LOS ANGELES — In “Is God Is,” two sisters embark on a quest for revenge, but must confront a family history that will push them to extraordinary lengths.
“Is God Is” marks Aleshea Harris’ directorial debut, and the film is based on the adaptation of her award-winning play of the same name. For Harris, the film is a chance to invite more audiences to join Racine (Kara Young) and Anaia (Mallori Johnson) on their epic road trip to their destiny.
Playing the twin’s mother, also known as Ruby the God, is Vivica A. Fox. In the film, her final wish is for her daughters to kill their father in revenge. “Make your daddy dead. Real dead,” she tells them.
In reflecting upon her character, Fox told Spectrum News that as a survivor of domestic violence, playing Ruby the God was a healing process that she was glad to help expose and bring to the screen.
“Within the community, domestic violence is something that gets hidden and swept under the rug,” she said. “For me, there was a lot of recall, especially with what happened with the kids. We may have atrocities that happen in our own home, but we can survive and thrive from it.”
A question that “Is God Is” brings up is, should one seek revenge?
For Fox, payback is a dish best served cold.
“It’s just the way you get it,” Fox said. “As long as nobody gets hurt or dies, but sometimes, yes, revenge … a little get-back, a little clap-back is real good.”
Erika Alexander stars as Divine in “Is God Is.” (Image courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios/Patti Perret)
Erika Alexander, who plays Divine the Healer, told Spectrum News that there is also the other side.
“Revenge is mine, saith the Lord. Divine justice is supposed to be more consequential than anything human,” said Alexander, speaking in relation to her character. “I don’t know if I believe that. I am not that person. I probably would avenge if I could … especially on behalf of the community. I do believe that sometimes that is why we have the justice system for … is it revenge or is it justice? You call it revenge; I say it is justice.”
“Is God Is” opens in theaters May 15. It stars Fox, Young, Johnson, Janelle Monáe, Alexander, Mykelti Williamson, Josiah Gross and Sterling K. Brown.
Kara Young stars as Racine and Mallori Johnson as Anaia in “Is God Is.” (Image courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios/Patti Perret)
Fox also took a moment to reflect on the 30th anniversary of her iconic film “Set It Off,” which was released in 1996 and also stars Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith and Kimberly Elise.
“The success we got from F. Gary Gray was because he made all of us care about every single moment,” Fox said. “He wanted the story to make sense. I’ll never forget him saying to all the ladies, ‘People think seeing four girls robbing a bank is going to be a comedy. We are going to deliver a film that they are going to leave crying.’ And mission accomplished.”
Click the video above to watch the full interview with Fox and Alexander.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source spectrumlocalnews.com ’
