Juel Taylor is a first-time feature film director, but he’s not new to Hollywood. With Tony Rettenmaier, his writing partner and former classmate at the University of Southern California film school, Taylor helped write the sequels “Creed II” (2018) and “Space Jam: A New Legacy” (2021), establishing his credentials as an engineer of mainstream popcorn entertainment.
His first behind-the-camera effort, the comedy-sci-fi conspiracy-thriller “They Cloned Tyrone,” has a smaller profile, but is even more ambitious in some ways. Starring John Boyega, Jamie Foxx and Teyonah Parris and streaming on Netflix, the original story – written by Taylor and Rettenmaier – packs intoxicating questions about structural racism, personal autonomy and the search for meaning into one meaty package.
In the film, a diligent small-time drug dealer named Fontaine (Boyega), who may or may not be a clone, teams up with his least favorite clients – Slick Charles (Foxx) and Yo-Yo (Pariss) – to unravel a sinister plot that will upend everything he believes about himself and the world.
Taylor, 36, who grew up in Tuskegee, Ala., discussed the story’s surprisingly personal origins, playing with and against racial stereotypes, and why he might owe his career to the Gnarls Barkley song “Crazy” in a few video interviews. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
Where did “Tyrone” begin for you?
Everything happened in a kind of weird little outburst. In 2017 me and Tony worked with Macro [the company that produced “Tyrone”] in an episode of their show ‘Raising Dion’. Then in 2018 we were hired to work on “Creed II” and we pitched and sold this movie as we worked on it.
What was the original idea for the story?
It was a few things. I knew I wanted to do a mystery, like a bootleg Scooby-Doo where the detectives are inadequate, but somehow uniquely equipped. And then there was a joke I had with Tony: a pimp, a prostitute and a drug dealer walk into a bar. What if we made them heroes?
But the actual story didn’t come until I discovered Fontaine’s character. In 2016 I got back in touch with a friend from the university. He was arrested for something when we were 18 or 19 that eventually changed the course of his life. I had always been a bit critical of him, thinking he had so much potential, but in this conversation he revealed that he was dealing with depression. He just didn’t know how to tell anyone then. It has completely changed my perspective. I started thinking a lot about guilt and responsibility and then all the elements of the movie came together. A man has an identity crisis and he must overcome circumstances beyond his control.
Are you generally someone who thinks in terms of genre?
I do think in terms of genre, but usually the mood and tone come to mind first. Often it’s a song or a piece of score and I’ll try to relive what that feels like. This movie was a lot of ’80s R&B and funk – Bootsy Collins, Mary Jane Girls, Patrice Rushen, Alicia Myers – and southern rap, everything from Three 6 Mafia and Project Pat to UGK and Big KRIT
What about movie influences?
Definitely “The Truman Show” and “They Live.” This movie is basically like “The Truman Show” and “They Live” had a baby. There’s also a little bit of “The Matrix” in it. A bit of “The Manchurian Candidate.” A little “Anaconda.” In terms of tone, we were really inspired by ‘Jackie Brown’, ‘Boogie Nights’ and ‘The Big Lebowski’. And then for world building we looked at ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ and ‘It Follows’.
Did you always know you wanted to make movies?
Originally I wanted to do video game design. I went to the University of Florida for undergrad and did this program called digital arts and sciences. But I soon found out that I wasn’t a great art student. The only project I did that was successful and really enjoyed it was a music video I made inspired by the Gnarls Barkley song ‘Crazy’. From there, I somehow got it into my head that I wanted to make movies.
The film is set in a fictional Southern neighborhood called The Glen, which seems a bit stuck in time. How similar is it to where you grew up?
Terribly. Many places in the South don’t have the resources and infrastructure they should, so while the people may be making the best of it, there’s still a patina where everything feels like it’s from the ’80s. That was something we always thought about when we designed The Glen.
How did you get the idea to include stereotypical ideas about black culture in the plot? It refers to everything from fried chicken to grape juice to perm cream.
We worked back from Fontaine’s character. He is in this situation through no fault of his own. Who put him there? And what else are they planning? I thought about all these conspiracies I heard growing up and just tried to have fun with it and be a little crass. It was a matter of walking a tightrope between these absurd plot points and a sort of darker and heavier undertone. I play with the idea of how we see ourselves and how others see us; but in the end i try to make it fun.
Have you ever worried about being perceived as advertising negative images of black people? Or, on the other hand, pass judgment on the culture you portray?
I mean, that’s inevitable. Some of these things make me uncomfortable, so I know some other people will be uncomfortable. We’ve had test screenings where people said, “I understand it’s satire, but I just don’t like to see that.” And I think that’s totally fair. But you’ll have to make peace with that if you’re going to explore these topics at all. As soon as you see someone eating fried chicken on the screen, you’re in some sort of danger zone. I actually know people who say, “I don’t eat chicken in front of white people.”
But I don’t know a way to explore this stuff without putting the images on the screen. Hopefully this is a story and these are characters that people want to engage with. And when you do, you might see some of these stereotypes being deconstructed and things are more than meets the eye. But if that’s not your experience, who am I to tell you that you’re wrong? I don’t want people to think there’s only one way to interpret the movie.
