six years, and you filmed it in nineteen days. That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, nineteen days is crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
How the hell did you do it in nineteen days?
That's not Not only does it seem impossible, but it
has to be one of the most difficult things to accomplish.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Yeah, but one, I am fully dedicated to this art form.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
I fell in love.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
I made a short film eight years ago, give or take,
and that has this has been my not only priority,
but like that the devotion right. And then I worked
with people that are so talented, that are so collaborative
that you know, actors like Ioa Debris that their first
(04:48):
take is always great and the second take is something
different that may be better for the film, but every
take is interesting and great, and so you don't need
to shoot a ton and you can get more throughout
your day.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
But there was also sorry to answerrup, there was also
makeup effects.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
And the last part of that is like the crew.
I had an amazing, amazing crew. Shout out to JQ
who was the makeup key and she's responsible for the
glory of things. I don't want to give away too much,
but look opus to me. I set out to do
(05:35):
two things with this film, and one of them is
to provide like the most fun theatrical experience that you'll
have this year, and I believe the film one hundred
delivers on that. And then the second thing is there's
questions at the end of the film that I want
(05:55):
you to ask. After we've had this crazy wild ride
that people are having that conversation, which is another reason
why you know, we all are so proud of this film,
because that also is working and nineteen days to achieve
both of those things, those very ambitious things, you only
get to do that if everyone brings it in the
(06:17):
way that they brought it. If John Malcolm, he's got
to throw one hundred miles an hour to do that.
And so I'm just immensely grateful that that's who I
got to make this film with, that I got to
make it with such talented artists that all, you know,
down to the grip to you know, script supervisor, to everybody,
(06:39):
we all kind of showed up with a chip on
our shoulder to prove that we could make this film
with this level of ambition or with such little resources.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
You know, was it not in nineteen days morning to
late night or was it like.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Yeah, so usually you shoot nineteen days, like your day.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Twelve hours, okay, that's max.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
It's like you're really getting after it now if you
have if you like one hundred million dollar movie, your
day maybe is like four hours five hours some days, right,
But obviously at nineteen days, like we're shooting every minute
that we have and then we went over time a lot,
so you would have fourteen hour.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Days and things like that.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Well, since this was your debut, was there any sort
of nervousness working with greats like John Malkovichen Juliette Lewis
and I Yo and all that. What like? Were you
nervous because this is the first this is the first
big one.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
No, I don't, and I say no, not any in
any arrogant way at all. Nervous is the wrong. It's
something like heavier than nerves. I felt any.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Miss heavier than nerves.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Heavier than nerves.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
I felt an immense amount of responsibility. I got like,
I'm trying to think of example, I'm gonna use this
exam because it's accurate, but I shouldn't use that because
it's gonna sound like I'm comparing myself to Muhammad Ali.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I'm gonna do it anyway.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
We get it.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Yeah, I'm not compare to that. Yeah, I was just
we was just talking about my idolized man. But like, okay,
if Ali has like a big fight, you're nervous about
winning the fight or not.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
But when Ali had all of these.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
People come to support him, and he became a bigger
figure than just boxing, and there's a heavier thing than
just boxing. I don't know that like nerves accurately describe
that right, Like that's not like an exercise and nerves.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
That's something heavier.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
And all of these people trusting me to come in
and to do this, that felt like there it just
feels heavier. And for them to like step into that
arena with me, to trust me on my first one,
there was.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Like a heaviness to that. It just felt like responsibility,
but nerves. No.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
I just I wanted to deliver it for myself first
and foremost, and then to deliver something that I would
be proud of and that they would be proud of
and was worthy of your time and attention.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
And I think that we knocked it out of the park.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
You did. Rest in peace of the great IRV Gotti
producer Extjordanaire. He said in the interview that he felt
like Doctor Dre was like the greatest hip hop producer
all time, and he ended up working with Doctor Dre
when he became a big deal in the game and
Doctor Dre started taking his direction in the studio and
it was just surreal to him. So that's why I
asked you like, you know, we've seen you know, these
(09:37):
these this cast, well some of the casts, and a
bunch of great, big, legendary films. So I didn't know
if it was nervousness or you know, just.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
No, I just think you show up. It's like you
almost don't have enough time to be nervous.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah, I understand, like whatever, like.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Nervousness.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Almost you're making a film, it becomes like a luxury,
like to have time to even figure out how. I
barely ate. I definitely definitely barely slept. I was not
waking up in the morning and meditating and thinking how
do I feel? Oh, I feel nervous and I'm psyched out.
