Audiences will get their first glimpse of multi-talented actress and entertainer Keke Palmer and multi-platinum recording artist and Grammy Award winner SZA on Saturday Night Live in 2022. Now, they've shattered expectations and become box-office queens with their movie "One of These Days." It has become the number one comedy in the United States, second only to Disney's latest "The Lion King" and Barry Jenkins' "Mufasa." Four day MLK holiday weekend.
Written by Syreeta Singleton, "One of These Days" has been compared to the classic 1995 buddy comedy "Friday," about two best friends and roommates - the uptight Drooks played by Palmer and the free-spirited Drooks played by SZA Alyssa - the story of a race against time. Raise the rent or be kicked out to the sidewalk with all your belongings.
Palmer, who is producing the film with Issa Rae, told NBC News that she signed on to the film because "it was familiar to me - about two people who grow up in a Los Angeles community. The story of the older girls trying to figure out how to rent a house, but all the hijinks and all the lessons they learn along the way reminded me of the movies I watched as a kid about friendship, but usually starring two people."
Palmer said she jumped at the chance to star in and produce a film that was "female-centered in the way I love" while paying tribute to Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby's Let's Do It Again "Once" and other similar movies paid homage to "Bad Boys" with Martin Lawrence, Will Smith and others.
Taking on a behind-the-scenes role in a feature film was nervous for Palmer, who was last seen on the big screen in writer-director Jordan Peele's "No." "I think the challenge is to keep at it because it takes a long time to do it," she explains.
The production process for "One of the Days" began when Palmer was co-hosting the third hour of "Good Morning America" in 2019 and 2020. In the meantime, the actress, Emmy-winning host of "Code," podcaster and author must remain focused on her role as Dele. She said she had to avoid "getting myself lost in all the different types of hassles that go into putting a project together and wanting to make it fit the story you're telling, but also wanting to make sure the studio is happy," she said. explain. “It was a great lesson in collaboration.”
As funny as the film is, with comedians Carter Williams, Janelle James, Lil Rel Howery and Gabrielle Danes all lending their talents, Lawrence Lamont's directorial debut comes with It wasn't just the laughter that came. Instead, "One of the Days" uses humor to illuminate larger issues.
"Everyone is broke right now. The economy is in trouble," said Rae, best known for the HBO series "Insecure." “It reflects our busy culture and how difficult it is to make ends meet, but also how we laugh through pain.”
Palmer insists that social commentary is an element people often miss in Friday, and it was one of the main inspirations for their film. "We were like 'Oh, 'Friday' is so fun,' but at its core it's gun violence," she noted. "This is about 'stop killing each other and shooting each other; if you want to fight, duel in the streets and put the guns down.' This is about the real message." "
"It's the same thing with this movie," she added. "'Yeah, okay, we struck up a friendship at the rave and people were crazy, but it's like, 'Wait a minute, there's a cycle of poverty here and it's actually hard for you to move up, the credit is a fuck - - Uh-oh, I actually don't know how I'm going to pay off these student loans, oh wait, gentrification, my city is pushing me out - how do I keep up when I'm in this cycle that I can't get out of ?”
Palmer said "One of the Days" also goes back to the history of black cinema after "Friday." The music, she said, might remind viewers of blaxploitation-era films and be satirical while also speaking to ongoing issues in the community. "
"One of These Days" addressed today's serious issues of gentrification, systemic racism and predatory lending while evoking "hope, pride and understanding," she said.