Director Gina Prince-Bythewood Talks ‘Beyond The Lights’

By Jorge Carreón.

In an era where becoming a celebrity can be as quick as your 4G mobile phone network, the pressures of sustaining one’s fame are magnified in tandem. Is it possible to be true to yourself when most people count on the fantasy version of you? What happens if you dare to find your own voice and break free to become who you were meant to be? The exciting answers are what inspired director-screenwriter Gina Prince-Bythewood ’s new romantic drama “Beyond the Lights,”

The story of Noni, a hot new award-winning artist primed for superstardom, “Beyond the Lights” reveals what lies beneath the glamour and fame. Just when the pressure causes Noni to nearly fall apart, she meets Kaz Nicol, a promising young LA cop and aspiring politician who’s been assigned to her detail. Drawn to each other, Noni and Kaz fall fast and hard, despite the protests of those around them to put their career ambitions ahead of their romance.

Taking her cue from some of her favorite music films like “Purple Rain,” “Lady Sings the Blues” and “The Rose,” Prince-Bythewood developed the idea of love blossoming within the complicated world of hip hop and R&B.

“I love the way music can fuel a movie,” Prince-Bythewood explained. “It was one of those rare, great moments as a writer where a movie just starts flowing out. This is a film about a woman searching for her worth and she does that by finding her own voice and having the courage to break free from what’s easy.”

Here’s more with Prince-Bythewood, as she composes a bigger picture about the making of “Beyond the Lights” and why it is her most personal film yet.

QUESTION: Who doesn’t love a showbiz drama like “Beyond the Lights?” Half the fun is wondering whether or not we are looking at real life details as to who Noni could be. But this is an original project you’ve written, so what provided you with that first burst of inspiration?

GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: It’s been 14 years since “Love & Basketball” and I wanted to do another love story. But I also wanted to do a music film. It’s one of my favorite genres and I thought, “Let me put those two things together and figure out the story within that space.” Nothing was coming to me and then I went to Alicia Keys’s concert at the Hollywood Bowl. It’s interesting, because I write to music. Every script I have has its own playlist, but I was sitting there and she started singing “Diary,” which is just this amazing love song. Suddenly, this story and this character came into my head and it was as if I was watching a movie and she was scoring it. It was an amazing moment and it was really from there, going home and feeding that initial idea of this young singer who’s struggling to be authentic to herself and being forced into a persona that’s not true to her. It was really fueled by what is going on in the industry today and you see it happening over and over. You read about different stars that have contemplated suicide. If you come out and you’re not authentic to yourself, you can never turn it off, especially in this day and age where social media and cameras everywhere. That’s exhausting. But also, if you’re getting so much love because of a false persona then you feel whom you are really doesn’t deserve love. It’s a vicious cycle that keeps happening.

QUESTION: Is it fair to say that the movie is critical of an industry that creates and breaks the very idols it requires to sustain itself?

GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: There just seems to be a blueprint where you are pushed to be hyper-sexualized and it’s becoming normal. It’s interesting to watch artists who keep trying to push the envelope and they’re competing who can push it the furthest. There’s really nowhere else to go but over a cliff and that’s really where Noni is at the beginning of the film. So it starts with the female and there’s an issue in terms of black women in media. I think it’s very damaging and so it was important to me to put a woman of color up on screen in that role. I’m not putting a perfect character up there. That’s boring. But she’s a human character and I hope that everybody, no matter what’s your race, you go to this film and you can identify with her because her struggle is universal. I wanted to do a true love story and that’s definitely not made at all.

QUESTION: The role of Kaz is not an example of female wish fulfillment. He really gives credence to the importance of aspirational narratives in contemporary film. Kaz, particularly in the way Nate Parker interpreted the role, offers a soulful counterpoint to Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s emotionally fearless performance as Noni.

GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: A love story’s not as interesting to me if it’s focused only on one side of it and I wanted to show both sides. These are two characters that have parallel lives, but one with this father and son relationship is much healthier than the mother daughter. They’re both struggling with trying to find themselves and their authentic selves. It’s just more interesting. The great thing that Nate brought to the character was that he’s a man who can have integrity and be a good guy and not be soft. That was really important. Noni coming from the world that she’s coming from, like if he’s soft, it’s not interesting for her as a character. It’s not interesting for as an audience to see that and it was important just to put a positive portrayal of a black man up on screen that people could identify with.

QUESTION: You can see where elements of romantic melodrama could take place in “Beyond the Lights,” particularly with Minnie Driver’s role as Noni’s mom-ager, Macy. But, the film is a truly grounded piece.

GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: Foremost, I didn’t want to see that. It’s so easy to make Macy a simple villain and have the audience hooting at her. It’s just not interesting to me. It was about starting at a real place, beginning with the script and then into rehearsals. Rehearsals were so much fun and Gugu and Minnie just fed off of each other. It’s about a mother who had a daughter at 17. You’re young and she had no parents to help her out, so she had no blueprint of how to do it and do it right. When you’re that young and that close in age, they talked about how it just evolved into more of a friendship and a business and a sister thing. Now you’re not dealing with each other as mother-daughter. It’s completely different and it becomes sort of a manipulative, snakey thing. But, just the way that Noni is struggling to find her self-worth, so is Macy. The problem is she’s trying to find her self worth in her child. That’s where the relationship got corrupted. Gugu and Minnie dug that and worked on that relationship.

QUESTION: We are witnessing how real women like Macy have gained as much media attention as their famous children. Do you think we are pushing our children too hard to live this sort of existence on their behalf?

GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: Absolutely! I don’t know when it turned, but I do feel it’s fueled by television reality shows. There is a push. I have two boys. You see how early sports start. I started sports I think at age six and played sports my whole life. Kids are starting sports at age three and being on teams and there’s a push to make your child something. If they’re not something, then suddenly they’re not good enough as opposed to what happened to just allowing your child to figure out who they are and be happy?

QUESTION: The media is acknowledging progress with films that focus on a narrative that is specific to black American culture, like “12 Years a Slave” as being mainstream successes. Are we finally turning a corner on a marketing label that is way past its need?

GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: “Beyond the Lights” is a love story set in the music world. The film is about finding that person who sees you, and sees the truth in you and is willing to protect that and protect you. I don’t use the term “black film” because it’s not a genre. I mean, sci-fi, western, love story, those are genres. To say “black film” means that “12 Years a Slave” is the same as “Think Like a Man.” These are two completely different films, so my biggest thing is to abolish that term. The same way I can go see “The Notebook” or “The 40 Year-Old Virgin” and identify with these films and enjoy them, I want the same for “Beyond the Lights” as well.

Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, “Beyond the Lights,” starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Nate Parker and Minnie Driver, is playing in theaters now.