Sometimes when you want things done up to your standards, you have to do it yourself—and that’s what Kenya Barris did with You People, his feature directorial debut he wrote alongside Jonah Hill.
The comedy flips the interracial couple genre on its head, featuring a Jewish man named Ezra from Los Angeles who falls in love with a Black woman named Amira (Lauren London), who is from a different part of LA and whose family is Muslim. The pair couldn’t be more different from each other but they quickly fall in love and everything is smooth between them until they introduce their respective families into their relationship and things go left.
Barris’ intent in all that he does is to make TV shows and movies that are relatable to everyone. The writer/creator/director refuses to be boxed in and enters the film world with a comedy stacked with some of Hollywood’s most talented and beloved actors. Barris was able to land Eddie Murphy, Nia Long, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and David Duchovny to play Hill and London’s parents in the film. Murphy and Louis-Dreyfus are comedic legends and their performances and humor elevate the film even further. London and Hill have a natural, easy-going chemistry between them that’s hard to find in modern rom-coms, and they both shine as the film leads.
Sometimes when you want things done up to your standards, you have to do it yourself—and that’s what Kenya Barris did with You People, his feature directorial debut he wrote alongside Jonah Hill.
The comedy flips the interracial couple genre on its head, featuring a Jewish man named Ezra from Los Angeles who falls in love with a Black woman named Amira (Lauren London), who is from a different part of LA and whose family is Muslim. The pair couldn’t be more different from each other but they quickly fall in love and everything is smooth between them until they introduce their respective families into their relationship and things go left.
Barris’ intent in all that he does is to make TV shows and movies that are relatable to everyone. The writer/creator/director refuses to be boxed in and enters the film world with a comedy stacked with some of Hollywood’s most talented and beloved actors. Barris was able to land Eddie Murphy, Nia Long, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and David Duchovny to play Hill and London’s parents in the film. Murphy and Louis-Dreyfus are comedic legends and their performances and humor elevate the film even further. London and Hill have a natural, easy-going chemistry between them that’s hard to find in modern rom-coms, and they both shine as the film leads.
Image via Netflix
The concept of the movie was inspired by Hill dating a Cuban woman, and Barris’ ex and mother of his children, who is biracial, but also the cultural differences between the Black and Jewish communities. “We started talking about it in general, the Jewish and Black cultures often sometimes run into oppression Olympics and we loved the idea of that. I grew up in LA, he grew up in LA, and we’d have those conversations,” Barris tells Complex. “So there were a lot of things that we wanted to talk about that we felt like would be interesting and hadn’t really been explored or would make it feel like it was of the time. We didn’t know how much of the time it would be at that moment, but we definitely wanted to talk about things that were in our heart.”
In the film, Ezra and his father-in-law, played by Murphy, have a conversation regarding Kanye West and Jay-Z’s hit song, “Ni**as In Paris.” While it’s one of the most hilarious moments in the film, the creator and Netflix felt like a different clip should be used as a teaser trailer due to West’s recently making controversial antisemitic comments. The team went with a different clip instead, where Ezra invites Amira’s parents for lunch at Roscoe’s House of Chicken ‘N Waffles and it’s as awkward, tense, hilarious and tone-deaf as it sounds. But it’s the most clever way to introduce viewers to what’s in store when You People hits the streaming service on Jan. 27, 2023.
The film also features performances from Sam Jay, Mike Epps, Yung Miami, Lala Anthony, Andrew Schulz, Deon Cole, and more. Complex hopped on a call with Kenya Barris to talk about making the film, working with Jonah Hill and Lauren London, and more. Check out the first look clip above and our interview, edited for length and clarity, below.
This is your feature directorial debut. Why was You People and this story what you wanted to start with?
I think one, because I wrote it, you know what I’m saying? I’ve written a few movies and been a part of that aspect and I’ve felt like the more I’ve done that, the more I’m like, you know what? I don’t even know if I want to write these if I’m not going to direct them. You just start to feel like as a writer, you see it in your head in such a way and the directors are great, but it’s just not quite your vision. So that was a big thing.
I’m a huge fan of Jonah. He’s my friend and also just a huge fan of him as talent and I hadn’t seen him in this kind of role. It’s really kind of close to who he is. And then we started when we sat down and met and started talking about what we wanted to do together, we were like, you know what this is? He was at the time in a relationship with a girl from Cuba, of Cuban nationality.
