Gist
Amber Riley on the “Cooler” Twist of “Single Black Female”
After years of being in contrast, Amber Riley and Raven Goodwin are lastly sharing a display screen — and it is the proper pairing. Lifetime’s upcoming “Single Black Feminine” follows Monica (Goodwin) as she grieves the lack of her father. Whereas she’s coping together with her loss, she will get a brand new assistant, Simone (Riley) — who will end up to have greater than appears to be like in frequent together with her. Plot-wise, the remake of “Single White Feminine” departs in a number of methods from the 1992 psychological thriller — however the creepiness stays. POPSUGAR spoke to Riley about working with Goodwin, starring in a remake, and what’s in retailer for her musical future.
Riley and Goodwin have been on the high of the casting administrators’ want record when she was provided the function. “It was actually cool,” she says. “Me and Raven already needed to do a venture collectively. We have recognized one another for years. We have been good buddies for years. So it was actually thrilling and form of like a no brainer.”
“Me and Raven already needed to do a venture collectively. We have recognized one another for years. We have been good buddies for years.”
The 2 have confronted comparisons for years, and the Lifetime movie embraces that. For the “Glee” alum, whereas these comparisons are largely “flattering,” the caveat is that the actors typically aren’t appropriately credited for his or her initiatives. “I simply all the time need different actors – as a result of I have been in comparison with different Black actors additionally – I would like them to get their shine and I would like them to get their applicable flowers,” Riley says. “More often than not it is flattering, as a result of [Goodwin]’s so beautiful and he or she’s achieved a lot on this trade. However on the identical time, it is like when she does one thing superb, like taking part in Denise in ‘The Clark Sisters,’ give her her props the place it is due, as a result of she did an incredible job in it. So it is a good facet and a foul facet to it.”
The actors could not be extra completely different from their “Single Black Feminine” characters. Riley takes on a stalker persona — a dramatic departure from her earlier initiatives. “It was simply enjoyable to play one thing fully completely different. That is my first time being in a thriller, so it was form of thrilling to have the ability to play somebody so loopy and to point out a unique ability in my appearing,” she says, noting that Simone is “loopy.”
Whereas it comprises its predecessor’s general essence, “Single Black Feminine” stands by itself. “It is a cult traditional and it is a enjoyable thriller, and I feel that we form of captured the suspense like the unique movie does,” Riley says. “[The] solely factor they unnoticed was the stiletto,” she says, referring to the long-lasting scene within the 1992 thriller the place Hedy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) stabs Allie’s (Bridget Fonda) ex-boyfriend, Sam (Steven Weber). “We do not have that within the movie; we have now one thing a lot better. We’ve one thing cooler.”
Riley suggests pairing the film with a consuming sport: take a sip or a shot “each time somebody screams, each time Simone form of pops up out of nowhere, and each time you hear the phrase ‘sister.'” Honest warning: this stuff occur loads within the movie.
“I am engaged on my second EP. . . I feel this time round, I am engaged on extra ballads and larger songs.”
In the case of life after “Single Black Feminine,” Riley says, “I feel who I’m as an individual is extra in my music. And as an artist, [my personality] is extra in my music than as an actor. . . . I am engaged on my second EP. It is all the time going to be R&B and soul. I feel this time round, I am engaged on extra ballads and larger songs, whereas the primary time I used to be providing you with good vibes, R&B vibes. . . . However I feel they’re going to be just a little bit greater and just a little extra soulful.” The singer debuted her first EP, “RILEY,” in Oct. 2020 underneath the stage title RILEY.
Along with music, Riley sees herself starring in her personal present. “I positively need my very own tv present. That is a dream that I’ve had since I used to be just a little woman,” she says. “I positively envision within the subsequent couple of years it is one thing that I am working towards, with creating, producing, and starring in my very own TV present.”
“Single Black Feminine” premieres on Lifetime on Feb. 5 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT.
