The Book of Clarence stars LaKeith Stanfield as a con artist trying to swindle the followers of Jesus Christ in 33 AD Jerusalem. He owes money to Jedediah the Terrible and figures pretending to be the new messiah is the easiest way to repay the debt. However, Clarence has a spiritual awakening when he realizes that Jesus is not a fraud. He pays a terrible price for his newfound faith, but is willing to sacrifice for salvation.
Anna Diop co-stars as Varinia, Jedediah’s sister and Clarence’s true love. The brilliant David Oyelowo plays John the Baptist, who’s tired of Clarence’s conniving ways. Oyelowo had “seen The Harder They Fall and just completely fell in love with that movie.” He “sought out” The Book of Clarence writer/director Jeymes Samuel and said to him, “He simply must not make another film that I do not have some kind of involvement in.” Diop had a “two and a half hours Zoom meeting with Jeymes,” who “had seen [her] from a show” and “wanted to sit down and talk about this character.”
The Book of Clarence portrays biblical Christian figures as Black people, which goes against the generally accepted but completely false depiction of Jesus and his disciples. Oyelowo has choice words for any people of faith who take umbrage at Jeymes Samuel’s characterizations, “I just hope they were as offended by Charlton Heston as Moses and Robert Powell as Jesus. This is our opportunity to tell our story through our perspective. Jesus came for the entire world.” Read on and watch above for our full interview with Anna Diop and David Oyelowo.
Jeymes Samuel and Black Biblical Representation
The Book of Clarence
- Release Date
- January 12, 2024
- Director
- Jeymes Samuel
- Runtime
- 2hr 16min
MovieWeb: Peace be with you [a reference from the film]. Please talk about working with Jeymes Samuel on this film about Black biblical representation. How did you both get involved?
Anna Diop: I had a Zoom meeting with Jeymes. He apparently had seen me from a show I did, and wanted to sit down with me and talk about this character that he was looking for. The meeting lasted two and a half hours. I thought it was so special. Like, he loves me, I love him. This is amazing. I come to find out Jeymes can easily have a two and a half conversation with anyone. But we did have so much fun during that call. He told me about this story, and I never heard of a story like this being told with Black bodies. I was just blown away. Then he sent me the scenes for Varinia, and I read with LaKeith a week later, and that’s that.
David Oyelowo: For me, I’d seen The Harder They Fall and just completely fell in love with that movie. I sought Jeymes out. I was so jealous of everyone in that film. Basically, we had a Zoom and I said to him, he simply must not make another film that I do not have some kind of involvement in. We made a pact then. That’s where my journey with The Book of Clarence began.
MW: The film has a very interesting arc. It goes from funny to serious and gut-wrenching when Clarence finds salvation and faith in Jesus Christ. Talk about changing that tone on set. The crucifixion scene is so devastating.
Anna Diop: Yeah, it was definitely a tonal shift. But I will say on set, Jeymes keeps things really light no matter what we’re filming. But for my character, she has an arc as well. While Clarence is finding his salvation, she’s finding hers in a way too. In the end, she realizes that she’s wasted a lot of time rejecting him, not choosing him, and not accepting him. It was a brilliant thing.
David Oyelowo: Jeymes and I also talked about that. I got to know him a fair bit. We talked about that tonal element, and the fact that he did not want to make a purely irreverent film. The character of Clarence is irreverent. You see that in the fact that he’s not a believer. He’s someone who’s looking to exploit people’s faith. But the film itself is actually quite reverent in relation to faith. There is that point [when] it’s necessitous for that shift, so to speak, when you’re following this protagonist. His mindset is the one we’re following. And so he goes from irreverence to reverence. That’s essentially what I think the film follows that path as well.
David Oyelowo as John the Baptist
MW: There’s a lot of people of faith out there, when they see a Black Jesus Christ, they lose their minds. The film, I think, is true to the story of God, finding salvation and faith. What can you say to those who have been taught their entire lives something not accurate, and are offended to see religious figures as dark people?
David Oyelowo: I just hope they were as offended by Charlton Heston as Moses and Robert Powell as Jesus. That’s all I have to say. We can stop it there. I mean, Jesus came for the entire world. And for us, as Black people, I don’t think it’s a secret to anyone just how much our culture, our race, has been impacted by Christianity as well. This is our opportunity to tell our story through our perspective, and our lens, with our music, and our bodies, and our humor, and our accents. Anyone who doesn’t like it can go and watch Charlton Heston.
Anna Diop: I second that (laughs).
The Book of Clarence was released theatrically on January 12th from Sony Pictures. Check out the trailer below:
