American actress and singer Keke Palmer hasn’t had to do any crazy things to make money.
But in new buddy comedy One of Them Days, where the 31-year-old stars as Dreux, alongside American singer-songwriter SZA, 35, who portrays her on-screen best friend and roommate Alyssa, she’s been close.
After Alyssa’s boyfriend, Keshawn (Joshua David Neal) blows the rent money, Dreux is faced with obtaining enough cash to replace the empty funds, all while the clock is ticking.
If she fails, the two girls are faced with eviction, and their friendship being torn apart.
“[I’ve never had to do] nothing really too, quote, unquote crazy, [but it] depends obviously [on] what you think is crazy. I’ve been doing the same thing for money most of my life, which is performing.
“So I don’t know, if people think it’s crazy to get in front of people and perform, then maybe it would be that. But yeah, that’s the main job and only job I’ve had,” says Palmer.
In 2004, she made her acting debut as a child with roles in Barbershop 2: Back in Business and The Wool Cap, before her breakthrough role as Akeelah Anderson in the drama film Akeelah and the Bee two years later.
It was winning entertainer of the year at the 56th Annual NAACP Image Awards this year, that served as a full-circle moment for Palmer.
It was a timely reminder of why belonging to a group or community helps us develop a stronger sense of personal and collective identity – something that was also mirrored in the sisterhood between Dreux and Alyssa.
“You need people, good people around you to remind you of who you are when you lose yourself. I think it’s really hard to be a human being. We’re constantly trying to build esteem, right?” she says.
“I think people talk about low self-esteem, high self-esteem, I don’t think that really exists. I think you’re learning how to create your boundaries and how to build what esteem is to you through experiences, and so when you foster a great sense of community around you, they can also be supportive of you in that.
“When it’s the right people, they’ll be the ones to say, how do you really feel, and is this really good for you? And is this taking from you?
“They’re going to ask the right questions, the questions that sometimes we can’t ask ourselves, and they’re going to be seeing us from a vantage point that we can’t see ourselves.
“They’re perceiving us outside of ourselves, which I think is so important, because, you know, sometimes we do need those extra set of eyes.
“And I feel like for me, my community has always been that. I’m autonomous, I can think for myself and all that good stuff, but sometimes I do need another voice, and I have a trusted community to go to for that.”
When it comes to another community, one of music fans, American star SZA (real name Solana Rowe) has built up a steady following since releasing her debut studio album Ctrl in 2017.
It earned her four Grammy nominations and became the second longest-charting R&B album by a woman on the US Billboard 200.
Over the years she has gone on to work with big names in the industry like Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar and Maroon 5, but this is her first film role.
For Palmer, black comedy has the unique ability to both challenge and entertain us at the same time. But what would she say is a key message this film is trying to portray to viewers?
“Life is crazy. You know, one of them days can be one of them weeks, one of those months, and can be one of those years. But it’s the people around you and your sense of community that helps you get through. Even if they sometimes play a part in it, they’re going to be the ones that, at the end of the day, love you and stick through with you,” she explains.
“Alyssa’s character was nuts, and she was definitely doing too much, but she never left Dreux’s side and Dreux never left her side.
“Same thing even when we think about Jameel (Dewayne Perkins), the character that didn’t want to do Dreux’s hair, he was tripping, but like when they needed him to crack into that phone, he was there. And when they needed him in the end to fix all that stuff up, he was there.
“And so I think that’s a big part of a community. They’re going to come through when you need them. I feel like that’s the point of the movie: never forget that the people around you, they’re the ones that you got to go to, that are going to help you get to the next level.”
But the clue is always in your imagination when trying to figure out what steps you need to make in life, she muses.
“I think throughout my whole life, I talk a lot about that, actually, in my book, Master of Me that, you know, sitting with myself and and leaning into the fact that, hey, it doesn’t have to be this particular way.
“We can just pivot and still get where we’re going another way. It’s like when they say there are multiple ways to skin a cat, so to speak – although save the cats – it really is.”
One of Them Days comes to UK cinemas on Friday, March 7