Interesting.
He was like, my mom, she comes over to my house and my mom makes arroz con pollo. And he’s like, what? But the thing is that as he’s realizing that—my kid’s mom is biracial—it’s not the people in the relationship that cause the thing, it’s the outside noise. And that was almost the conceit point for the movie.
We started talking about it in general, the Jewish and Black culture often sometimes run into oppression Olympics and we loved the idea of that. I grew up in LA, he grew up in LA, and we’d have those conversations. So there were a lot of things that we wanted to talk about that we felt like would be interesting and hadn’t really been explored or would make it feel like it was of the time. We didn’t know how much of the time it would be at that moment, but we definitely wanted to talk about things that were in our heart.
For sure. And then it’s also an interesting time for this conversation about the Jewish and the Black community kind of having a tense moment. You could not have predicted this any better.
Kind of a tense moment? [Laughs.] That was something that really meant a lot to us. I think it’s been hard for Netflix, they have a tough job because it’s like how do you balance what’s right, what’s art and what’s commerce and what’s pressure and what’s happy accident and all that type of stuff. But it’s been really interesting for us and we think that comedies are in an interesting place, but we’re at a place where, knock on wood, there’s a chance to have a little bit of an event comedy because some of the things that we can take and show and clips and things like that feel like we’re just pulling from today. But really we started three years ago.
Also, I think at the end of it, you really are showing the message of when there’s love, we’re all a family in a way.
Better together. Better together.
Was there any major difference that you experienced when making the transition from directing TV to directing movies?
It’s interesting. When you direct television, people are there every day. So people show up, they speak to everybody, they know that maybe they’re there for five, six, seven, eight years. With movies, people are there for two months, a month or two. And movie stars are movie stars. A big part of the job that I didn’t realize before is talent management and managing just everyone around you from crew to cast to everyone because they’re not going to live there. They’re not going to be there with you for the next five, six, seven years to come. So everyone wants things to go well and you’re in it for two months and it’s much more of a high-pressure situation.
The chemistry between Lauren London and Jonah Hill as the leads. That’s really hard to find now.
They were amazing for us. And Lauren in particular was, I think she was the choice that we made to change the whole scope of the movie around and we were so happy that we got it.
When was the moment that you realized that they would work together as leads?
Well, I pitched it to Jonah who thought it was interesting. He didn’t know her but he knew of her. And Jonah, one thing I will say, is very open. And we went to Soho House in Malibu and Lauren didn’t want to do anything. She has done very, very little. She’s kind of in her own space right now. And I was like, well just meet him. I think you guys will hit it off. And they did. Kevin Misher, our producing partner, was there with us and we all walked out of there and were like, “I don’t know if I can even do, we can do this without her.” It was just, you got the idea because the whole point of it was supposed to be people from different worlds and they are exactly that. Even though they’re from LA, they represent, which we kind of joke about the I-10 freeway in LA as the dividing line. And I feel like one is south of the 10 and one is north of the 10 and it could not be two more different worlds. And I think they really epitomized that.
For sure. I spoke to her recently about her Puma collection and she was absolutely thrilled about the movie.
I don’t think people have seen her like this before and I think that matters a lot.
Rom-coms are my favorite genre of movies, but there’s such a delicate balance because they could come off as cheesy or they could come off as trying too hard. This one feels honest and real and how this generation communicates with each other. How were you able to capture that voice and make sure that it doesn’t come off as people being afraid to say that they liked it?
[Laughs.] For me, I’m like, that’s sort of what I’ve been doing the last 10 years of my life, is that kind of just say what’s honest and if it’s probably going to get you in trouble, but at least you can back yourself up and saying, “Well, this is what I really honestly feel.” My best friend who was also a producer on this movie, Hale Rothstein, is a Jewish guy, married to a Muslim girl, and they have a baby. And so I was pulling from his life and looking at his life constantly and shit that they go through.
And I look at my father-in-law, my wife’s, or my kids’ mom’s father who is this white guy who’s become like a father figure to me. And I would’ve never seen that be who he was. And we just looked at so many different versions of our life and said we wanted to be as honest as possible. I went to the Jay-Z concert years ago and we’re singing rap songs, whatever. And it’s 60 percent white kids and they’re dropping n-bombs and I’m looking every time I know one’s coming and if they see me looking, they kind of drop out. And I’m like you’re not doing that when I’m not looking at you. But those were the things that we really liked were things that made us feel like, “Oh, this could be something.”
