Numa Perrier is an actress, artist, director, writer, producer, and the owner of House of Numa, a production company.
Perrier’s latest directorial project is the Netflix film The Perfect Find, which stars Gabrielle Union and Keith Powers.
Perrier shared the underlining lesson in the film about a woman who is in turmoil over a secret romance.
What is your role as a director?
The director holds the vision for the entire script for the entire film. You hire all of your heads of department from production, design, costume design casting, and you work closely with everyone to get your vision completed for the film. It’s about [having] relationships with your actors and getting great performances. It’s also about the texture and the aesthetic of the film. How do we make it beautiful? How do we also make sure that we get our crews home on time? You’re doing a lot and so you get all the glory when it’s great and you get all the blame when it’s not. You’re taking a bold leadership role.
What can viewers expect to see in The Perfect Find?
Well, The Perfect Find is based on a book by Ted Williams, by the same title. It’s about a woman named Jenna who broke up with her boyfriend and lost her job at the same time. She was part of a power couple, so it was a public breakup and it was humiliating. She went into hiding for about a year and the movie picks up right when her mom is kicking her out of the house. The movie explores how she finds that next chapter and part of it is letting loose, meeting a younger guy, going for it, and then finding out that [he] is her new boss’s son. Not only is it her new boss’s son, but her boss is someone she’s been competing with her entire life. The film goes through, should you or should you not do a workplace romance? Should you or should you not date the son of your boss? How messy can that get and will you make it to the other side?
What drew you to the story and made you want to bring it to the big screen?
The main thing that drew me to it is having to pick yourself up after you’ve made choices that caused your demise. Will you make those same set of choices all over again, does history repeat itself, are you going to carve something out new for yourself and what does that look like? It’s just examining your choices in life, and how you’re going to move through the world. I related to that and I feel like that’s my life. Just determining what decision is a good one and maybe not caring because you just want the experience. I feel like not only is that something we can all relate to, but it makes for a good movie.
