While Us continues to position itself as the breakout movie of the year, young stars Shahidi Wright Joseph and Evan Alex are proving that they are here to stay, holding their own against A-listers Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke.
TheGrio sat down with the young stars to get their take on the movie and how they were able to tap into their dark side.
“There was a little bit of pressure that I was putting on myself because I always felt like I had to be perfect,” admits 13-year-old Wright Joseph in an interview with The Grio. “What I learned from Jordan is really that when you’re on set you really just need to try things and it doesn’t matter if they’re awkward or not…just try them and they might turn out to be incredible. I think that we all really did such a great job. While shooting [Jordan] told me that she’s like the opposite of Zora and she is very sleek and always ready to fight somebody and I thought that that was really helpful. I think that she came out as such a fierce character.”
Additionally, the adorable 10-year-old Evan Alex, proved that he too could successfully channel his inner darkness. Relying on inspiration from videos of people crawling like dogs and werewolves, Alex was able to truly make your skin crawl. And when it came to sharing the screen and working with costars Duke and Nyong’o, Alex was unquestionably over the moon.
“They were great,” Alex told the magazine. “Working with them was an honor and I wanted to impress them because they’re so professional and if you’re just goofing around all the time then that’s not going to set you a good foot.”
It is an understatement to say that these two young people did just a “good job” on this project. They reached deep down inside and brought out what will be seen as horror history. We cannot wait to see what is in store for these two talented people. It is without a doubt that they have just gotten started.
