RZA's One Spoon of Chocolate is now playing in theaters and, to mark the occasion, we were granted an exclusive opportunity to sit down with the legendary rapper/music producer-turned-filmmaker to talk about what fans can expect from his latest action-packed directorial, which stars Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse star Shameik Moore in the lead role.
In our conversation, he walks me through his inspiration for the film and how he wanted to pay homage to some of his favorite Shaw Brothers kung fu films. He also gets into developing a new kind of hero who could be considered an extension of the classic Wu-Tang archetype of hero, casting Shameik Moore in a very different kind of role, and opting for brutal hand-to-hand combat over gun combat.
Plus, he also tells me the kinds of challenges that filmmaking has provided him that are wholly unique from his past as a music producer.
As per the synopsis, "Unique (Shameik Moore), a veteran and ex-convict seeking a fresh start in a small town. After an altercation with a gang of locals, he starts to suspect they may have something to do with the disappearance of young men in the area - including his cousin.
As he digs for the truth, he finds himself the target of not only the gang, but the local sheriff’s office, whose involvement in the disappearances may be even more sinister. Instead of waiting for his turn to be picked off, Unique and those closest to him decide to fight back."
The cast features Shameik Moore (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse; Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse), Blair Underwood (L.A. Law; Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), RJ Cyler (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl; Power Rangers), Paris Jackson (American Horror Stories; Star), Emyri Crutchfield (Fargo; Vacation), Michael Harney (Orange Is the New Black; For All Mankind), and Harry Goodwins (The Gentleman; In Your Hands).
One Spoon of Chocolate is now playing in theaters!
Watch our full interview below and/or keep scrolling to read the full transcription. Plus, remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more exclusive content!
ROHAN: Where did you draw the inspiration for this movie? I know some of the locations in the movie were places you spent time in when you were younger.
RZA: Yeah, I mean, the movie is inspired by, you know, true events and inspired by some of my journeys in life, but as an artist, the inspiration for this one kind of came out of the air, like does that make sense? It's like playing a horn, and you just start jamming and jazzin’ and it just comes out, you know what I mean?
ROHAN: There’s a great line near the end of the movie, where Shameik says he didn’t win because he was black, but because he was better prepared. Was that kind of your thesis for this movie, especially when you’re writing his character arc and mapping out the story you wanted to tell?
RZA: Yeah, that was always the punchline, the preparation, you know, this is why I chose to use Moses and Aaron and Joshua and David, you know, the biblical characters to convey, you know, these are men that had to prepare for their journeys in life, prepare to enter the Promised Land, prepare to fight wars or fight oppression, right? And so, preparation, to me, is so important in life, you know, prepping for that film, we sat there for weeks and weeks and trying to figure out, where we're going to shoot it, so many different things. So, yes, preparation was vital, and it was always the culmination of my character's journey to show that being prepared, you got a chance.
ROHAN: As a member of the Wu-Tang Clan, you guys have often referred to yourselves as superheroes in your music, like X-Men and whatnot. Would you consider Shameik’s character as sort of an extension to that Wu-Tang hero archetype? Or, was there something else you wanted to depict?
RZA: Well, I played a joke in the movie. You notice I had Jason Isbell come in, and he sings a song that's called ‘Comic Book Life’ on the bus, but he says that it's not a comic book life. And so, that's like a warning, he said, no superhero ever rescued me, yo. It's not a comic book life. So, you gotta rescue yourself. You gotta save yourself. The Avengers are not coming. But still, this is a movie, right? So, let me get to that third act, it's like out of all things to do, he has to become a hero. But, in the first act, when the parole officer asked him, so what are you, some kind of hero? And he goes, nah, man, I’m far from that. But at the end, he makes it, and that's the hero's journey. You know, you gotta pick that sword up and slay that dragon, you got to go through your origin story, Peter Parker, and do the right thing.
ROHAN: Everyone knows Shameik as Miles Morales from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and his other projects, where he does often play an underdog of sorts. But, this time, you have him playing a very different kind of character. What did you see in him that made you know he was capable to deliver this kind of performance?
RZA: Well, I did a movie with Shameik Moore called Cut Throat City, where he was even younger and even more innocent in life, you know, he never loaded a gun before, until on the set of that movie, but I noticed that he had the ability to be a sponge. And then, we had him work for five years on the Wu-Tang: An American Saga series, and I just watched him play Raekwon, and I watched him, like in season one, he had less weight, but in season two and three, he was heavier. He's a sponge, and so, when I got up to page 60 of this screenplay, I was like, yeah, I think I'm gonna call Shameik for this and see if it works in his schedule, and I reached out to him. We had lunch, and he was excited about it, you know what I mean, and here we are in theaters right now. We in the theaters right now!