For sure. And like you said, Jonah Hill is incredible in this movie. So funny.
And in a leading man role that we haven’t really seen him in.
How was it writing with him and creating this story with him?
It was great. He’s so funny. And he’s been in that [Judd] Apatow camp, in the [Adam] McKay camp, and all those camps. He’s a comedy genius and we have really, really, really leaned into like, for us, like let’s just try to push this, and let’s try to make something that feels new and fresh and it feels like takes off from where those guys were at. And now speaks to more where we want to be at.
Also, the rest of the cast is incredible.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is our comedy. David Duchovny was just a pleasure. Taco, Travis Bennett who plays her brother, and Nia Long is Black royalty. Eddie is Eddie. Eddie is an institution. Even our side characters Deon Cole, Lala [Anthony], and Young Miami are just blazing a trail. Then a crazy surprise I think for a lot of people is Sam Jay. I think in some aspects she’s almost got the best role in the movie. And you haven’t seen her do that in that way. I love her. We have become friends and I mean at every place we feel like we really, really got struck gold.
When you were writing these characters, did you have in mind who you wanted to play them? Or what was that casting process like?
We knew we would love to have Eddie, but felt like this isn’t going to happen. I think our mind was that we knew we wanted Eddie. We were like Eddie or Denzel Washington just because we thought it would be funny to have Malcolm X literally sitting across from Jonah during one of our conversations. But we knew we wanted Eddie, Julia Louis-Dreyfus was also our first choice. We were like, what if we could? We didn’t think we were going to get them. And people kept responding to the script and I think it was one of those things where I looked up and I’m like, “This is my first movie?” It was not in any way shape or form what I would’ve thought, but it was such a great experience and such a learning experience for me as well.
But it also speaks a lot to your work. I feel like when anyone hears Kenya Barris is attached to any project, they look up instantly. It’s because of the work that you have done so far.
Well, I hope that continues. I’m really, really, really lucky and blessed, and just take it all in and say that it all can change. But you saw Entergalactic. Being able to work with those people and get those types of things, and really keep trying to challenge and do different things that feel like they take the voice of what would’ve been considered a “Black movie,” what would’ve been a Black animation piece and push out those boundaries and make it for everybody. I think that’s the thing that I really, in these latter years of my career, I’ve been really trying to say. How do we make things from people who might have been niched into a real sort of segmented thing and make it really mainstream and popular?
Image via Netflix
I think this is what You People does particularly well. I don’t think there’s anyone who could watch this and not relate to it in some way.
I hope you are right. I hope you’re right.
Can you talk a little about selecting this conversation that they have at Roscoe’s to be what people see first from this movie?
This was a hard-thought conversation. There are a few different versions of it. I love this conversation. We’re at an interesting time. We had another great conversation. There was a great conversation with him in the car about the song that he likes and what’s the name of the song, which we would’ve all kind of leaned into what a great teaser that would be. And then controversy that we had no idea about came up and we were like, although we all agree that this would be a great teaser, do we want to just open the door? But I feel like Netflix has been really, really supportive in saying, “Look, we understand, we want to support this. We don’t want to get caught up in the noise, but at the same time we have to play and we want to make this movie just reach as many people as possible without any obstacles.”
People on the team at Netflix really leaned in and we went into this Roscoe’s scene. I do think it was a really good sort of first look at what this movie’s about because it does show Nia, shows Eddie, shows Roscoe’s, and it shows Jonah being uncomfortable. It talks about that sort of uncomfortableness that we’ve all felt with our meeting our in-laws for the first time and having that question. And I feel like it does it in a really funny way.
We have seen movies about interracial couples before, but I really like that it flipped at this time and it was a white man and a Black woman. Was that intentional of something that you wanted to do or did that just happen because Jonah was the lead?
Well, I think we wanted to flip Guess Who Is Coming to Dinner? And flip that on its head. Eddie is Spencer Tracy. And Julia is happy to be almost in a sort of way, fetishizing the idea of the Black daughter, and Eddie’s like, “I’m not quite sure.” And I think that was a really big flip on its head for the genre. And we wanted to say times have changed and there is a wokeness and a Black pride that we didn’t see back then. So we wanted to say how would that happen now? How would we do that? And I think that’s what makes it as far from Guess Who Is Coming to Dinner? as we wanted it to be.