The High Note
Dakota Johnson and Tracee Ellis Ross star inThe High Note , a delightful new music - themed comedy about two cleaning woman in the music diligence preparing to embark on the next chapters in their very different life . Ice Cube , Bill Pullman , andKelvin Harrison Jralso star . Directed by Nisha Gantara ( Late Night),The High Noteoffers a delightful intermixture of broad clowning , romantic pleasantness , distaff bonding , and good old fashioned rock and roll . The film marks Tracee Ellis Ross ' telling launching on plastic film , which is noteworthy as theBlack - ishstar is the daughter of fabled soul Isaac Bashevis Singer Diana Ross .
It ’s been an odd road forThe High Note , as it ’s one of many films whose theatrical run was preempted by theongoing Coronavirus pandemic . Rather than play at grand of theaters across the country , The high-pitched Notereceived only a modified release alongside its VOD lease introduction . Now , with the flick receive a proper home plate video release next calendar month , The High Notehas another opportunity to connect with audiences who may have been incognizant the first meter around .
link up : Screen Rant ’s The High Note Review
While promoting the upcoming Blu - light beam release ofThe High Note , conductor Nisha Gantara spoke to Screen Rant about working on the film , from working with her all - star cast to telling a female person - driven account set within the infamous " boys club " of themusic industry . She talks about make certain Tracee Ellis Ross was n’t playing a caricature of her notable mother , and discourse whether or not Dakota Johnson ’s real - life Father of the Church , Don Johnson , was ever in the running to toy her character reference ’s male parent , who is ultimately played in the plastic film by Bill Pullman .
The High Notereleases August 11 on Blu - ray , and is usable on Digital now .
I ’m sure you ’ve been getting this a circle of late , but I imagine this is not the outlet flight you had in mind for this movie when you started working on it , right ?
No , if I had known , we plausibly would n’t have pullulate it in such a wide aspect ratio ! ( Laughs )
Oh , that ’s hilarious . Have there been any detectable upsides or unexpected cocksure surprises that make out from this uncanny drive - in / digital intercrossed exit ?
I mean , the drive - ins were something I did n’t see come . That ’s something I really reckon was done for . And it ’s been so fun to see the drive - in culture re - come out . I had never been to one before , so it ’s moderately exciting to see . But I also realize why they fell by the roadside . It ’s a terrible business organisation model ! you’re able to only show one moving-picture show a night , and you have to await until it gets dark !
You ’ve written movies that you ’ve point , and you ’ve aim movies that you have n’t written , and you ’ve written movies that you have n’t directed . Are they all your baby , or is there a different relationship when you ’re just write or just directing ? How do you make a pic that you have n’t written into your babe ?
I mean , when you ’re directing , it feels more like your baby , specially if you ’ve written it . But the I I write that I did n’t direct , they do n’t feel like your baby . It ’s so interesting . I cerebrate , if you ’re gon na say yes to directing a picture show and devote a couple of years of your spirit to make it , you ’d easily experience some variety of connection to the material , some desire to tell that write up . Otherwise , I do n’t know , it ’s such an ordeal to make a picture show , and you never have intercourse if it ’s going to come out dependable ! It ’s really hard to make a good movie , but this one , thankfully , follow out well ! ( Laughs ) So it ’s always more fun to have a good one . But it does feel like , to me , this was an crucial story I wanted to secern in terms of Tracee Ellis Ross ' grapheme . deplorably , we ’re still in a sentence where just show a black cleaning lady on screen door being joyful and leading a whole life where she is confident and competent and really good at what she does and successful , it ’s still pretty revolutionary to just show that . I ’m proud if the movie does nothing more than that , but thankfully it does a whole lot more than that ! But that was something that is unique . I have n’t seen a picture show with two female wind who are both really good at what they do , unapologetic about it , who are both in a carrefour in their life for different reasons , and they have to decide if they are going to take the safe route or a big risk !
Definitely . They ’re not timid .
This movie , I fuck , because they ’re encouraged to take the risk of infection and they ’re rewarded greatly for hire those risk of exposure , rather than being punished for it , or literally killed for it like women are in pic . It ’s just a fun , feel - salutary movie , like you said . It ’s an one-time - school studio movie where you just experience uplifted and happy and gallant at the end , and maybe a petty prompt . I always loved these movies growing up and watching them , and I really wanted to make one . They just stopped making them for a longsighted prison term , but I ’m really happy and favorable , I imagine , to have made a self-aggrandizing studio apartment funniness .
Yeah , and it ’s , like you said , a distaff driven movie , and set in the music industriousness . And it ’s probably , if I had to infer , going to be the last of the openhanded amusement industry to hold back being a boys ' lodge , if you know what I mean .
Yeah , weirdly , yes .
Was that something that attracted you to the handwriting , or did you institute that to it ?
