Netflix’s They Cloned Tyrone is a comedy-mystery film that contains an eerie series of events which lead to an unlikely trip down a rabbit hole into a sinister neighborhood conspiracy.
Teyonah Parris and John Boyega, two of the characters, spoke with rolling out about the film and what to expect from their characters.
What attracted you to this film?
Teyonah Parris: When I first read the script I was like “Wow.” We are melding so many different genres here from comedy, horror, sci-fi, and thriller, and we have it in one movie featuring Black characters, in a marginalized community, with such ambition and determination. That was exciting to me. Also when I was reading the script, I couldn’t stop. I was so invested and laughing like, “Oh, my gosh, this is crazy.” For that alone I knew I wanted to be a part of this.
John Boyega: It was a breath of fresh air, and at the time, I think it was during COVID, so it was just nice to read something that was quite prolific and different, obviously because of Juel Taylor’s perspective. It felt fresh to me, and it gave me a chance to explore versatility a little bit.
How did you both approach your character’s roles?
TP: What I love about (my character) Yo-Yo is in this marginalized community, you have this woman who is in a profession that is generally not looked upon very well, and she doesn’t go for anything because she doesn’t care. She’s ambitious.
We all start as archetypes, and then as the story develops, you get to know who the characters are. I love that they flushed out Yo-Yo’s experience and why she’s here and what she wants to do with her life. I love that she’s okay with who she is. Also, what matters most about my character is her heart. She cares for her community and for our people, and she’s going to do something about these wrongs that she has discovered.
This movie deals with the concept of cloning. What do you think sets this apart from other movies with the same concept?
JB: I think it makes you have a moment of self-reflection. You go in like, “I think I need to change something,” but it’s a form of self-reflection in terms of the message in the movie, and I think it will add to the ongoing conversation if you’re a conspiracy theorist. At the same time, what this does is you can liken it to real life.
There are things in this society that we as civilians don’t know about and things we don’t know we have control over as far as what we eat, what to watch, and what we take in at night.