ROHAN: It’s a very action-packed movie, but there isn’t much gun violence until the very end. What went behind that decision where you opted for the more intense hand to hand combat versus giving everyone guns?
RZA: Well, that’s my Shaw Brothers kung fu movie homage. When I was a kid, I would go watch kung fu movies all the time, and I would hate when a gun popped up, because what's the use of kung fu if motherf***er got a gun, right? And so, I also wanted to make my movie feel that way, like I wanted to remove the ease of victory. You know, with a gun, it’s a potential easy victory, right? But without it, how does a man stand? And our villains were dangerous without a gun. I mean, those bats were dangerous, you know what I mean? So, that was a cinematic choice. Of course, you know, it's not like we're taking place fifteen hundred years ago when nobody got guns, like a Shaw Brothers film, but this was my way of cinematically suspending time, because you can't tell what year this is. I made it ambiguous. You probably think it's the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, whatever you think. I'll leave it to the audience. And then, also suspending the normal way that an action film today plays, which is guns and tons of bullets flying everywhere and all that. We’re going to remove that, we're going to make this visceral and physical.
ROHAN: Coming off the Nobody films, which you’re great in, how did your experience working with 87Eleven help influence the action sequences in this film?
RZA: Well, at first, when I first wrote it, I sent it to 87Eleven to maybe be the stunt team for it. They were in the middle of The Fall Guy and so many things, so they were like, man, you know, they said they’ll give me some consultation. And so, I went and got this guy named Marrese Crump, who helped train Chadwick Boseman to become the Black Panther. He also was my stuntman in The Man with the Iron Fists. But he's really good at choreography, and so, I had him do some demos, and I sent it back to 87North, and it was like, yeah, you'll be in good hands with this guy. He has something special. So, then I just told him, look, okay, well, here are the scenes, start designing them. You gotta design them for close quarters, because I'm going to build all these different rooms. And he did a great job, you know, Shameik didn't have a lot of time to train, but I know that Shameik was always, he's a boxer. He’s always punching. Every time he’s working on set, he's punching pads and doing all types of martial art shit. I'm like, okay, this kid, he’s going to know what to do when the time is right and when the time is right, he did it very well. He got injured once or twice, but, you know, it didn't really stop production. He just kept going.
ROHAN: You’re a legendary music producer, and have now been making films for well over a decade. What kind of challenges has directing/producing/writing presented you that is different from music?
RZA: I mean, film is the most expensive form of creativity. I mean, cinema film, right? I don’t mean pulling out your iPhone, and even that way, though, you know, to get it right, to get costumes, to get editing, to do it all, it takes a lot of time and a lot of dime and when something goes wrong, like, for instance, when that car didn't flip right the first time, I only have one car left. It's like, if it don't flip right the second time, bro, yeah, I’m really gonna have a 1970s film. So, it's just delicate. You know, when music, it was challenging in the ‘90s, because you had 24-track and you could punch in, but you didn't have Pro Tools when you got hundreds of tracks and endless attracts, you know, I mean, you got limited time, and all that. The film is still limited in ability, because we shot this movie in 30 days, you know, we couldn't afford 40 days, we couldn't afford 50 days, 60 days, and we did probably based on how many setups me and Brandon Cox, my DP, had to do, we probably shot fifty days worth of work, and that means we had to just be moving and running and gunning and and everybody had to be sharp, you know, it wasn't like we could do twenty takes. So, film is just a very challenging medium, but I love it, bro. It's like all my stimulation, everything. I realized I got an octopus brain, and I need my tentacles to be moving. Film does that. It will have every tentacle touching something, bro.
ROHAN: I won’t spoil it for our readers, but the ending was pretty perfect. When did you decide on that ending and was there ever anything else you had written?
RZA: No, that ending was there, bro. I guess, I’ll say this to you, it was kind of selfish, like I wanted it. It was intentional. I wanted it. What I wanted was silence for a moment and then clapping for a moment, if you understand what I mean.
RZA’s One Spoon of Chocolate” follows Unique (Shameik Moore, “Dope” and voice of Miles Morales in the Spider-Verse films), a veteran and ex-convict seeking a fresh start in a small town. After an altercation with a gang of locals, he starts to suspect they may have something to do with the disappearance of young men in the area - including his cousin.
As he digs for the truth, he finds himself the target of not only the gang, but the local sheriff’s office, whose involvement in the disappearances may be even more sinister. Instead of waiting for his turn to be picked off, Unique and those closest to him (Paris Jackson, RJ Cyler) decide to fight back in this sharply satirical and stylish action thriller from the visionary leader of the Wu-Tang Clan.