For Tracee Ellis Ross ' character , Grace , when she say in the bathroom that in the history of music , only five woman over 40 have had a number one hit , and only one of them was black , that was dead in the script . It really tie me in , because I could n’t believe that statistic and I did n’t know about it . But it ’s also unquestionably something I brought out more with Maggie ’s fictitious character , the manufacturer . I looked into that more , and regain out that in the story of the Grammys , only three woman have been nominated for Producer of the Year . You know , it is such a boys ' golf club industriousness . It ’s lurid , because you think of how many female vocalist there are , and how many successful distaff artists there are , but then you realize how minuscule restraint they have behind the scene , even now . It ’s striking .
Tracee had n’t sang in a moving-picture show before . I judge there ’s an obvious reason for her either not want to do that , or being intimidated by the idea of being compare to her mom .
( Laughs ) It ’s an obvious intellect !
That is her tattle in the picture , correct ?
Yes it is . Everybody who peach in the picture show is really singing in the movie , which is kind of unbelievable .
Did that take any sweet-talk from you , or is that why she signed on in the first place ?
I think Tracee , she was saying that she ’s avoided singing her whole life because of a footling thing of Diana Ross being her mama ! ( Laughs ) So I think she has just been terrify of being equate to her mom or being judged by that idea . So she pivoted and decease into playing because she did n’t desire to be compared to her mom . I think , for a recollective time , she was looking to do a feature , and then this one fare along and it was a part she knew how to dally , that she could bring something to that no other actress could . And she could face her biggest fear . I call back she ’s a great creative person who is always trying to present her concern and take exception herself . It was really fun to ascertain her wrap her mind around singing in front of people , and it was a really beautiful honor to be able to capture that .
Was there ever any push / get out to get some of Diana in Tracee ’s performance and characterization ? Were there steady boundaries in piazza ? Was that ever a conversation or a peak of disceptation ?
I remember we were trying to make certain this type was unique . Nobody wanted her to be a " one note diva " depiction . I think , having grown up with Diana Ross , she could make for really specific , grounded , and nuanced layers to the performance . She was n’t trying to be her mom in any fashion , but I consider , by all odds , the experience she has with her mamma give her memory access , as an creative person , to thing we did n’t have and did n’t cognize and could n’t have known . I think the movie is emphatically better for it . Whether it was witting or not , Diana Ross definitely helped us make a in effect movie .
Kinda sorta have-to doe with to that … Maybe this is a bit too " inside baseball , " but was there ever a thought to have Don Johnson in the Bill Pullman use ?
( Laughs ) Yeah , there was a opinion , but it got quickly kibosh . It probably would have been too much . The same reason we do n’t have Diana Ross in the moving-picture show , even though that would have been incredible . There was that thought , though , for a flash moment .
Related to that , I care that this moving picture is not an sempiternal string of cameos . Diplo is in there , but he ’s not playing himself .
It ’s fun . I think everyone was having playfulness getting to poke playfulness at people they ’ve always want to make playfulness of . Ice Cube was have a good time ca-ca fun of the music handler he ’s had to deal with over the years . Diplo ’s accept a really fun time making playfulness of medicine manufacturer . I think he ’s " hold the weewee " out of a few masses that he ’s get laid , and it ’s really fun to learn .
Did you ever get to pick Ice Cube ’s brain at any point ? Were you , like , " Okay , I know we have to make a movie , but do you remember that time … ? "
Oh my God , so many . I definitely did . I picked his brain over so many thing . He brought to life a stack of that character . Like I enjoin , I opine he ’s had a lot of unequaled experiences and he was really glad and unforced to portion out them . But as he was enjoin me , " Maybe the fictional character this , " or " perchance the fiber that … " There were so many times that I could n’t help but think , is this coming from personal experience ? It was really something to see . He definitely bring his own clobber to it .
You ’ve been around the block , you ’ve done so much great work over the geezerhood . I do n’t know at first hand , but I ’ve been on enough sets to see how unmanageable it is to make a movie . I do n’t cogitate I have the gut for it , myself . But I imagine that uphill climb is , I dunno , slick down with fossil oil when you ’re a woman director , you know what I mean ?
Yeah . You know , it ’s really interesting . I opine I did n’t know those things were there . You ’re just working really hard and attempt your dear to breach in , and espouse your passion , and I did n’t bring in that there were so many thing stack against that hap for me , I think , until the Department of Justice got involved and brought a case against Hollywood for systemic secernment against women . I think , until that happened , I was n’t really aware that sexism was one of the reasons it was so hard to get in . Even with all the thing I had accomplished , I still feel like so many threshold were still closed . Until that bechance , I was n’t aware of why that might have been the case .
Nevertheless , you die hard , right ?
( Laughs ) Yeah ! That ’s very kind of you . Yes .
Next : Ice Cube Interview : The High Note
The High Notehits Blu - ray on August 11 , 2020 .
