‘I Love Boosters’ Interview: Keke Palmer and More

The film stars an all-star cast that includes Keke Palmer (‘Nope’), Naomi Ackie (‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’), Taylour Paige (‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F’), Eiza González (‘In the Grey’), LaKeith Stanfield (‘Judas and the Black Messiah’), Poppy Liu (‘Space Cadet‘), Will Poulter (‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’), Don Cheadle (‘Iron Man 2’), and Demi Moore (‘The Substance’).

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Keke Palmer, Eiza González, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige and Poppy Liu about their work on ‘I Love Boosters’, their first reaction to the screenplay, their characters, the costumes, working with the all-star cast and collaborating with director Boots Riley on set.

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Keke Palmer in ‘I Love Boosters’. Photo: Neon.

Moviefone: To begin with, Keke, what was your first reaction to reading the screenplay and why did you want to be part of this project?

Keke Palmer: I mean, it’s Boots Riley. I knew because I love him, and I love his work and then I loved the material. It was funny but it was also thought-provoking. It had a way of talking about major things without making you feel completely claustrophobic. You know what I mean? So that.

MF: Naomi, can you talk about your character’s friendship with Corvette and Mariah and what it was like creating that relationship on screen with Keke and Taylour?

Naomi Ackie: I feel like most women have a core group of friends. Even when I think back to high school or whatever, the three friends that are always in and out of each other’s lives, I think we all knew what that felt like. Then we met each other and were like, “Oh my gosh, I love these women.” So, we just worked on it quite naturally. I think there’s that time where we were all in Atlanta. We were in a rehearsal where Boots had us sit there for about two and a half hours. We were just nonstop talking. We talked about the script a little bit. We did the scene once and Boots just let us chat while and he watched. I think he already knew energetically he just had to let us feel each other out. He let us do that for the whole shoot. I think that’s why the chemistry is the way it is.

(L to R) Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, and Keke Palmer in ‘I Love Boosters’. Photo: Neon.

MF: Taylour, the film is very funny, but did the script read funny on the page or did you improvise on set to find those comedic moments?

Taylour Paige: Yes, both. It was hilarious. I read the scene where she’s going to hold her breath and duck out of frame and I said, “I have to do this.” But Boots did allow a lot of freedom. I got to do a lot of improv and one-liners and try things and be ridiculous. It was so fun with Keke because she’s obviously the most beloved entertainer of our generation. It was just incredible. Lots of joy.

Moviefone: Eiza, what is it like working on a Boots Riley set and collaborating with such an acclaimed filmmaker?

Eiza González: Oh, it was the best. It was a dream job. It was a top experience, and it was just fun. I love the girls. It was a consistent flow. I must really give it to Boots. I don’t know if he just has a deep understanding or if he studies people in a deeper way, but everyone that Boots casts are deep people with a real morality of where they stand. So, every single time that you sit with them, it’s like a thought-provoking conversation happening off and on the set. We’re inspired by each other and that’s not common. That’s not very common, especially not cast bonding as much as we did, I think. We would talk about everything, you name it. It could be children shopping, world-class problems, experiences, ex-boyfriends, or just being minorities. We could talk about anything, and Boots was a participant of these things. Given that he’s such a brilliant human being, he lives with morality, he lives with a real standpoint of who he is and what he stands by, that that just becomes contagious. So, it was a real treat.

Writer and director Boots Riley on the set of ‘I Love Boosters’. Photo: Neon.

MF: Poppy, what was your experience like working with this cast and director Boots Riley?

Poppy Liu: I mean, these are the girlies. Everyone is girl crush number one. I think the most amazing thing about Boots is that he has a quality that I love, which is that as a man he takes up zero space at all. It literally was like we ran the set. They’d be setting up, we’d be yapping in a little coven circle, and we would look around, and Boots was off in the corner. Or he’ll just pop up and be like, “Cool, cool, cool.” So, he’s just such a sweetie pie. His ideas and his stories and his political point of view is larger than life. But then as a person, he’s just like your cool uncle who rolls up. He really let us all shine a lot.

MF: Keke, you mentioned that working with Boots was a big draw for you with this project. Was the experience everything that you imagined it would be?

KP: It was. I agree with what everybody is saying, and I agree with what Poppy was saying of the fact that he really allowed us to bring what we had to the table. We of course were being guided by him. His vision is very clear, but he trusted us to also be able to inform him about the characters. So, the process felt very much like that. The characters came to life so differently. It’s one thing to read on the page, but when you see us all together and see who he chose very specifically, then you understand the rhythm and the tone of what he’s trying to create. So, you arrive somewhere with him. I’m proud of all my work, but I’ve watched this movie literally three times and each time it gets better and better for me. It’s not because I’m in it. It’s because I really love the movie that much. I will say this, it really was the love for Boots, the community, and the love for what the story was telling because honestly, we were there late. This was for the love of the movie. It was a love story, and we were right there with each other being like, “I’m going to do it for Boots.”

(L to R) Costume designer Shirley Kurata and director Boots Riley on the set of ‘I Love Boosters’. Photo: Neon.

MF: Finally, Eiza, can you talk about the amazing costumes in the movie and working with costume designer Shirley Kurata?

EG: We had the best costumes. They created a world. I mean, it’s incredible what the entire team did from hair to the makeup department with nothing. That’s the thing. It’s an independent movie. I think that the bigger message when people watch this movie is that you can create so much from nothing. It just takes creativity, it takes inspiration, and it takes a village of people that ride for you.

(L to R) Naomi Ackie, Keke Palmer, Poppy Liu, and Taylour Paige in ‘I Love Boosters’. Photo: Neon.

What is the plot of ‘I Love Boosters’?

In a surreal version of the San Francisco Bay Area, a group of shoplifters, known as “boosters”, take aim at a cutthroat fashion maven after she steals their designs.

Who is in the cast of ‘I Love Boosters’?

• Keke Palmer as Corvette
• Naomi Ackie as Sade
• Taylour Paige as Mariah
• Poppy Liu as Jianhu
• Eiza González as Violeta
• LaKeith Stanfield as Pinky Ring Guy
• Will Poulter as Grayson
• Demi Moore as Christie Smith
• Don Cheadle as Dr. Jack
• Adam DeVine as Christie’s Boy Toy
• Kara Young as a Crying Black Mother
• Kerris Dorsey as Jamie

‘I Love Boosters’ opens in theaters on May 22nd.

List of Boots Riley Movies and TV Shows:

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