I was like, I need to make sure that Maddix
(10:20):
knows I need that light there, because I had this
idea at this point, and I mean John talked about
this thing, but I changed that. I need to tell like,
you're in that, and you're in that for like months,
and then you get nineteen days to hopefully deliver on that.
Amazing Why one of the many reasons I'm so proud
(10:41):
of this film.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
How did it come about to involve the dream in
some of the film. That's I like the fact you
kept the R and B and hip hop like you
know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Yeah, man, listen, it's us Like this is a black movie.
This is not a film about racism. But it's written
and directed by black man star as a black woman.
My DP is black, produced by Macro, and the music
is done by now Rogers and The Dream. And for me,
it's very easy to make the argument that both now
(11:13):
Rogers and The Dream are two of the most successful
music producers ever in the history of me if you
like numbers, cultural impact, whatever. And so that's another thing
about the responsibility. Right, I got Dream to stop working
(11:34):
with Beyonce on this movie.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
I wonder how that went down with Like Beyonce, you
got calm down for a second.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
I don't know, let me tell you. I don't even
pretend to know how that conversation could go. But I
do know that Dream and Nile both are used to
getting tons of money for the thing that they do.
Of course, they absolutely there was barely any we barely
(12:03):
could cover, you know, how they travel and stuff. So
they did this purely as a creative endeavor, and that
is such an honor to me. So when you think
about the fact that not only did these two legends
go on this journey with me, not only did they
let me be picky, and they respected me as a
peer and as the director of this film. So if
(12:25):
something isn't right, it isn't right, and like they did
that with me. But then the songs were done before
we started shooting.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
I see, I.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Gotta honor those songs. I don't have time to be nervous, right,
I just feel the responsibility of their time, their genius,
their art, And now I got to shoot this scene
that honors that.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
You know, That's what I'm saying about it. Like it's
heavier than nervousness. You're like, nah, Like nervous would be cute.
This is a nervous would be cute. He cut like
this is something bigger than that. And those songs are incredible.
Dream is a genius. When now touches a guitar, it
sounds like nothing else ever. You know, he takes an
(13:12):
instrument that millions and millions of people have played, and
when he does it, you know immediately it's him.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
You know, Dream made single ladies like you.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Mad, He made that a lot more.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Yeah, I owe them a great film. I owe them
a great scene with the music, and so that's that's
really where my thought, my heart was at.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
You know, how was the energy at Sundance premiering it?
And what do you hope that you know, the audience
once it comes out gets out of this film besides
it being a success obviously.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Yeah, man, it's a success because I got to talk
to you.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
You know, it's thank you.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Yeah, I mean that though.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
I mean, like, I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
People are so far.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
I have loved this film and they are responding to
it in a way that like makes me deeply appreciative
and it's fun and they're having the conversation that I
want them to have at the end of it. You know,
Sundance was such an honor for me. My whole faamily
came out from Kansas City, Missouri. Uh, you know, for us,
(14:14):
like it's for anybody to have a film in Sunday
it's your first film, that's a huge deal.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yeah, where we're from.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
And that film with the black woman at the lead
of it, that is like an enigma for it to
be a black woman at the lead of a film
that's black but it's not about racism. That's a that's
an enigma and for Sundance to see that, to celebrate that,
to see me, and to celebrate me. It's a huge honor.
