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We’ve got two industry powerhouses coming together this weekend in The Photograph. Issa Rae continues to build on the great success of Insecure by adding yet another feature film to her growing resume. While she did have a supporting role in The Hate U Give and starred in the Will Packer produced comedy Little, The Photograph marks the very first time she’s leading a feature film that isn’t a comedy. As for LaKeith Stanfield, what can’t this guy do? We’ll be here for hours if I start going through his entire filmography, but just to name a few - Short Term 12, Get Out, Sorry to Bother You, Uncut Gems and Knives Out - all wildly different projects and roles that continue to prove Stanfield’s potential is limitless. And now we can add The Photograph to the roster as well.

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Image via Universal Pictures

Rae plays Mae in the movie. Her mother is a famous photographer and when she unexpectedly passes, a specific photograph in a safe-deposit box box kicks off Mae’s journey of learning more about her mother’s past and understanding the difficult decisions she made. It turns out, Stanfield’s character, journalist Michael Block, winds up learning a good deal about Mae’s mother as well via an assignment he’s working on, and a relationship starts to blossom between the two as they uncover more and more through that photo.

With The Photograph hitting theaters nationwide on February 14th, I got the chance to sit down with Rae and Stanfield to discuss some of the new challenges they experienced working on this movie, what it was like improvising with co-star Lil Rel Howery, Stanfield’s hopes to play the Joker one day, and loads more. You can catch it all in the video interview at the top of this article and, if you’re looking for more The Photograph conversations, click here for my chat with Howery.

Issa Rae and LaKeith Stanfield:

  • Without comedy, what did Rae find herself leaning on in this romantic drama?
  • Rae and Stanfield talk about the minimal rehearsal time.
  • Rae about working on her hilarious scene with the two kids in the movie.
  • Stanfield on improvising with Lil Rel Howery.
  • Stanfield on his interest in playing the Joker and who he’d like to direct the movie.
  • Rae and Stanfield reveal what they’ve got the most photographs of on their phones and their most important photographs.