The Young Wife’s Kiersey Clemons has accomplished a lot in her young career. After going the big-budget adventure route in the Apple TV+ series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and playing West in the DC Comics films Zack Snyder’s Justice League and The Flash, Ms. Clemons has teamed up with director Tayarisha Poe, best known for her debut Prime Video film, Selah and the Spades, for The Young Wife, which premiered at SXSW in 2022.
Here at FandomWire, we had the pleasure of interviewing Kiersey Clemons and Tayarisha Poe about The Young Wife, which hit theaters and VOD on May 31. We touched upon the inspiration for Ms. Poe’s new film, their journey as artists before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, and how that ties into their new film’s narrative.
The Young Wife Interview with Kiersey Clemons and Tayarisha Poe
M.N. Miller of FandomWire: What about the character Celestina and Ms. Poe’s script for The Young Wife made you want to take on this project?
Kiersey Clemons (Celestina in The Young Wife): I just really related to Celestina and I loved the banter. I was always understanding of both sides of the argument and that’s what I want in any story and to see where everybody is coming from—that’s great writing. When it’s not so definitive of who’s the bad guy, who’s the good guy, and what side am I supposed to be on.
I like being able to see myself in everybody and I felt that way. Reading this, I really wanted to work with Tayarisha because we are very similar in the way we want to make and experience movies. It was as great as I hoped it would be.
FandomWire: You said you saw a lot of yourself in Celestina, can you please expand on that?
Clemons: It was more so the timing of my life. I really understood she was kind of on the edge. She didn’t need anyone to walk her off of it. She needed everyone to actually back away. I wasn’t sure about what direction I was going to go in different areas of my life. Nonetheless, I was certain how I wanted to feel.
I was at a time during my life that I didn’t give a fuck and wanted everyone else to be okay with I didn’t give a fuck (laughs). You have to let it go. You’re not going to change it. I understood her being this storm waiting to happen.
FandomWire: Ms. Poe, why was Kiersey the perfect to play Celestina?
Poe (writer/director of The Young Wife): Kiersey is really great at acting (Kiersey laughs), which I know sounds like “okay,” but she’s just really great at acting with her whole face. I think Kiersey has an understanding of the body in the way the body can be used to communicate things, and all the emotion across her face was just exciting to me. It was really the obvious choice.
FandomWire: Ms. Clemons, you shared scenes with two actresses who are legendary stars of sitcoms and considered theater royalty. Judith Light, who plays Cookie in the film, was nominated for a Tony for Lombardi, and of course, Sheryl Lee Ralph, who plays your mother, is known for her iconic role as Deena Jones in Dreamgirls. What was it like working with them?
Clemons: I worked with Judith on Transparent. It was nice to come back together again because I knew what to expect. She’s such a warm, inviting person, and we have a lot in common— she’s just hilarious. I could watch her exist all day. I wish I was a fly on the wall in the life of Judith Light. She’s so inspiring. Where she knows who she is and how she got to that place.
Seeing that it made me more wise, I’m so lucky to have that insight. Sheryl is so regal, I can’t even put my finger on it. I don’t how she does it or if it can be replicated, but she walks into a room, and she’s like a character on Bridgerton. She’s funny. She’s one of those people who I imagine would be intimidating when she walks into a room, but she respects people who aren’t intimidated by her.
Poe: You want to make her proud!
Clemons: I definitely asked her for advice, and she looked at me and said, “You know, you know what you’re going to do,” and walked away (laughs).
FandomWire: Ms. Poe, your last two feature films feature a deep bench of young
and talented artists. In particular, The Young Wife includes Leon Bridges, Kelly Marie Tran, Aya Cash, Lukita Maxwell, Jon Rudnitsky, a scene-stealing Aida Osman, and, of course, the recurring cameo by Selah and the Spades’s Lovie Simone. How did the cast come together?
Poe: We have great casting directors, Rori Bergman and Karlee Fomalont. It was a great team, working together to build this puzzle together that would fit well in these smaller scenes. And it just helps that I always jot down the names of the actors that I like in everything I watch. The cast was put together by just watching them and being surprised by them.
FandomWire: You both made a name for yourselves before and during the pandemic with films about it. Ms. Clemons, you starred in the wonderful Hearts Beat Loud, and Ms. Poe made the fascinating Selah and the Spades. Can you reflect on your growth as an artist from pre- to post-pandemic?
Poe: It’s like that meme where the dog, in a room, and it’s on fire, and he’s like, “Everything’s fine” (Kiersey laughs). That’s The Young Wife, that feeling of living through the pandemic. It made more sense for me to make a movie about that feeling.
As opposed to making a movie where people are wearing masks and they are explicitly afraid to catch the sickness or something like that. When I watch this movie back now, I’m like, wow, this is a response to the pandemic.
Clemons: It seems so long ago, but I can definitely draw comparisons to Sam in Hearts Beat Loud with the relationship with her dad through Celestina that she has with all these people. Where she’s being pulled in these directions that they think are better for her. I also felt the cozy, cuddly butterfly in my belly feeling while making Hearts Beat Now I felt making The Young Wife.
And it’s funny in between those two movies was 2020, and being home, feeling threatened, scared, and alone. The uncertainty of what my career looks like. You don’t work that long, whether it’s a pandemic or not booking something as an actor, and that’s scary that triggers you as you watch your bank account dwindle.
So, it felt very healing to do this and very reminiscent and nostalgic because that’s one of the themes in the movie.
FandomWire: You were quoted saying, “I tend to write fictional characters doing the things that I wish I could do or that I don’t have the guts to do.” I was struck by the film’s underlying message of mindfulness, highlighting how anxiety stems from worrying about the future and depression from dwelling on the past.
The existential crisis portrayed in Celestina’s emotional and physiological responses to her surroundings and her “non-wedding” is reminiscent of the first act of the film Melancholia. A standout moment is when Cookie advises Celestina to “let your husband choke to keep yourself whole,” emphasizing the theme of control in managing anxiety.
How did you approach portraying the theme of control and its connection to anxiety in The Young Wife?
Poe: That’s such a great question. Melancholia is one of the biggest references for this film, so I’m glad you mentioned that. It’s about control, and Celestina is used to taking the reigns of control of her life. What everything the film is pushing her to do is to let go of that control.
Only by letting go will you have a sense of peace and calm, and will you be able to recalibrate to figure out what’s next? And it’s really scary to let go; it’s terrifying. But I think if we relinquish control, we will find peace; I really do.
FandomWire: There is a wonderful scene between Celestina and Sabrina about how it is a “privilege that others are affected by you.” How much do you think about that as an artist, performer, writer, and director?
Poe: I used to think the point of making movies and telling stories was, “I, Tayarisha have something so important to say, and it’s so important for me to get my individual message across,” that’s not the point. The point of making this stuff is to literally send it out into the world and let other people decide what it means.
The point is to let other people feel their feelings through the vessel of this artwork, through the vessel of this story. It’s such a privilege to make people feel anything. It’s such a privilege to inspire a thought in someone else’s brain. We, together, have made a safe space for you, this other person, to experience something entirely new, what a privilege.
FandomWire: Kiersey Clemons and Tayarisha Poe, thank you for taking the time to talk about your new film The Young Wife for the readers of FandomWire.
The interview was edited for clarity. You can watch The Young Wife in theaters on May 31st.
