Black Cake: Director Natalia Leite Breaks Down Some of the Show’s Most Challenging Scenes [Interview]

Based on the bestselling novel by Charmaine Wilkerson, Black Cake is a family drama wrapped in a murder mystery. The Hulu adaptation tells the story of Covey, a runaway bride who disappeared into the surf off the coast of Jamaica in the 1960s.

In the present day, She’s known as Eleanor Bennett. After dying of cancer, Eleanor’s two estranged children finally have the chance to hear her story. 

I recently spoke with director Natalia Leite, who directed the first three episodes of Black Cake, about what it took to film some of the most shocking and memorable scenes from the early part of the season. 

Leite is proud of her work on Black Cake because it “felt like an ambitious project going into it.”

“I think that the project had some challenges in that it took place in multiple countries, not only the story, but where we shot,” Leite began. “So you’re adapting to different places. And there are multiple timeframes, so some of it is a period piece, some of it is modern-day.”

“I felt like there were challenging scenes that I was doing for the first time. I had never done stuff with water,” Leite said. “Then there were some bigger scenes. There’s a train crash that happens in one of the episodes, so that was a big production as well.”

On filming a hurricane:

Leite went on to discuss both the hurricane scene on Black Cake Season 1 Episode 1, and the train wreck scene on Black Cake Season 1 Episode 2. Each of those scenes came with unique challenges.

And for the hurricane scene, Leite had to go above and beyond as director.

“Some people have the budget to go in a tank and have a big studio set, where everything’s controlled, and the water’s a nice lukewarm temperature for the actors. We did not have that,” Leite laughed.

We were in Jamaica, in a rural part of Jamaica, so we were a few hours away from Kingston, which was very true to where the story took place. And we found a beach that was totally private that we could have control over, but we were doing the hurricane scene on an actual beach in the ocean, which is crazy.”

“So you have rain machines, you have wind machines, you have water safety people, jet skis creating some water movement, and there’s just a lot of different things involved, and it’s hard to communicate,” she said.

“But we gave ourselves enough time. I mean, that’s the other thing — we were shooting overnight because it had to be a night scene. So definitely by 5:00 in the morning, everyone’s feeling a little crazy, but we gave ourselves enough time to check in and see the footage and see what was working, what wasn’t, and talk to the actors.”

“There were a few funny moments we had. Early in that scene, there is a moment where Covey, who is just alone in the elements swimming, is shouting out to her friends who are on a little boat. They went out to go look for her. So we have two actors, two of our main casts, in the boat, and we had stationed the boat where it’s supposed to look like a lot of water is in it, so it’s kind of drowning, but in our first take, the boat just started actually drowning,” she recalled.

“So some stuff just ended up happening for real, which was safe, of course, but just funny,” Leite added. “I think there is a clip where they’re just desperately falling off the boat, and we ended up using that clip, which is pretty funny.”

“Then there were some other moments where I wanted to be close to the actors. So, instead of being on the beach, looking at the monitor and trying to communicate with people through a walkie, I wanted to see them and be able to communicate with them face-to-face,” she said.

“So I’m in my own little boat with some other people. But it’s like a little raft, so we’re bouncing along with the hurricane, and I’m trying to look at the monitor while this is all going on at once. It was fun.”

Leite said doing it what it takes to be close to the action is her preferred method as a director.

“I just never want to be away from the action. I want to be right there with it because I feel like there’s a level of intimacy that is lost for me personally if I’m far away,” she explained.  

Breaking down the trainwreck:

For the trainwreck scene, Leite said it was something she and creator Marissa Jo Cerara talked about at length.

“We talked about what the scene is really about, like what do we want to show? And at the end of the day, we don’t want to be outside the train and see the wheels getting off the track and a big action, tumbling train, random people falling out the window. The scene is about Covey,” Leite explained.

“It’s about how she’s feeling in that moment, and this connection she has with this person that’s going to just change her life now, because she’s going to adopt that identity.”

“While we had built this rig and had these action moments, we’re like, ‘Let’s just stay with her. Let’s just have the camera on her the whole time and be able to just focus on her look.’ So the world’s spinning around her, but she stays parallel to the audience, or to the frame. So she’s not turning around; it’s the camera that’s locked in with her.”

On her most memorable scene:

The scene that stands out for Leite, though, is one that’s deeply emotional. 

“I think it’s the third episode. And Lin, Covey’s father, is with — well, this is maybe a bit of a spoiler — but he tries to kill himself and then he gets brought back to the house by Pearl, who’s the housekeeper. And she’s just fed up with him. She’s taking care of him and there’s a very emotional moment for a man who’s, especially at that time period, just trying to hold back emotions.”

“She’s basically telling him, ‘I’m leaving, and you’re on your own now. Stop being a baby. Grow up.'” Leite said. “He turns to her, and he’s like, ‘Well, what am I going to eat?’ It’s like the most basic survival question.”

“I just thought that scene was so special because it’s Lin, well, Simon [Wan], the actor, trying to deliver a really vulnerable moment for a character that usually wouldn’t be allowed to go there.”

How Leite’s background influences her work:

Leite’s background plays a large part in how she directs, partially because she began her film career with documentary work. “I think working with real people and trying to get to the heart of the emotion is something I’ve brought into my narrative work,” she said.

“Also, aside from the filmmaking part of it, I grew up in Brazil. My dad is Uruguayan, so I have family in Argentina and Uruguay. And my parents loved to travel and experience the world. So I think that I like to see things in a more global perspective, too.”

“And while maybe we’re telling the story about a Chinese immigrant in Jamaica — That’s so specific, right? — In a certain time period, that it’s always linking big universal themes,” Leite continued. “If we reach the heart of what that person is experiencing, then we can connect to humans anywhere if we do a good job. That’s the hope.”

 

Black Cake is currently streaming on Hulu, with new episodes arriving each Wednesday.

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