Jelani Cobb

And then being able to spread your wings and do this project, which also made me think about another theme that's so prominent, which is the theme of I would say Christianity, but it's actually more kind of broadly spirituality since there are lots of different kinds of spiritual practices and beliefs that people, you know, foreground in the film. And I hadn't seen that in your previous work.

And I wondered how that came to you, how it connects to your own beliefs, your own kind of thinking about spirituality and religion and how it made its way into this film.

And I wondered how that came to you, how it connects to your own beliefs, your own kind of thinking about spirituality and religion and how it made its way into this film.

And I wondered how that came to you, how it connects to your own beliefs, your own kind of thinking about spirituality and religion and how it made its way into this film.

Your family came from Texas, correct?

Your family came from Texas, correct?

Your family came from Texas, correct?

So it's like the Baptist thread and the Catholic thread, these two things are not the same.

So it's like the Baptist thread and the Catholic thread, these two things are not the same.

So it's like the Baptist thread and the Catholic thread, these two things are not the same.

The coping part of the film, I think, comes in even on some level to the kind of vampire element of it too. Absolutely. Which is one of the things I thought was really interesting because I've seen my share of vampire films I don't think I'd ever seen the kind of vampire question presented in a spiritual frame in the way that these characters do in some ways.

The coping part of the film, I think, comes in even on some level to the kind of vampire element of it too. Absolutely. Which is one of the things I thought was really interesting because I've seen my share of vampire films I don't think I'd ever seen the kind of vampire question presented in a spiritual frame in the way that these characters do in some ways.

The coping part of the film, I think, comes in even on some level to the kind of vampire element of it too. Absolutely. Which is one of the things I thought was really interesting because I've seen my share of vampire films I don't think I'd ever seen the kind of vampire question presented in a spiritual frame in the way that these characters do in some ways.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Exactly. The critic and playwright.

Exactly. The critic and playwright.

Exactly. The critic and playwright.

It's these ancient... Yeah, it's a reference to the deity Papa Legba, who's common in kinds of African forms of spirituality that came with enslaved black people into the South. Yes, sir. But yeah, sometimes people have that idea that that Johnson is at the crossroads, not talking to the devil. He's talking to this deity figure, Papa Legba.