A modern romance set against the rapidly changing landscape of Brooklyn, “Love, Brooklyn” follows a writer (André Holland, “Moonlight”) as he navigates complicated relationships with his ex, an art gallery owner (Nicole Beharie, “Miss Juneteenth”), and his current lover, a newly-single mother (DeWanda Wise, “She’s Gotta Have It”), all with the grounding support of his best friend (Roy Wood Jr., The Daily Show).
Premiering at Sundance, the film marks a deeply personal and grounded directorial effort by Rachael Abigail Holder.
In her director’s statement, Holder writes:
On a bike ride, when the sun shines and the breeze hits my face, I can easily cry at the beauty in the ordinary. I am a highly sensitive person. I also happen to be Black. When I first read the script I saw a timeless story about the wrestle that is love and I also saw myself. The screenplay was written by Paul Zimmerman, about the relationships he had while he was young. But I pictured Black people and the present day. As a filmmaker, I want to tell stories about sensitive Black people who cry and feel, in life not tragic or saccharine. What I read felt like the perfect story. I was seven months pregnant during production.
When my now eleven month old baby hears music in a minor key or if my extended family and I, which we often do, sing in unison, she will tear up. It is easy for her to deeply soften. I am proud of our movie because it is a story about people with brown skin who soften easily. I hope to expand the representation of what it means to be Black and what’s cool about this moment of inclusion in storytelling is that I don’t have to try to represent Blackness as a whole or all Black people. I can be really specific with how I see people, how they love, hide from love and ultimately show up for it. I want to show the soft parts of the people who look like me. I want to show the sensitive bits that show up, not when we are in danger or inferior but when we are in love.
– Director Rachael Abigail Holder
We spoke with Rachael Abigail Holder about what it meant to adapt “Love, Brooklyn” into her own voice, the process of building an authentically Brooklyn world, working with a dream cast, and how she hopes this film will give the audience solace in their everyday lives. opens in theaters nationwide tomorrow, September 5. In Chicago, it will screen at the Siskel Film Center from September 5 through 17.
Can you talk about adapting this film into your own voice? You mentioned in your director’s statement that it was written by a white dude, and you kind of took it and made it your own. It actually made me think of—it’s different, but—Sofia Coppola, when she made “The Virgin Suicides,” which was based on a book written by a guy. And what she did for bringing young girls to the screen—I feel like you brought the Black community in Brooklyn to the screen and really elevated it. Can you talk a little bit about that adaptation?
Thank you for that compliment, that’s so nice. I changed some of the cultural references so it would make sense—so that it wouldn’t just be, you know, a movie dunked in chocolate. I read it, and it felt like it was a story about my community—going to grad school, living in Brooklyn, having sisters and aunts and cousins and friends in the arts. And what that struggle is like after you’ve stopped being a starving artist and you’ve sort of made it… but everything around you is changing in a way that still makes you feel like you’re struggling.
So when I read it, especially with the women, I saw Black characters. And I didn’t really want to change too much of Paul’s writing—especially his dialogue. My approach to dialogue is very different from his, and I wanted the audience to feel what I felt when I read it: that this is a timeless, human piece. Any culture can sort of fit easily into it.
Yeah, that’s so great. I really love how you brought Brooklyn to life in this film. What stood out to me was the authenticity—the way you used Brooklyn musicians and Brooklyn art. I loved the whole art aspect of the film, especially the analysis of the paintings. I really appreciated that as an artist myself. Can you talk about some of the authentic parts of the film?
We were an independent film, and we just needed to call on favors—and it made the most sense to call on the favors of people in the city we were making the movie about. André Holland, who starred in and produced the film, was incredibly helpful in that—just calling on his people.
Our producer, Patrick Wengler, brought in Jordan Orionn. She’s this rising star—this Black woman—and she’s amazing. I just want to give her a shoutout because we used two of her songs in the film. Patrick was scouring the internet to find people with cool music that fit the tone, and she was so generous and cool. Her song ends the movie, and it’s also in a pivotal scene with Casey (Nicole Beharie) and André’s character, Roger. She was really an unknown talent, and I hope she becomes more known because of this film.
Let’s talk about the cast—André Holland, Nicole Beharie, and DeWanda Wise. They’re all in some of my favorite films—”Miss Juneteenth,” “Moonlight,” “Someone Great.” What was it like working with them?
DeWanda was someone I had met way back in 2006 in the theater space, so I kind of knew her personally already. And André and Nicole were both artists I admired from afar—as an audience member.
The story I tell about working with André—we had an initial Zoom in 2019, where I pitched him the idea of playing Roger. We exchanged information to stay in touch, and eventually he became a producer. He was a huge reason the film happened in the first place. But to me, he was André Holland from “Moonlight”—and I had to put a special ringtone on my phone when he called. It was nerve-wracking! I had to calm my nervous system down just to answer. So I made this ringtone to give myself a heads-up, you know?
Thankfully, by the time we got to production, I was calling him all the time like, “Did we get this? Did we get that?”—and it was way more comfortable. I feel like that perfectly colors the progression of our relationship.
And Nicole—she’s still sort of like that to me. I mean, she’s so sweet and kind and generous as an artist, but if she were to call my phone right now, I’d probably freak out. She’s such an amazing actor.
DeWanda too—let me just speak to her artistry. Knowing her helped me feel more at ease, but she also brought this comfort on set because she’s such a storyteller herself. She’s a writer and director too, so we were able to communicate in a way that was different from all my other interactions with talent.
I had made all these decks for my characters—character bios, sketches of their costumes, homes, habits, everything. And DeWanda created her own deck for her character, Nicole. We ended up blending our ideas before production, so we had this shorthand—it was really nice. I’m just so excited to work with her again.
Talk about working with Steven Soderbergh. I know he was involved as an executive producer. Did you get to work with him directly during production?
Soderbergh was André’s connection. Before we met, he was like this mythical creature in the sky. He came in when we were close to finalizing funding but still needed a chunk more. He didn’t just write a check—he was also an artist in our process, and a great collaborator. He watched cuts and gave notes.
I remember meeting him before production—he was really supportive, but I was terrified. I mean, he’s a great filmmaker and he gave us money to do the thing, you know? André was there with me, thank God. At one point, André asked, “Is there any advice you want to give her?” And Soderbergh just said, “No, I watched her shorts. She’s gonna be great.” (laughs)
Later, we watched my director’s cut together during post, and that was wonderful. He gave us incredible notes. It was just such a gift to have him involved—in more ways than one.
What do you hope people take away from the film? I know a lot of people have seen it on the festival run, but feel free to do a two-parter—for folks seeing it now in theaters and also the feedback from the festivals.
Yeah. I think during the festival run—outside of Sundance, which was really remarkable and fancy and cool—I got to bring my parents, who are immigrants, and say, “Look, I did it.” That was really wonderful.
But one of the greatest gifts has been watching it at other festivals with audiences who aren’t in the industry. The feedback we get after—during the Q&As—has been incredible. We were just at the BlackStar Film Festival in Philly, and it was so special.
There’s a pace to the movie that was a North Star for me. I wanted people to leave with the kind of energy you feel after a nice walk in nature. So much of what we watch now is made to cater to our shortened attention spans. Slower pieces are either super sad or just… slow. But what’s nice about our story—what Paul wrote, and what we all built together—is that it creates a feeling from the beginning where you know everything’s going to be okay.
And I hope that’s what people leave with—especially with all the changes in the world and in their own cities. I hope they leave with some solace, feeling like everything… might actually be okay.
