Murder City is a new Tubi film from their Black Noir Cinema imprint featuring Michael Colter and Antonio Fargas. The film follows Neil, a cop and dedicated family man who is financially down on his luck. He decides to take a job selling dope with his deadbeat father, Graham, which turns out to be a DEA trap. Upon his release from prison and with nowhere else to turn after losing his job on the force, Neil finds himself working for a ruthless female kingpin, Ash, in order to pay off Graham’s debts.
Colter and Fargas spoke with rolling out about the film and what to expect from their characters.
What did you think about the script when you first saw it?
Antonio Fargas: I love the script. I love the character. I’ve played a lot of character roles, and this character had all of the complexities that make it poignant for me, in terms of my age, in terms of being a father and a grandfather, and to be able to change the narrative or outcome that there is hope down the road. My character has a lot of shame and guilt for the things that he did, but he had to do what he had to do. But also there’s a chance in the hope of the future, even by ensnaring his son into one last way of trying to make it right with the tools that he had and eventually given up himself.
How was the experience of playing the role of the son in this film?
Michael Colter: I feel that it’s an odd position to be a son to have a father that needs you. You feel a certain empathy, a certain disappointment, but also a certain obligation as a son to try to bear his burden. It’s like a metaphor for life, as we’re linked from our family, and it’s carried over because your name means something and your family means something, and he’s sort of taken our family in a certain direction in this film while I’m trying to get us out of that situation.
I love the idea that there’s a father-and-son relationship that’s been twisted a bit. It’s a little more complicated in some regard, so our scenes have so much history, resentment, disappointment, and also deception. I can never trust the words coming out of his mouth but at the same time, we’re cut from the same cloth. We always see Neil wrestle with those moments like, “Why do you go with him? This is probably not the right thing to do.” But Neil is always on the edge of “Nobody’s looking, maybe I’ll do this, maybe I won’t do that.”
