Click here to listen to the interview.
Led by a stunning performance by Anna Diop in the title role of Aisha, an undocumented immigrant working to bring her young son over from Senegal, NANNY is a powerful yet subtle film that uses horror as a way of addressing so much more, in this case, the myth of the American Dream. It begins with Aisha finding what seems to be a dream job working in the home an affluent, but troubled, couple who believe they are woke, but soon show their true natures. Nonetheless, Aisha bonds with their daughter, Rose, who embraces her new nanny with an open heart, and provides Aisha with an outlet for her maternal longings. She also finds herself in a new relationship with Malik, a patient young man with a grandmother who might just have the answers to the troubling nightmares and visions that intrude with more and more frequency into Aisha’s life.
The film co-stars Michelle Monaghan, Sinqua Walls, Morgan Spector, Rose Decker, and Leslie Uggams as the woman with the answers that Aisha is not sure she wants to hear.
Diop’s previous work includes US, SOMETHING ABOUT HER, and BOSCH. Jusu directed from her own script, and her previous work includes SUICIDE BY SUNLIGHT and TWO-SENTENCE HORROR STORIES. This is her feature film debut.
I began our conversation with Jusu and Diop on October 15, 2022 by discussing how female rage is addressed in the film (and in their lives) before moving on to getting the film made the way Jusu wanted to do it and what and accent brings to a performance.
They finished up with a biting look NANNY takes at the American Dream, and the power of returning a gaze.
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