Jeymes Samuel, aka The Bullitts, is a one of a kind director. As an entertainer, musician, believer, and all-around joyfully energetic guy, his directing style reflects all of those multitudes. From thoughtful, quiet gems throughout his films to the brilliant musical scores he also creates, a Jeymes Samuel film is a cinematic amusement park filled with thrills, chills, and feels. 

His latest, The Book Of Clarence, is exactly that, taking the stories of the Bible, specifically when Jesus walked the earth, and adding color, depth, and a spotlight on another powerful soul who lived during that time as well, Clarence, played by the incredible, Oscar-nominated actor LaKeith Stanfield. Stanfield also plays Clarence’s twin brother and one of Jesus’ disciples, Doubting Thomas. 

The Book Of Clarence follows Clarence on a journey from wanting to join Jesus’ disciples to wanting to be Jesus for financial gain. During his spiritual climb to fame, Clarence is met with many obstacles and triumphs and ultimately has to bear the same cross and fate Jesus did. 

Samuel’s creativity reigns supreme in The Book Of Clarence, freshly and excitingly. BET.com sat down with Samuel, Stanfield as well as RJ Cyler and Anna Diop, who plays Elijah (Clarence’s best friend) and Varinia (Clarence’s love interest), to talk about what this epic film means to them and the most important takeaways from The Book Of Clarence. 

BET.com: Growing up and watching Bible stories on TV was a thing in many Christian homes. But we’d never be in them. The Book of Clarence gives us the opportunity to be in the Bible stories we grew up watching. What does it feel like for you to be a part of this?

RJ Cyler: I feel excited. It definitely gives me an opportunity to be a part of something that's not just great, but I get to be a part of the next level-up in history, and also the method of filmmaking. I feel like Jeymes, even with The Harder They Fall, challenged directors, creators, actors, and everybody to up the ante. With The Book Of Clarence, he did that times 10. The fact that I was able to be a part of such a bold vision and to know that it lands different, is so sweet. The biggest blessing that I could ask for is great. And this is great.

Anna Diop: We all felt like that across the board. The biggest of us to the younger of us, we had some heavy hitters on this, and everyone was so excited to be there. It's rare as an actor to be a part of something this massive and original, and forward thinking and beautiful. It's unique.

BET.com: What does it feel like for you, Jeymes, as a storyteller, a believer, and an entertainer, to be able to accomplish creating something entertaining, historical and with a new, fresh twist on what we’ve come to know as Bible stories?

Jeymes Samuel: It feels really fulfilling for me to be able to accomplish all the ideas that's in my head. It's rewarding because my motto is, ‘Obey your crazy,” and go forward being sure in what it is you want to achieve, and having faith in the reason that you want to achieve this thing. 

If I'm entertained by it and if I dive into as a storyteller, then I know the audience would dive into it, just being presented with that story. So it means a lot! It is a really huge accomplishment, but I'm looking at the opening credits. The opening credits are an homage to this old TV show called Taxi, which incidentally introduced Danny DeVito to the world. And it [Taxi’s opening credits]  would say: Judd Hirsch in Taxi. And I wanted to use the word ‘in.’ I wanted ‘LaKeith Stanfield in,’ just so everyone watching that film knows how gangster LaKeith Stanfield is, and we're in this old 2000-year-old tale. Those things are real, small things, they are the real accomplishments for me and I feel really awesome about them. On top of that, the movie is just awesome!

BET.com: No spoilers, but there is a scene where a villain character named Jedidiah The Terrible confronts the Romans to keep them from harming his own enemy. His plea to the Romans felt very now. Can you share the significance of that moment in the film?

Anna Diop: I think that what Jeymes did so brilliantly in this, whether it's with the lingnin weed, or with Jedidiah’s character having that moment with the Romans, or with Marianne Jean-Baptiste, when she has a line during the crucifixion, ‘They always take our boys,’ he's bridging then and now and it's an unfortunate thing what he's telling in those moments how much things have changed and yet how exactly the same they are; this kind of prejudice and violence against Black bodies existed then as it does now. 

RJ Cyler: Jeymes– just another part of his savagery, he presents the image of Black protecting Black, Black king protecting Black queen. With the Mary Magdalene scene, it wasn't just a thing of him trying to show that he's big and bold. ‘I'll fight this audience for you!’ No, I'll protect you because I know at the end of the day, I'm gonna lose, but I would rather protect you–that will be the last thing that you remember, you feel me? I love that imagery. Even when it comes to people that are of authority, I'll still defend you because you are my sister, you are my brother. That’s what times are like now. Nowadays you can’t mess with the Black sister without somebody saying,’Hello! Do that again and we're going to talk to you!’ The same thing when it comes to Black men. More of our brothers are being more accountable to each other. These are the things that we need to see when you see us in cinema–us doing better for ourselves rather than us sticking to the trauma that we go through.

BET.com: In The Book Of Clarence we get to see one of LaKeith’s characters, Clarence, go through similar violent things we’ve known Jesus to have gone through in his time walking the earth. What was it like for you experiencing these situations that we've known Jesus for?

LaKeith Stanfield: I don't think you appreciate the horrific nature of being foisted on wood, through nails, until you're faced with the reality of what that process might look like. And I think the violent nature of that made me just appreciate what the metaphor was attempting to tell us–the pain that we carry with ourselves and the hardships that we go through in life, the sacrifices that we make for the greater good, there's no bigger sacrifice that one can make than their own life for something that is larger than themselves. For this movie, going through it, I didn't quite view it in that way, you just kind of try to get through the day. But in retrospect, I realize just how much sacrifice it took. And I truly believe for a greater good. I think we're doing a greater good with this movie. I think that we're pushing things forward. We're asking questions, we're placing ourselves in history, we’re telling the story that is a universal story of all people that we all have to go through through the backdrop, through the skin, through the swag of the Black G. There's no better compliment than to be referred to as a G: gangsta, God…it's a beautiful thing. I'm so glad to have been a part of it. It felt like it wasn't much of a choice for me. It felt like it was the next logical step in my legacy. I’m very happy. 

BET.com: What do you want the audience to know about The Book Of Clarence? 

Jeymes Samuel: I want to just say something to everyone at home, the BET audience…The Romans used to crucify people on mass, right? They all went through it and the cross that Clarence bears is the cross that we all have to have to bear, especially just being Black in the societies that we grew up in. We [Jeymes and LaKeith] grew up very similar backgrounds, but 1000s of miles away from each other, but very similar circumstances. Just going through those things and place in what we go through now, but in a biblical setting, and show how much things are the same, but even fearfully how much nothing's changed. When you watch this film, it does push us forward, and brings forward the dialogue that we all should have. Even the dialogue with you [LaKeith] and Mother Mary, Jesus’ mother. That conversation, for a non-believer to have with someone that went through it, it’s just really eye-opening and beautiful. Beautiful things, sometimes under the guise of comedy, but other times it's real.

The Book Of Clarence hits theaters on Friday, January 12th.