THE SEPHORA QUEEN SHOW: INTERVIEW WITH JAMES SLADE ((james))

Sephora sat at her desk smiling minutes after the interview with Lucille and then said to the audience, "Welcome back to 'ta Sephora Queen show, y'all! In a bit, I'll be interviewing 'ta one and only James Slade. Let me show y'all a clip of one of 'ta music videos he directed, and welcome him to 'ta show!"

James casually walked on, taking a moment to wave to the audience before he sat down. He was pretty used to interviews like this, and actually quite enjoyed them. Not only were they great for press, but it also gave him a chance to talk about himself, which was great.

"We haven't heard from yuh boyfriend, Marles Chanson, in a while. How's he doin'?" asked Sephora with a smile.

"He's doing really well, as usual," James replied, "he's just been busy. He started his own lingerie line, so that's been taking up quite a bit of his time. But yeah, he's great."

'Tat's good. Everyone has been wonderin' how yuh managed to get Ulysses and Lucille tuh be in your film since it's usually difficult foh a indie directuh to get such huge stars," she responded nodding.

"Yeah," he nodded, "it's definitely usually pretty difficult for most people to get bigger actors and actresses on independent films and the like. But, I'm fortunate to have already established myself enough, so I guess it just came down to luck and connections. I also hope the quality of the script played a part."

Sephora looked at him and questioned, "If yuh currentlay workin' on a script foh anotha film, who are ya hopin' to star in it?"

"I actually am working on another script currently," he replied, showing some enthusiasm. "I'm hoping to have my daughter, Huey, play one of the leads."

"Can yuh give us an idea on what's it's about or is it gon' be a suhprise? If yuh could make a movie without any restricshuns, who would ya cast?" she asked with a smile.

"I'm not going to be releasing any details just yet," James grinned surreptitiously. "But, I don't really know who I'd cast. It's more about matching people with certain roles, y'know? Like, I'm not gonna cast someone just because they're a great actor–there are a lot of great actors out there. Rather, I'd like to choose someone who's not only a great actor, but who I also feel fits the role."

She nodded to show that she understand and decided to also ask, "What caused ya to want to cast Ulysses and Lucille? 'ta thing that many people find interestin' is 'tat you and Ulysses are like 'ta same age."

"I just felt like they'd both do a good job with their roles, to be honest," James shrugged, "it was really one of those moments where you just kind of like, see someone in something and you kind of just get that sudden feeling of 'holy shit they'd be perfect for the part'!"

"I know most of 'ta time, stars have ta go audition and wait many weeks just to hear back. Did ya have them audition certain scenes in 'ta movie as a way to see if they can fully pull it off?" responded Sephora.

"I was kind of confident with their acting skills already, so not really," he shrugged. "Of course, once I had already gotten both on board, I did have them read a couple of scenes together just to see how well they were able to play off of each other, 'cause that's always really important."