Sundance 2021 Exclusive: Newcomer Camaron Engels On His Leading Role In R#J
Making its World Premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival was the star-crossed lovers film 'R#J, a re-imagining of Romeo and Juliet directed by Carey Williams and starring newcomers Camaron Engels and Francesca Noel. Written by Williams, Rickie Castaneda and Alex Sobolev, also featured in the film are David Zayas, Diego Tinoco, Siddiq Saunderson, and Russell Hornsby.
In fair Verona, a war as old as time is brewing between rival houses—but it’s being captured in a new way. Montague and Capulet Gen Zers are using their cell phones to document the eruptions of violence plaguing their communities. In the middle of it all, Romeo discovers Juliet’s artwork at a party, and the two inevitably fall in love. As tensions between their families escalate, the two plead for peace and desperately search for a way to escape their star-crossed destiny.
For Camaron Engels, who plays Romeo, and is best recognized for his recurring role as Spencer on the 2019 Netflix original series Malibu Rescue, this is major step for the Los Angeles, California native. BlackFilmandTV.com recently caught up with Engels as he spoke about his experience and love for Shakespeare helped him land him a leading role in this film.
How did the role come about for you?
Camaron Engels: The role came about for me in the same way that most of my work has come about. It was just like the typical audition, I was currently working on something else, and I got the audition. It was going to be a tight squeeze but I really wanted to do it because I saw what it was. I’m a big Shakespeare fan and this is my first opportunity to do something on film with Shakespeare, so I had to take it. So I got the audition, and everything happened from there.
How much of Romeo and Juliet did you know and did you have to brush yourself up with the story again?
Camaron Engels: As I was saying before, I'm a huge Shakespeare fan. Shakespeare and I are homeys now, as I like to say, with a lot of my friends, because he and I were enemies at the age of 10. My grandmother would take me to plays to start getting my play repertoire up. She wanted me to start going to see a lot of plays. This was before I was even interested in acting. But I went to go see a lot of Shakespeare plays. I enjoyed it because of the humor and the farcical aspect of it in the costumes, but I wasn't really a fan because I didn't understand a lick of what they were saying. As time went on, I ran into Shakespeare through all of the acting classes that I took. I actually did Romeo and played Romeo multiple times, but never the full play. It was always a scene, or just half of the play. When I went to college, we touched up on Shakespeare a lot. Actually, we had to do something Shakespearean every single year that I was there. Then I studied at LamDa (The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) in London for a year, where I actually saw every single Shakespeare play in the cycle, and made it something on my bucket list that I wanted to do. So when it came to Romeo and Juliet, I knew it like the back of my hand. But you always have to brush up on Shakespeare if you're not reading it consistently, just to get used to the language and remembering some of the details because Shakespeare put details into every single word every single action.
How different is this Romeo from other adaptations that people may have seen or read?
Camaron Engels: The social media aspect, to me personally, I'm using this screen live format that we're using, which was amazing. It was a definitely a journey to get used to being a part of the camera. It was definitely something different than just being in front of the camera. But it really did make this swing life aspect come to life, which I think is going to be super relatable. I think that just opens the Shakespeare world to this generation and the Gen Z generation to understand and be interested in Shakespeare. As for my Romeo. I don't think that it changed it that much in comparison to other Romeos. What I wanted to bring to my Romeo was just truth and honesty, and authenticity because there's a lot of diversity in this room. I don't think there's been another African American Romeo on film. I saw that as a big opportunity to really be authentic and to be what I know I am as a young African American male from Los Angeles, but bringing that into the role. Obviously being very proud of that, but also my personal video. Romeo is a sad boy with a lot of emotions. A young teenager trying to figure out what he wants to do, but he wears his heart on his sleeve, his chest, his face and has no shame in it even at this age. The social media aspect with him sharing is hard everywhere. My difference may be just a lot of truth. A lot of honesty may not be all pretty boy. What some people may be expecting when hearing a typical Romeo, but I do love the truth that I brought to this character. And yeah.
Although this is Shakespeare, this is a movie speaking to a different audience. You know, how are you with social media?
Camaron Engels: That was pretty natural to me. I'm typically on social media. I used to be on it a lot more, posting little videos and skits and whatnot. But luckily, since my career has been doing great, a lot of my time has been taken up filming and reading lots of scripts and stuff. So my social media game right now is a lot of watching a lot of entertainment. I'm on social media a lot, I post a couple of funny videos on the stories and whatnot. I'll post a couple of videos every now and then some dance things, some close things. So it's definitely like I'm not active on it, but I try to balance it, bounce it out. Not being on it too much. I'm definitely not trying to be an influencer.
Was it challenging, knowing you got this role, you’re number one on the call sheet, and this film is going to be seen by a number of good press?
Camaron Engels: Yes. This, when I got this role, I had to meditate on it, and accept the fact that I got it. Because to me, before this film even got accepted to Sundance or accepted at any festival, I just saw the opportunity to do something that I was familiar with. And to do something that I actually enjoyed, and to do something that was different, I was just honored to be able to have the opportunity to do that. That someone else could see me pulling off something so huge. In my eyes, because Romeo is such a deep character, and it's Romeo and Juliet not Juliet and Romeo, and it is at the top of the call sheet, all these things did get to me. At first, I questioned if I was capable of doing it. I haven't even done anything of this stature and all these different things that I think a lot of artists or people, who just care about the art and having it be honest and true, go through. But once the opportunity came to me, I do believe that everything happens for a reason. I met Carey and I met the cast, and I felt like everyone else was on the same page. That we are going to do something that is different; we are going to do something in where we respect the language and respect the word of Shakespeare while also opening the door for other people. Once I saw everybody's on the same board, I took the reins and went in. And honestly, I'm still surprised how amazing it is. I'm surprising myself, and I have to look at myself and accept that I am capable of doing something at this level. I really enjoy the entire process.
What did you pick up from Carey that you can take on to your next project?
Camaron Engels: With Carey, honestly, he invoked a lot of trust in me because he was familiar with Shakespeare and he knew how much I loved Shakespeare. There were a lot of times where we wanted to make sure that this was something that was relatable, whether it be with the clothes, the settings, but also with the language. There are a few times where I wanted to stick to the language a little bit more. I thought it brought something different for Romeo and I think he saw it as well. There were a lot of times where we didn’t want to take away from it too much. We don't want to do this and do that. Carey invoked a lot of trust in me with the language and with that character. I am used to a lot of directors giving us a chance to do something, but then pretty much just like saying, "okay, I want you to here. I want you there. I'm looking for this, or I think this needs to read more, and this and that," which is all helpful in its own way. Having this much trust from Carey with this character, and him telling me that I am this character and that I am Romeo, felt good. I kept saying to myself, "I don't know if this is going to look good on camera, or are people are going to believe that I can be Romeo,” and he would say, “You need to just know that you are this guy." He invoked a lot of confidence in me as well with such a big role, because he could see in my eyes that I was thinking about these questions. I really appreciated it and allowed me to be really free with this character.