And I belong in that class a filmmaker for the
(14:50):
rest of my life and career, and I'm deeply honored
by that. And so I was just gonna and I
want you, like you know, people to go see this film,
like I want you to go see this film, and
I want you to have fun. And the message in
all of that it'll come through. You're gonna be scared,
You're gonna laugh. You and your friends are go and
(15:11):
grab each other like you're gonna have an incredible I
don't wanna curse on your show.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
You're gonna have an incredible time.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
But you also will talk with one another after and
that that's the important thing. There's a ton of honey
with the medicine.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
So the kill scenes are amazing, by the way, and
I want to say thank you for not letting the
beautiful black female die in the first five minutes of
the movie. I don't know if that's a spoiler, you
know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
No, yeah, that's not.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Not only does she not die in the first five
minutes in the movie, but she we paced the film
so that you live with her, you go to work
with her, you go to her house, you see her
with her hair wrapped and her Spelman degree, you see
her going this date like this Black Woman takes us
through this film and it is her movie watched on
her shoulders, and I really really hope that y'all enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
In closing, what's next for you? Are you going to
continue in the horror thriller genre or you want to?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
It's a great it's a great question genre.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
I try not to get too caught up in because
I think wherever the story takes you.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
But yeah, I'm working on the next film. I dream every.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Day of being on set. It's the most addictive feeling
in the world. You'll know soon when you make your film,
Like there's no better film a feeling in the world
than you know, a five am call time and you
get there and everything is coming together and you know
you're gonna be on your feet for fourteen hours and
(16:37):
that type of adrenaline and that thing, that responsibility that
we talked about, that is nothing makes me feel more alive.
So that I am chasing, scratching, fighting, pleading to get
back to that.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
But first things first. March fourteen, let's go to the
movies and enjoy.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Opus Perfect, and specifically go to the movies to see Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
We're in a movie theater. I promise you it's worth
your time. Take take a homie, take a loved one,
Take a crush. You know, if you got a crush
on somebody, it'll make them fall in love with you.
I've been told if you got a cold, it'll kill you.
It'll kill your cold. Here's the cold. For some reason,
I don't know, it's like it's a magical movie.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
All right.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
You know what I'm saying, Like if your hairlines falling back,
it'll bring it back up.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Oh good, I'm going to I'm going to watch the
movie again.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
There you go, hairlines.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
What they're telling me.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Mark Anthony Green, I appreciate you and congratulations on everything
you're doing. I'm looking forward to for the audience to
see Opus. Yeah. Man, just I followed you on the
Gramm'm I'm gonna keep up with you journey and I'm
gonna see what's coming up next to you, my brother.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
All right, that's one.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
I talk to you soon, bro, Love brother,
Movies. I'll break you down. Let break you down, TV?
What do you mind? This step aside and there will
be violence like violence, video games, cover music and celebrities.
Yeah yeah, Ladies and gentlemen stay connected. Right here the
Feature Presentation podcast where movies and music leaves all right, Yo,
(00:26):
what up? It's the Feature Presentation DJ suss One. We
got a young man right here that did his directorial
debut thriller horror movie called Opus. I got a chance
to see it. We're gonna talk to him, Mark Anthony Green.
What's good, my brother?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Yeah? How you feeling? I'm so stoked to be here?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Of course, man, I got a bunch of questions obviously,
But first of all, how does it feel to have
your first directorial debut about to be released to the public.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yeah, it's it's nuts, it's crazy, it's you know. I've
been working on this phone for six years and the
response has been great. I'm in Atlanta right now. I
went to graduated for more House. So we've been going
around and like I'm showing it to places and like
to students and folks that really really mean a lot
to me. So the honest answers that I'm overwhelmed and
(01:11):
I'm just you know, hanging on by the skin of
my teeth. But man, I feel so so good and anytime,
you know, it's honor to just talk with you, to
chop it up.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
So yeah, I feel good.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Man. Well, I want to pick your brain a little
bit because you used to be at GQ. I work
at iHeart. You know what I'm saying. I'm a DJ
out here. I'm trying to do horror movies. You came
from GQ, and not only did you do a horror
thriller movie, but you worked with A twenty four, You
work with John Malkovich, work with Io, Like, how did
(01:47):
that come about? How did you go from that world
to you know, working with some of the biggest.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Yeah, it's it's wild because I think to a lot
of people, I never thought about one. I didn't want to,
like talk about making this movie for six years because
that would make me feel like I'd go crazy.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
So I didn't really talk about it.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
And for a lot of people, it seemed like I
just popped up one day and I was like, here's
this movie, and they thought, you know, but it takes
it takes a while, and I think it's incredible, like
I would love to see the DJ suss one horror film.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Do you have an idea of mine? Like if?
