Sylvie’s Love, arriving on Amazon’s streaming service December 23, is a timeless love story set in the very specific time of Harlem in the 1950s. Tessa Thompson and Nnamdi Asomugha lead a strong cast in a story filled with music and emotion, as a woman working in a record shop falls for an aspiring saxophone player.
Thompson and Asomugha spoke to Screen Rant about how they approached the time and characters, as well as what resonates most with them about the film.
Sylvie's Love can be seen as a reference to romance, but it can also be seen as her love of television and film production. The film really plays with that duality. What attracted you to that to the film and the project?
Tessa Thompson: So many things. I wanted to make a classic love story. We don't get to do that very often, in general, because we don't make as many love stories anymore in Hollywood - and certainly ones that center two black people are few and far between.
Unlike Sylvie, I'm a geek in terms of television and media. I think that the stories that we tell have the ability not to just reflect culture, but create it. I'm newly becoming a television producer myself, so it's exciting. It feels like life imitating art. And I really wanted to work with Nnamdi so much, because he's super talented, and I knew that when he approached me with this. It was kind of a no-brainer for me.
I love making independent film too. It's a thing that really matters to me.
Nnamdi, I've been a huge fan of yours ever since your CAL days, even though I went to USC. You play Robert Holloway in this, and you actually learned how to play the saxophone. Is that correct?
Nnamdi Asomugha: I did learn. I want to start first by saying I love the energy in your voice. I don't know where that comes from - if it's radio - but it's great. But yeah, I learned to play the saxophone, which was very difficult. But I did it. I played for about a year, just because I wanted to really be the character. I wanted to feel what that was like for the music to just take over your life and be the number one thing for you.
Like back to the football days, I understood that you have to prepare in a certain way before you get out there and actually do the thing. That was what I was doing.
The era of this film almost seems like a character itself. Can you talk to me about the challenges of playing characters from that era?
Tessa Thompson: Yeah, I mean, I hope I can. I hope I did alright at it. I watched a lot of movies and television from the time. I sort of grew up watching a lot of those television shows, anyways, with my grandparents. I looked at old photographs of my grandparents, and then I also ike to read the literature of the time, particularly women's magazines. I like this idea of understanding [the time], because I feel like in any era we're responding to the collective. It was important for me to understand, when people picked up their magazine or newspaper, what they were being told about themselves.
Then I had tons of references. I watched so much Diahann Carroll; I really loved her grace and how smart she was. I think the biggest thing for playing characters in that period has a lot to do with poise. Obviously for Sylvie, because her mom she is into refinement. So, I just had to remind myself to sit up - which I think in modern [times], especially now, always on our phones like this. But I really enjoyed that.
But more than any of that, I really enjoyed watching Nnamdi in his high-waisted pants. He did very well. Nnamdi, how did you practice for that? How did you learn how to walk in them so well?
Nnamdi Asomugha: The high-waisted pants were a thing. I mean, listen. If a guy was going to the grocery store back then, they were in high-waisted pants, a suit jacket and a tie. It didn't matter. Hopefully we can bring that back in some sort of way, but I loved it.
