Exclusive: Director Mark Tonderai Talks Working With Omari Hardwick, Loretta Devine In Psychological Horror Thriller ‘Spell’

Coming out this week is the psychological horror-thriller Spell starring Omari Hardwick (Power, Sorry to Bother You) and Loretta Devine (The Carmichael Show, P-Valley). Directed by Mike Tonderai (House at the End of the Street, Locke & Key) from a script written by Kurt Wimmer (Children of the Corn, Law Abiding Citizen), Spell is set to hit premium video-on-demand and digital platforms from Paramount Home Entertainment on October 30.

While flying to his father’s funeral in rural Appalachia, an intense storm causes Marquis (Omari Hardwick) to lose control of the plane carrying him and his family.  He awakens wounded, alone and trapped in Ms. Eloise’s (Loretta Devine) attic, who claims she can nurse him back to health with the Boogity, a Hoodoo figure she has made from his blood and skin. Unable to call for help, Marquis desperately tries to outwit and break free from her dark magic and save his family from a sinister ritual before the rise of the blood moon.

For Tonderai, whose directorial debut was the 2009 film Hush followed by the 2012 Jennifer Lawrence film House at the End of the Street, this is his first feature film in nearly 10 years. The British director has worked on a number of TV series such as Gotham, Black Lightning, Doctor Who, Tell Me a Story and currently Locke and Key for Netflix.

BlackFilmandTV.com caught up with Tonderai as he spoke about working on this film and its lead actors.

How did the project come to you?

Mark Tonderai: When you get into an ODA, which is an open directing assignment, they're very hard to get. Because the chances of getting it is so variable. The route can be very different. I don't like to do them because there's a lot of work you do previous. You do artwork, do storyboards, the posters and this is one that came across my lap, and I really liked the things that were that were on display. I really like the themes of rage of black male identity, colorism, urbanization versus crystallization. I liked all the themes, so I went for it. Because I do episodic TV as well, I was on a job in Canada, and I flew back and pitch three times to the executives and producers, and then to the head of the studio. And I got it. And the rest is history.

Now, the minute people saw the trailer, there was an assumption by some that this is a black version of the Kathy Bates film Misery. Can you explain how this movie is not, or how similar it could be?

Mark Tonderai: Well, there's only seven stories in the world, right? And every every story is a variation of that. There's only 12 notes, and every song is a variation of that. There's always going to be points or similarities between every story to be honest and Misery is a point of reference just because it's a two hander. In regards to Misery, one of the things that I did was make sure that I gave nods to it so the law firm that he works in was called Woods and Sheldon, because Paul Sheldon was the character of Misery.

We also showed penguins, which Annie Wilkes loved when she held Paul hostage. Angel Heart is another film that is referenced in this film. There's films in there that have obviously influenced me, but this is nowhere near Misery. Misery is about an author, who's forced to write a book. Misery is more about some obsession and the cost of obsession. This isn't that at all. This film is about two ways of life and butting against each other. One way of life, which is our way of life, is urbanization, cell phones, money, clothes, all of the things that we don’t really need. 

The other way of life is community and herbalization. Their community is anti electronic devices. It’s really about these two ways of life coming towards each other. Another theme is belief and how belief is different for different people. I've real respect for voodoo culture. That's what Loretta’s character believes in, and Omari's character believes in money. So that's another sort of theme in there. Rage is another theme. Omari’s character was was brutalized as a child. When he comes back for his father's funeral, he has to confront those demons. In a way, it's about a man that always runs. So for me, this film has DNA from lots of other films. And so that's what I would say to that answer.

How was working with Omari and Loretta?

Mark Tonderai: First off they're brilliant actors, both of them. I don't call them actors, I call the truth tellers. They connect with the truth. They connect with something out there that is really transcendent. There's a cost to that. A lot of factors have a great sort of weaknesses, because there is a cost for that sort of time. But these two are just unbelievable. They connect with the truth in such a way that's so pure. They both worked so hard on this part. Miss Loretta, and I call her that because I have the utmost respect for her as a performer and as a human being. She has been around for a long time, and has never quite got the accolades that I think she truly deserves. I seen her in a lot of things that she was playing the grandmother or the kind mother, or the kind auntie, whatever it might be, but I could see in her eyes, there was a kind of venom there that I want to really sort of bring into this. There's also kind of matriarchal filter that she has. And I thought, what if we show a different version of her to the one that you see on other programs or films. That was my thought was with Miss Loretta. 

Omari is a movie star. If anybody gets a chance to see this film on the big screen, you'll see what I mean. Movie stars for me don't need words. They can just do it in their eyes like Steve McQueen, Robert Mitchum, and Robert Shaw. These are people for me that you just put the camera on them, and they can tell you everything about what their feelings with just one look. Omari's that brilliant. I promise you. Every time I do an action, this guy just went for it. When you work with people like this, and John Beasley, it just makes your job so much more easier because they're taking the same seriousness that you're taking. They're also bringing their A game, which is what I asked for people to do and that's what they did.