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Oh, I like thirty ideas, but yeah, we have have
one idea that I'll tell you about offline. But yeah,
I mean I grew up in the Don't you look
like you're significantly young, younger than me, but I grew
up in the eighties thirty Yeah, I'm a decade older.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Than you, but I'm an old thirty six though.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Well, look I grew up in the Freddy Krueger era. Yeah,
I grew up in the Jason for He's era. I
grew up in the Michael Myers or even though some
of this is still going on now, I grew up
in the Chucky era when he was an actual horror
out of comedy. And I just you know, and the
way the Nightman ELM Street Brand built New Line cinema,
it just inspired me to want to create my own
horror movies. But I've just been so focused in the
(03:10):
music world. It hasn't come about yet, but that's what's
going to be.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
But I'm excited to see to see your directorial debut.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I have to interview you.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
We'll have to flip the That would be amazing. That
would be amazing. Tell me why it took six years?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Though it takes forever.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
I mean, one, you know, it's an original idea, so
you have to write it, and then you have to
get people that want to spend millions of dollars on it.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
That's the part I'm having trouble with.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
It's one of the hardest parts. And you got to
cast it. So you got to get people that are
talented enough that everyone's excited by that want to do
the film, and then you have to work within their schedule.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
And then you have to shoot the movie. That's the
best part. And then you have to edit the film.
That can take forever, and then you have to schedule
the film to put the film out. And by the
time you look up at least on this one, it's
been six years.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Six years, and you filmed it in nineteen days. That's crazy.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, nineteen days is crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
How the hell did you do it in nineteen days?
That's not Not only does it seem impossible, but it
has to be one of the most difficult things to accomplish.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Yeah, but one, I am fully dedicated to this art form.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
I fell in love.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
I made a short film eight years ago, give or take,
and that has this has been my not only priority,
but like that the devotion right. And then I worked
with people that are so talented, that are so collaborative
that you know, actors like Ioa Debris that their first
(04:48):
take is always great and the second take is something
different that may be better for the film, but every
take is interesting and great, and so you don't need
to shoot a ton and you can get more throughout
your day.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
But there was also sorry to answerrup, there was also
makeup effects.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
And the last part of that is like the crew.
I had an amazing, amazing crew. Shout out to JQ
who was the makeup key and she's responsible for the
glory of things. I don't want to give away too much,
but look opus to me. I set out to do
(05:35):
two things with this film, and one of them is
to provide like the most fun theatrical experience that you'll
have this year, and I believe the film one hundred
delivers on that. And then the second thing is there's
questions at the end of the film that I want
(05:55):
you to ask. After we've had this crazy wild ride
that people are having that conversation, which is another reason
why you know, we all are so proud of this film,
because that also is working and nineteen days to achieve
both of those things, those very ambitious things, you only
get to do that if everyone brings it in the
(06:17):
way that they brought it. If John Malcolm, he's got
to throw one hundred miles an hour to do that.
