Podtalk: Dewayne Perkins, Co-Writer and Actor in ‘The Blackening’

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CHICAGO – The poster says, “We Can’t All Die First,” referring of course to the killer/slasher film that regularly murders the black member of friend group first. The film is “The Blackening” and it came from the mind of co-writer and featured actor Dewayne Perkins, who conceived of the idea initially as a sketch.

The film interrogates the trope that the African-American character is often the first to die in horror movies by placing an all-Black group of friends (Dewayne Perkins, Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Antoinette Robertson and Sinqua Walls) at a cabin in the woods, where they are confronted with a masked killer who demands that they rank their degrees of blackness so that he can determine the correct order in which to kill them, and must rely on a combination of street smarts and their own knowledge of horror film tropes to survive.

Dewayne Perkins of ‘The Blackening’
Photo credit: Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com

Dewayne Perkins is Chicago born and raised, and began his early career here, receiving training at The Second City and the iO Theater. After breaking out with his improv trio 3Peat, he began the journey of “The Blackening” as a sketch which eventually played on Comedy Central. From there he joined the writing staffs of “The Break with Michelle Wolf,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ and “The Amber Ruffin Show.” He is currently working on a series for ABC-TV.

In a Podtalk with Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com, co-writer and actor Dewayne Perkins talks origins and issues behind “The Blackening” …

In video compilation, Dewayne Perkins talks about his breakout character …

Trailer for “The Blackening” …

By PATRICK McDONALD Editor and Film Critic/Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com