VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Michael Jai White On His Genre ‘Mashup’ Film ‘Outlaw Johnny Black’

In his latest uInterview, writer, director and actor Michael Jai White spoke about the unusual concept of his latest film Outlaw Johnny Black and how he was able to juggle three roles. 

White explained to uInterview founder Erik Meers how his movie is unique as it is “a mashup of several things.” The film has elements of “faith-based, blaxploitation, western, action, comedy, drama with Kung Fu.” White specifically intended Outlaw Johnny Black to have multiple genres in order to offer “something no one else has seen before.” 

At its core, the film is “a story of loss and a story of forgiveness,” according to White, but he had to make sure that the audience could relate in some way. “During young Johnny’s life where young Johnny feels the loss of that parent and as does the audience,” he shared. “And that audience wants that retribution just as bad as Johnny does.”

He pointed out that “usually comedies are all about the comedy” but wanted to make sure his film differed in this perspective. “You’re bringing them into some place serious and you want the stakes for them to be important as well, and so it’s going to go in and out of these areas but do so seamlessly,” he said.  

Throughout the production of the movie, White had to juggle three different roles as director, writer and actor. He clarified that he sees this as “a blessing” and never saw it “as something daunting at all.”

When asked what his favorite scene was to film or to watch when it was completed, White replied that he had never thought of this before. He explained that his favorite part about the creation of the movie was “the atmosphere.” A special moment he recalled was with the crew when they showed interest in the film. “I was told by several crew people that they never cared about a script, because they, you know, might be setting up light or you know all that kind of stuff, but this is the first time they requested a script,” he said. 

He also noted that he loved working with Erica Ash, although scenes with her were more challenging to get through “because she’s so freaking funny.”

White has worked on several other films before with actors that he’s gotten to know well over the years. He shared that when he wants to cast someone for a role, he’ll “actually name their character after them” and “craft a role with them in mind.” This happened with Gary Anthony Williams’ character, Mayor Williams.