And so I'm just immensely grateful that that's who I
got to make this film with, that I got to
make it with such talented artists that all, you know,
down to the grip to you know, script supervisor, to everybody,
(06:39):
we all kind of showed up with a chip on
our shoulder to prove that we could make this film
with this level of ambition or with such little resources.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
You know, was it not in nineteen days morning to
late night or was it like.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Yeah, so usually you shoot nineteen days, like your day.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Twelve hours, okay, that's max.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
It's like you're really getting after it now if you
have if you like one hundred million dollar movie, your
day maybe is like four hours five hours some days, right,
But obviously at nineteen days, like we're shooting every minute
that we have and then we went over time a lot,
so you would have fourteen hour.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Days and things like that.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Well, since this was your debut, was there any sort
of nervousness working with greats like John Malkovichen Juliette Lewis
and I Yo and all that. What like? Were you
nervous because this is the first this is the first
big one.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
No, I don't, and I say no, not any in
any arrogant way at all. Nervous is the wrong. It's
something like heavier than nerves. I felt any.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Miss heavier than nerves.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Heavier than nerves.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
I felt an immense amount of responsibility. I got like,
I'm trying to think of example, I'm gonna use this
exam because it's accurate, but I shouldn't use that because
it's gonna sound like I'm comparing myself to Muhammad Ali.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I'm gonna do it anyway.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
We get it.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Yeah, I'm not compare to that. Yeah, I was just
we was just talking about my idolized man. But like, okay,
if Ali has like a big fight, you're nervous about
winning the fight or not.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
But when Ali had all of these.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
People come to support him, and he became a bigger
figure than just boxing, and there's a heavier thing than
just boxing. I don't know that like nerves accurately describe
that right, Like that's not like an exercise and nerves.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
That's something heavier.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
And all of these people trusting me to come in
and to do this, that felt like there it just
feels heavier. And for them to like step into that
arena with me, to trust me on my first one,
there was.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Like a heaviness to that. It just felt like responsibility,
but nerves. No.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
I just I wanted to deliver it for myself first
and foremost, and then to deliver something that I would
be proud of and that they would be proud of
and was worthy of your time and attention.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
And I think that we knocked it out of the park.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
You did. Rest in peace of the great IRV Gotti
producer Extjordanaire. He said in the interview that he felt
like Doctor Dre was like the greatest hip hop producer
all time, and he ended up working with Doctor Dre
when he became a big deal in the game and
Doctor Dre started taking his direction in the studio and
it was just surreal to him. So that's why I
asked you like, you know, we've seen you know, these
(09:37):
these this cast, well some of the casts, and a
bunch of great, big, legendary films. So I didn't know
if it was nervousness or you know, just.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
No, I just think you show up. It's like you
almost don't have enough time to be nervous.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Yeah, I understand, like whatever, like.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Nervousness.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Almost you're making a film, it becomes like a luxury,
like to have time to even figure out how. I
barely ate. I definitely definitely barely slept. I was not
waking up in the morning and meditating and thinking how
do I feel? Oh, I feel nervous and I'm psyched out.
I was like, I need to make sure that Maddix
(10:20):
knows I need that light there, because I had this
idea at this point, and I mean John talked about
this thing, but I changed that. I need to tell like,
you're in that, and you're in that for like months,
and then you get nineteen days to hopefully deliver on that.
Amazing Why one of the many reasons I'm so proud
(10:41):
of this film.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
How did it come about to involve the dream in
some of the film. That's I like the fact you
kept the R and B and hip hop like you
know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Yeah, man, listen, it's us Like this is a black movie.
This is not a film about racism. But it's written
and directed by black man star as a black woman.
My DP is black, produced by Macro, and the music
is done by now Rogers and The Dream. And for me,
it's very easy to make the argument that both now
(11:13):
Rogers and The Dream are two of the most successful
music producers ever in the history of me if you
like numbers, cultural impact, whatever. And so that's another thing
about the responsibility. Right, I got Dream to stop working
(11:34):
with Beyonce on this movie.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
I wonder how that went down with Like Beyonce, you
got calm down for a second.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
I don't know, let me tell you. I don't even
pretend to know how that conversation could go. But I
do know that Dream and Nile both are used to
getting tons of money for the thing that they do.
Of course, they absolutely there was barely any we barely
(12:03):
could cover, you know, how they travel and stuff. So
they did this purely as a creative endeavor, and that
is such an honor to me. So when you think
about the fact that not only did these two legends
go on this journey with me, not only did they
let me be picky, and they respected me as a
peer and as the director of this film. So if
(12:25):
something isn't right, it isn't right, and like they did
that with me. But then the songs were done before
we started shooting.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
I see, I.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
Gotta honor those songs. I don't have time to be nervous, right,
I just feel the responsibility of their time, their genius,
their art, And now I got to shoot this scene
that honors that.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
You know, That's what I'm saying about it. Like it's
heavier than nervousness. You're like, nah, Like nervous would be cute.
