- Hi, I'm Radha Blank.
I'm the writer director of "The Forty-Year-Old Version,"
and this is my mood board.
(upbeat music)
A lot of my visual inspirations
for "The Forty-Year-Old Version"
come from hip-hop videos from the 90s.
I feel it was a time where the culture
was experimenting with its image of itself.
There are videos from artists like Digable Planets,
Tribe Called Quest and Queen Latifa
that show this hip-hop artists in a narrative
that maybe they weren't depicted in before.
I just feel like it was a time
when the culture kind of opens itself up
to dramatic narrative.
Those videos were very inspirational to me.
I also found myself inspired
by the work of John Cassavetes, Hal Ashby, Kathleen Collins,
Spike Lee, Robert Townsend,
filmmakers who regarded New York as a character itself.
So making sure that we had wide shots
where you see different kinds of life happening in a scene.
In a lot of those films,
I feel like they employed real people.
It needs to feel lived in,
and it needs to come from a place of authenticity.
One of my big influences
was the photography work of Roy DeCarava,
who often captured Black and brown people
in black and white film.
But the beauty is that he regarded his subject
in a way that reflected nuance in their skin tones.
You know, it wasn't simply monochromatic
black and white film.
There was this beautiful mid-tone and silver tones
that show up in people's skin.
Another one of my big influences
for "The Forty-Year-Old Version"
was the photography work of Carrie Mae Weems.
She's often a subject in her storytelling
depicting a Black woman in contemplation,
someone who is trying to get
a better understanding of herself
and even looking into a mirror.
And so you'll see a lot of mirrors show up in my film.
Sometimes my reflection is blocked,
other times it's very present,
and of course, Spike,
I feel like he's given a lot of filmmakers of color
permission to work in black and white,
but also Christopher Guest,
just in terms of like trying to capture something
through a mockumentary lens.
He's never trying to be funny.
I think he's always trying to be honest.
These are filmmakers and elements that inspired the film.
So when it came to the costumes and wardrobe
of the world of "Forty-Year-Old Version,"
I worked very closely with Sarah Williams,
who was our wardrobe department head.
We have this conversation about, you know,
if we're shooting in black and white,
that we want to make sure we are still able
to create texture and tone through wardrobe.
You know, you'll have several actors in a scene
sitting at a table together
with different shapes and patterns
that might seem like they don't complement each other,
but in this particular scene,
in this space where the wall behind them is white,
it creates this interesting texture.
We talked about, you know,
using texture in a weird way to create color.
That became our answer to that.
I worked with Valeria De Felice
on production design and set design.
When we sat down together for the first time,
she mentioned Carrie Mae Weems.
You know, she was like,
I think your apartment and other parts of the world
are a place to celebrate Black women artists.
So when we're in Archie's apartment,
you see artwork of Simone Leigh.
There's a beautiful bust, you know,
woman with an Afro that's sitting on his mantle
and then there's the photography of Delphine Fawundu,
and so, you know, she was already kind of keyed in to,
you know, using set design
to speak to the journey of the character,
but also angle the camera on other Black women artists.
You know, the actors really do take on the characters
and create them.
The biggest thing for me to do is to trust them.
And so when it comes to like
working with Peter Kim and working with Oswin,
and then working with the amazing young actors
who play my students,
like I can't teach anybody how to be that person.
They're bringing that into the room.
And my thing is like, as a conductor,
I just want all the instruments playing
and in the right key, you know,
but I'm not going to tell you how to play a tuba.
I don't play the tuba, so how can I tell you how to play it?
You know, I look at a slew of actors,
and then I find the person I feel best embodies the role.
And then I let them, through conversations,
I let them take it from there.
There was never another title for this film.
It was always "The Forty-Year-Old Version."
And I'll tell you,
yes, I am appropriating Judd Apatow's title, okay?
People have been appropriating culture from us
for a very, very long time.
I'm turning the tables.
But also just like Black women are contemplative.
We have identity crisis too.
I had performed it as a live show.
It was called "RadhaMUSprime,
The 40-Year-Old Version, A Live Mixtape."
So that was always the title.
You know, I was nervous.
I was like, are people gonna get it?
Are people thinking I'm just solely
doing an imitation of it?
At the end of the day, yeah.
You know, I am sending up, you know, his awesome films.
And that was my mood board.
Thanks for watching.
(gentle music)