In We Grown Now, Lil Rel Howery plays Jason, a single father in the Chicago Cabrini-Green public housing projects in the early 1990s. The film, directed by Minhal Baig, portrays the friendship of two young boys as Michael Jordan‘s ascendence looms large and tragedy strikes the neighborhood.
Ahead of We Grown Now's theatrical release (via Sony Pictures Classics) on April 19, ClutchPoints spoke with Howery about trusting Haig's vision, improvising in Get Out, why Hoop Dreams is the GOAT, and how to fix the Chicago Bulls.
Note: This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Lil Rel Howery-We Grown Now interview
ClutchPoints: What resonated with you about We Grown Now?
Lil Rel Howery: Growing up in that time period, when everything happened in '92. Then, my conversation with Minhal, realizing how much research she did — she's from Chicago and the way she wanted to tell the stories of the families that lived in Cabrini-Green. And not from the stereotypical ways it's been told before about people who live in housing projects, but really depicting and showing the actual families.
That's what makes this film beautiful. It's a tragedy that happens, but it's not the focus. It's more or less how they work through the tragedy, and those conversations they had to work through those. You start learning history of that community. That's what drew me.
CP: Could you see Baig's visual style on the page?
LRH: You knew it sounded good. It read well. I love what this story is. Sometimes you don't know how anything will look until you see it.
I'm very observant on set, and I was watching things, but I had to pause it a couple of times because the shots were done so well, it made you emotional. Not necessarily the dialogue, [but] the shots. Even them going through the art museum and having everybody standing still. Just doing that. Taking that chance. I was like, “Yo, this is crazy.”
She has a beautiful filmmaking eye.
CP: What are you hoping audiences take from We Grown Now?
LRH: It's beautiful watching Black boy joy in a way that I've never seen depicted on film — without these other consequences, just the friendship. Watching them two boys laugh together. I think it's a beautiful thing to see. And it's friendship, just from young men in general. We don't watch that all the time.
I can't even describe it. That's why I get emotional when I watch the movie. I cried a couple times. Even the way they ditched school — you can't do that no more.
That was just an innocent time to be a kid, man. And the movie shows that, and I think that's cool.
CP: Who in your life helped you channel Jason?
LRH: It was my dad. Those times he had to give me a sitdown and watch where I went. How difficult it had to be, to want your kids to be still kids, but now the gangs are prevalent and there's drive-bys happening. There's loose bullets with no name on it. You gotta be careful — you gotta watch who you hang out with.
I had to start making these very serious life decisions at a really early age. As a parent, that had to be tough, because you just want your kids to feel safe.
As a parent, looking at it from like, “I wish I could do better so I could have better from my kids. But this is what it is. So we gotta make this work,” I pulled a lot from what my dad's perspective would be.
CP: Do you approach drama differently than comedy?
LRH: Honestly, [I approach it] the same. What the approach is, for me, is just my process, I'll read the first script one good time — I've got like a photographic memory — and then before I start to film, I start trying to figure out who this character is, whether it's a comedy or dramatic… I start thinking about [that] way too deeply. By the time we get to set, I focus on daily what we have to do, so my character feels natural.
There's that scene where the boys run away and come back. My goal was to make it look like, he wants to look like he knows what he's talking about, but he doesn't know what he's doing.
For Get Out, my character telling the Jeffrey Dahmer story from his perspective. It's not how Jordan [Peele] wrote it, but it's whatever this dude thought he was hearing about it. None of that stuff was even true facts. But I was so far into character, I just let it go where it was gonna go. Those are those very Lil Rel nerdy things.
CP: Who are some comedians you think do a great job with dramatic work?
LRH: I'll tell you my top two: Robin Williams and Bernie Mac.
Robin Williams was so brilliant, [the] silliest comic you could think of. He was the alien in Mork & Mindy! You can't be more silly than that. But man, when you see him in Good Morning Vietnam or What Dreams May Come, he would have sincerity in his eyes. Mrs. Doubtfire's a comedy, but you could tell he's talking to his own children.
Bernie done the same thing. You think about Above the Rim. When it was time for him to hit you with the seriousness, he could give you that. He knew how to pull in and pull out in a heartbeat.
CP: What are your favorite Chicago movies?
LRH: Hoop Dreams is one of the most perfect documentaries ever made. And really our first reality show. Nobody looks at it from that perspective. It was so real and so raw.
I saw Hoop Dreams for the first time my freshman year in high school. They took all the honor roll kids. We didn't even know what we were gonna see! I want you to imagine how my mind was blown.
We didn't even know we was gonna meet Arthur Agee after the movie. I was losing it! To me, it was like looking at a superstar. And at that time he was still in college!
Weirdly enough, we became friends. He actually sent me a Marshall High School jersey that he wore in the movie.
Hoop Dreams is the greatest, not only Chicago movie, basketball movie of all time. That and The Last Dance. That's it for me. I'm emotionally attached to both of them.
CP: Where are you at with the Bulls?
LRH: How honest do you want me to be? I hope Billy Donovan goes [to] coach Kentucky. It doesn't look like they're going to fire him, so hopefully he quits. I just think we need a new coach. And at some point we gotta figure out what we're gonna do with Zach LaVine. You gave him this big contract, and, honestly, they're playing better without him.
I watch every single game the Bulls play. I'm gonna watch the Pistons game tonight. Me and my brother get on the phone at halftime.
I'll never forget the playoff game, where Michael Jordan was retired, [in] '94. Bulls at Knicks in New York at the Garden. We were listening on the radio, Neil Funk. We thought the game was over. “Bulls got it! They win!” Cause we needed that game, cause we knew we were winning at home. Then, “Wait a minute! No! They blew a whistle! They called a foul! Horace Grant on Greg Anthony! That's disgusting!”
We were supposed to be asleep. My momma could hear us almost tearing up. She was like, look, “I ain't gonna get mad at you. They lost.”
We Grown Now will be released on April 19.
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