If you frequent Collider, odds are you’ve read a piece in which I gush over Kelvin Harrison Jr.’s work. Guess what? The trend is about to continue courtesy of Harrison Jr.’s latest, Monster, which is now available to stream on Netflix.
Harrison Jr. leads the film as Steve Harmon, an honor student with hopes of becoming a filmmaker. When Steve is charged with felony murder, he sees his character called into question by a prosecution painting him as a monster and pushing those hopes and dreams far out of reach in the process. Did Steve really lose his promising future by participating in the crime or is he caught up in a rigged system? Yet again, Harrison Jr. delivers commanding work as Monster takes a deeply personal approach to exploring the situation Steve finds himself in and the man he really is.
With Monster celebrating its Netflix release this weekend, I got the chance to chat with Harrison Jr. about his journey with the film, beginning with a rather unusual audition experience. Turns out, Harrison Jr. actually didn’t get the role when he first auditioned. Here’s what happened:
“It’s so funny because the process was so long. I remember I got the script a year before I ended up actually meeting Anthony. I think there was a different director and I didn’t get the part. And then I came back and they were like, ‘Oh, do you still want to do it?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t think I can.’ I got discouraged. I was like, ‘Okay, well I’m not good enough to do this thing.’ And so Avy Kaufman our casting director convinced me to go in, to meet Anthony and do the camera test with Anthony and all the producers.”
While Harrison Jr. has massed quite the filmography in the last few years, when he filmed Monster, it was actually one of his very first lead roles. Fortunately though, Harrison Jr. was able to learn from some of the best of the best leading up to production having filmed It Comes At Night with Joel Edgerton and Carmen Ejogo right before.
“Seeing Joel specifically and Carmen and how they prepped, how they talked to the director, how they navigated when things didn’t work. And figuring [out], how do we collaborate in a moment? How do we utilize the time we have? Because, you know, I got to the set and suddenly I was in every scene of a movie and I remember it was such a short shoot. Usually on a big movie, you shoot three scenes for the day. We would shoot seven, so it’d be like, you gotta get it done a couple takes in and then move on to the next thing. It was like TV to an extent! And so I think that skillset and watching how they kept the morale up - even watching Jennifer Ehle on this movie though. She was very kind. She knew everyone’s name, even the extras. She would say good morning, she was always on time. The work ethic that played into it lends to being able to do the work better and being able to be the artist you want to be and tell the story you want to tell.”
Harrison Jr. already has a lot to be proud of, but he’s got an especially significant project coming up next. He’s officially set to star in Searchlight Picture’s Joseph Bologne biopic, Chevalier de Saint-George. Bologne was the son of a salve and a plantation owner, and went on to become a famed composer, violinist and also a champion fencer. As the son of a classically trained saxophonist, Harrison Jr. grew up around music and became a talented musician himself, but preparing to play such a renowned individual seems like it requires some next-level training. Here’s what Harrison Jr. had to say about the project and what he’s busy doing in the months leading up to filming:
“I’m so grateful. I am so excited. The script is stunning. It’s stunning and Steven Williams our director is an incredible human. He’s so smart and the process so far, I don’t start shooting until three months from now, but the prep right now is just crazy! I have to learn how to fence, I’m in violin lessons right now and supposed to be practicing four hours a day - supposed to be. [Laughs] It’s a lot that comes with it, but it is very exciting and just learning about this man and embodying this man right now has been such a gift to me and I’m sure everyone’s gonna love this movie. And it’s just gonna be a great history lesson.”
If you’d like to hear more from Harrison Jr. on his experience working on Monster, be sure to check out our full conversation at the top of this article!