DEE REES on BET.COM

At BET.com, PARIAH writer/director sits down with Ronke Idowu Reeves to talk about her experience in making this remarkable first feature. There's a fascinating part where Dee recounts how they cast the amazing Kim Wayans to play the part of Audrey, the mother of Alike (Adepero Oduye):

We read a lot of Audreys but nobody was able to capture the core of the character. We kept getting stereotypes -- we kept getting the "angry Black momma" thing. When Kim's name first came up, I thought In Living Color is great, but I'm not sure. But Kim was the first one to walk in the room and immediately have Audrey's loneliness and vulnerability. I knew that she was the one from the first audition. She blew it out of the water, like the role was hers. She was the first person to bring the nuance of who Audrey was. Kim blew it away.