Teyana Taylor
Over the course of her career, the world has excitedly witnessed the expansiveness of Teyana Taylor’s career. Through her artistry, Taylor has elevated what it means to use one’s gifts to bring dynamic and relatable stories to life. It’s evident that Taylor has continued to follow such a blueprint, given her latest starring role as Inez de la Paz in A Thousand and One, directed and written by A.V. Rockwell. Taylor portrays a young woman whose fierce love of her child leads them both on a harrowing adventure full of pain, heartbreak, and redemption. Taylor felt an immediate connection upon learning more about the film and the fictional de la Paz.
“It was just an audition that came across my desk, and all I had was the audition slides, the synopsis, and a little bit of information about Inez. I immediately connected to her and told my videographer, ‘Set up the camera; we're doing this.’ I just felt it. She’s from Harlem, but I felt the spice. I felt the strength. I felt the warrior in Inez and wanted to be a part of it in any way I could. From then on, I just treated the audition as if it were mine to lose and didn't really think about anyone else who was auditioning. I felt like this role was something that I was born to do, and there was a lot of preparation going into it.”
While de la Paz may be portrayed by Taylor, bringing her to life was a collaborative process spearheaded by Taylor and Rockwell. The creative approach to accomplishing such a feat involved the duo treading deep within the character to ensure authenticity.
“The creative process for Inez was amazing because A.V. and myself really dug down deep and found all of Inez's layers and color-coordinated them,” Taylor said to For(bes) The Culture. “I think that made it a very easy process to manage who Inez was as a whole. Inez has a lot of different layers.”
(L to R) Teyana Taylor stars as "Inez de la Paz" and Aaron Kingsley Adetola stars as six year old ... [+]
Due to Taylor’s stellar performance, it might be difficult to imagine that she was enduring her own trials and tribulations throughout filming. But, according to the Harlem native, she used those same personal issues to bring Inez to life.
“I want to say timing is everything because I was only six months postpartum, and I was also dealing with losing loved ones,” Taylor said. “I had a lot of emotions and pain to channel, so I poured them into Inez and found that we were similar in many ways, mentally and emotionally. It was heavy, but it was one of the greatest challenges of my life, honestly, playing the role of Inez.”
A Thousand and One is not only pivotal for its depiction of the nuances of Black motherhood, but it also marks the feature-length directorial debut of New York native Rockwell. Rockwell hopes that this film will spark some much-needed dialogue.
“I don't think that I was trying to design it in a way that would end with the period at the end of the sentence. I want this movie to be a beginning for people to not only reflect on themselves and the world that they're living in but to have conversations. I think this movie has the opportunity to provoke conversations with people with themselves and within their relationship with others, but also how they relate to the world around them. I think this is a story about how people relate to their city and the city of New York, but I think there's a lot to unpack here, so a lot of that real work will start afterward.