This is a nervous would be cute. He cut like
this is something bigger than that. And those songs are incredible.
Dream is a genius. When now touches a guitar, it
sounds like nothing else ever. You know, he takes an
(13:12):
instrument that millions and millions of people have played, and
when he does it, you know immediately it's him.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
You know, Dream made single ladies like you.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Mad, He made that a lot more.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Yeah, I owe them a great film. I owe them
a great scene with the music, and so that's that's
really where my thought, my heart was at.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
You know, how was the energy at Sundance premiering it?
And what do you hope that you know, the audience
once it comes out gets out of this film besides
it being a success obviously.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Yeah, man, it's a success because I got to talk
to you.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
You know, it's thank you.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Yeah, I mean that though.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
I mean, like, I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
People are so far.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
I have loved this film and they are responding to
it in a way that like makes me deeply appreciative
and it's fun and they're having the conversation that I
want them to have at the end of it. You know,
Sundance was such an honor for me. My whole faamily
came out from Kansas City, Missouri. Uh, you know, for us,
(14:14):
like it's for anybody to have a film in Sunday
it's your first film, that's a huge deal.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yeah, where we're from.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
And that film with the black woman at the lead
of it, that is like an enigma for it to
be a black woman at the lead of a film
that's black but it's not about racism. That's a that's
an enigma and for Sundance to see that, to celebrate that,
to see me, and to celebrate me. It's a huge honor.
And I belong in that class a filmmaker for the
(14:50):
rest of my life and career, and I'm deeply honored
by that. And so I was just gonna and I
want you, like you know, people to go see this film,
like I want you to go see this film, and
I want you to have fun. And the message in
all of that it'll come through. You're gonna be scared,
You're gonna laugh. You and your friends are go and
(15:11):
grab each other like you're gonna have an incredible I
don't wanna curse on your show.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
You're gonna have an incredible time.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
But you also will talk with one another after and
that that's the important thing. There's a ton of honey
with the medicine.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
So the kill scenes are amazing, by the way, and
I want to say thank you for not letting the
beautiful black female die in the first five minutes of
the movie. I don't know if that's a spoiler, you
know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
No, yeah, that's not.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Not only does she not die in the first five
minutes in the movie, but she we paced the film
so that you live with her, you go to work
with her, you go to her house, you see her
with her hair wrapped and her Spelman degree, you see
her going this date like this Black Woman takes us
through this film and it is her movie watched on
her shoulders, and I really really hope that y'all enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
In closing, what's next for you? Are you going to
continue in the horror thriller genre or you want to?
Speaker 2 (16:05):
It's a great it's a great question genre.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
I try not to get too caught up in because
I think wherever the story takes you.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
But yeah, I'm working on the next film. I dream every.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Day of being on set. It's the most addictive feeling
in the world. You'll know soon when you make your film,
Like there's no better film a feeling in the world
than you know, a five am call time and you
get there and everything is coming together and you know
you're gonna be on your feet for fourteen hours and
(16:37):
that type of adrenaline and that thing, that responsibility that
we talked about, that is nothing makes me feel more alive.
So that I am chasing, scratching, fighting, pleading to get
back to that.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
But first things first. March fourteen, let's go to the
movies and enjoy.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Opus Perfect, and specifically go to the movies to see Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
We're in a movie theater. I promise you it's worth
your time. Take take a homie, take a loved one,
Take a crush. You know, if you got a crush
on somebody, it'll make them fall in love with you.
I've been told if you got a cold, it'll kill you.
It'll kill your cold. Here's the cold. For some reason,
I don't know, it's like it's a magical movie.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
All right.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
You know what I'm saying, Like if your hairlines falling back,
it'll bring it back up.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Oh good, I'm going to I'm going to watch the
movie again.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
There you go, hairlines.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
What they're telling me.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Mark Anthony Green, I appreciate you and congratulations on everything
you're doing. I'm looking forward to for the audience to
see Opus. Yeah. Man, just I followed you on the
Gramm'm I'm gonna keep up with you journey and I'm
gonna see what's coming up next to you, my brother.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
All right, that's one.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
I talk to you soon, bro, Love brother,
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