Yahoo News Rapman on Netflix’s ‘Groundbreaking’ All-Black Sci-Fi Series ‘Supacell’: ‘I Couldn’t Believe They Were Actually Going to Let Me Make It’
Back in early 2020, the British musician turned filmmaker Andrew Onwubolu — better known by his stage name Rapman — was readying for the release of his feature directorial debut “Blue Story” in the U.S. Based on his own experience living in South London, the musical crime drama tells the story of two friends from different neighborhoods who become embroiled in deadly gang wars. The film had already been a hit on home soil, making £4.7 million ($6 million) from a budget of £1.4 million ($1.8 million) the previous November, becoming the most successful British urban film of all time.
Sadly, like so many films due out in 2020, “Blue Story” was an early casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic. Paramount pulled its planned U.S. theatrical release and set it for digital months later. Another film Rapman was developing — “American Son,” Paramount’s remake of French hit “A Prophet” due to star Russell Crowe — also fell apart.
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But it wasn’t long before the creative — who original rose to fame thanks to his cult three-part YouTube trilogy “Shiro’s Story” in 2018 — was hard at work on another project, one which is finally seeing the light of day.
While it’s again set in Rapman’s native South London and also taps into gang culture, Netflix’s “Supacell” is like nothing he’s done before. It’s actually like not many things seen on TV before: a six-part British sci-fi series, let by an all-Black cast, about a group of ordinary Londoners who suddenly discover they possess superpowers. First dreamed up while “riffing” on the press tour for “Blue Story,” development on the idea began in 2020 with Netflix officially commissioning the series in 2021. “Supacell” is now set to premiere on June 7.
Speaking to Variety, Rapman discusses why he’s already getting excited calls about the show from filmmakers in the U.S., where — outside of Marvel and DC — he’s been told a superhero story with an all-ethnic cast simply wouldn’t get made. “The Black community have never seen themselves in the sci-fi space,” he says.
So, where did this idea about a group of ordinary Black Londoners who suddenly develop superpowers come from?
I always loved the superhero stuff and the original Batman when it was “Batman & Robin” and the Michael Keaton movies, but they never reflected a reality to me. I remember when I was doing press for “Blue Story” and I got asked what I wanted to do next and I said I wanted to do a sci-fi in which someone from where we come from gets powers. And that was the first time I’d said it out loud. I didn’t even know it was an idea, I was just riffing.
As you say, “Supacell” is different to many superhero stories, especially in terms of its setting and cast, but I got a heavy dose of “Heroes” in there. Was that an inspiration?
Massive inspiration. When I’d watch Batman and stuff like that I’d think, if I got powers, my first move isn’t to get a spandex suit and a cape. It didn’t make any sense. But when I saw “Heroes,” I remember thinking it was the first thing close to reality. They’re just normal people. They’re just like me, but they’ve got these extraordinary abilities. So when I started doing my show, people would ask me what could they refer to and I’d be like, ‘Have you seen “Heroes?”‘ But this is very London.
“Supacell” features some of the same themes that were in “Blue Story” with gang culture and knife crime, but they’re not central to the story. Why was it important to include those elements in there?
Yeah, I’m telling the story of South London, and I grew up in South London and saw people like the characters in the show. So for me to not put in the world of gang culture would have been me denying the truth of South London. Because it happens. And I actually probably know that part better than I know the rest of them, because that was my background. So for me it wasn’t meant to be central, but it was important that it was still very prominent. I wanted it to be a reality. I want people to see different experiences of the South London world from the viewpoint of Black residents.
A sci-fi show with an all-Black cast is something that we rarely see on screens, especially coming from the U.K.. Did you feel when you were making it that it could be quite groundbreaking?
I couldn’t believe they were actually going to let me make it. Because I’d never seen an all ethnic cast in the superhero space. Actually, the only time before was “Ms. Marvel.” It’s a bit young for me, but I remember thinking, “Wow, this is a full [Pakistani] family wearing traditional clothes.” But that’s Marvel. I feel like they tick all the boxes when it comes to things like that. I didn’t think it would happen on a Netflix show. So I remember thinking, if this show does get made, and they let me make it the way I want to make it, with the gore, with the blood, with the shock factor, that this could be a show where, going forward, you could have Apple saying, “We’d like one of those!” Or Amazon saying they should get an ethnic sci-fi as well. Because, when has there ever been an all-ethnic, not even just Black, cast from Britain? I’ve never seen one. I just hope that if this does well, it’s going to open a lot of doors. And that’s why I’m feeling the pressure, because it’s not just me — it could change British TV.
And given that it is, as you say, a very London – South London — story, how do you think it’ll go over in the U.S.?
Since the screeners have gone out, I’ve actually had loads of messages. I had a NBC News reporter send me an essay saying how they never knew New York was so much like London. And a lot of people have been messaging my agents and saying we want to meet me and that it’s groundbreaking. The response from American has been even bigger than the U.K. so far, so I think it’ll do well over there. And when we put the teaser out, a filmmaker quote tweeted the teaser saying, “Look guys, we need to go to England, because that’s the only place doing Black shows like this.” And there was a massive debate under this. But I thought about it, and if you take out Marvel and DC, they haven’t got anything like this. The Black community have never seen themselves in the sci-fi space. There’s “Black Panther” and “Black Lightning,” but I feel like people don’t count Marvel and DC because they have to tick a box as they’re so global. So it felt like a win for everyone. I don’t know how much [Netflix] are going to push it, but I do think if they clock onto right, it can do pretty well.
That’s interesting, because traditionally the U.K. has been pretty poor when it comes to on-screen representation.
Yeah, it’s funny, because U.K. filmmakers got involved in the debate and were like, “The grass ain’t greener over here, we want to go over there!” But they were saying that you would never see a show like this made in the U.S. Unless it’s got DC or Marvel behind it, they wouldn’t take the risk. It was crazy.
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