The If Beale Street Could Talk
Actor on the joy of learning to do stunts and her forthcoming role in Coming 2 America
KiKi Layne, 28, made her film debut as the female lead, Tish, in Barry Jenkins’s acclaimed 2018 drama If Beale Street Could Talk, a story of young love and institutional
racism in 1970s
New York. The actor’s new film, The Old Guard, is adapted from a comic-book series, and sees her star alongside Charlize Theron as part of an elite squad of mercenaries. Layne lives in
Los Angeles.
The Old Guard is a very different film from If Beale Street Could Talk. Was that part of the appeal?Oh, absolutely. I’ve always wanted to do a big, kick-ass action film, and I was excited for the opportunity to do something obviously so different from Beale Street. A sense of: “Whoa, I didn’t know Tish could do all that!” And I definitely never trained like this before. We seriously would spend hours a day training, learning all types of new stuff. Getting my ass whupped! But I’m like: “I’ll come back for more!”