Jurnee Smollett and Rel Howery are on a mission to spread Black Boy Joy.

In their new coming-of-age drama, "We Grown Now" –in theaters nationwide April 26– the "Love Craft Country" star portrays Dolores, a single mom of two who grapples with the stiff realities of living Black while in America as systemic racism rattles the ghettos of Chicago. Starring alongside Smollett, the "Get Out" actor also plays a single dad whose relationship with his young son Eric –played by Gian Knight Ramirez– is strained by his personal inhibitions to be present and in the moment.

As Eric and Malik (Blake Cameron James) adventure to foster hope for a life outside of their circumstances through imagination, they are confronted with a predicament that challenges their friendship.

In "We Grown Now," tensions between both families ricochet while lessons of self-discovery, toxic masculinity, and chasteness resound.

BET.com sat down with Smollett and Howery on how they hope this film will foster conversations about how to reverse toxic masculinity in the Black community and why escapism fueled through imagination is integral for young minds.

Bet.com This film follows two young boys as they journey through Chicago during the 90s while experiencing the pressures of life in the ghetto. From ideation to production, how did this film affect you?

Rel Howery:  I teared up quite a few times the first time I watched it, and it's so crazy because you can read the script, and you know what's gonna happen. But then, when you see the performances and the words on the pages come to life, the three generations, those little things, it made my heart feel watching it. It didn't feel like a movie. It just felt like a camera on these young men in '92. That's what makes this film beautiful.

Bet.com: Jurnee, you not only starred in this film but, also served as executive producer. What was it like to moonlight behind the camera?

Jurnee Smollett: I'm very comfortable in that position, being in the production capacity. And it's a great thing when you have a collaborative team, when you have a team that's open to the script revisions and thoughts and ways to make this beautiful, living, breathing theme come to life.

I found a great collaborator in Minhal [Baig], our filmmaker and screenwriter. She and I really just dug in and did some script notes and things leading up to the shooting, and [we] had a great collaboration with Participant, who produced the film as well, and Joe Pirro, the producer. So, it was a great team, and I plan to do more of this. I want to see more filmmakers of color; different gazes pointed at us to help expand stories.

Bet.com: How did your role as a father prepare you to portray Jason in this film?

Rel Howery: The natural thing for me is to be a dad. So that was the easy thing to do. And that's what was interesting about acting in a movie like this because most of the time, the child that plays the kid, you end up having that energy with him. I look at when I'm giving him the last conversation, I walk away and give him an affectionate head rub. I wanted him (Ramirez) to feel very encouraged by my energy with him. It's just that dad energy that you can't even help [because] I always do [that] with my sons.

Bet.com: Jurnee, you are also a family-oriented person. How did your role as a mom and a sister prepare you to step into the shoes of Dolores?

Jurnee Smollett: I grew up in a home with four boys, and my mother was very, very keen on encouraging them to own their identity but also creating a space for them to cry, be vulnerable, shed tears, hug it out, and be their whole, full selves.

And if this film contributes to that, that makes me very happy.

I think we have to create space for our men to be our men and their whole beautiful, complex, flawed selves. It's a real battle [that] we're facing in the world trying to tell us all men and women, everyone, who we are before we discover who we are.

As a parent, my goal with my son is to try to keep him his full, whole self, help him discover who he is in all his complex masculine and feminine energies, and try to protect and prevent the world from telling him who he is before he's discovered it.

Bet.com: Was there a moment when you could see your own son through the eyes of Malik or Eric?

Jurnee Smollett: Of course, that's one of the main reasons why I was drawn to the story is knowing the struggle of motherhood, the struggle of raising a son in America, the struggle of pursuing what I love without neglecting those that I love. That banter of "Oh, he testing me right now." That energy, he's a leader, he's an alpha. But how do I hone that and not destroy it but guide it?

I think that's Dolores's struggle. She's so weighed down with the fear of what is in her environment and the fear of what could happen to him that she's actually stifling not just him but herself too in the process.

Bet.com: In this film, the boys are free to embrace their emotions. So many times in our community, boys are told to hide them, and that turns into men who journey through adulthood with the same unhealthy standard. In what ways do you hope this narrative will change how masculinity is viewed?

Rel Howery: It shows the innocence of black boyhood.

That made me emotional because watching it made me think about my friends. I had genuine friendships in the 90s, right before we almost had to grow up a little quicker than we wanted to.

And for me, it was emotional because I remember the last time we could be like that before all the other stuff started going on. That's when gang culture took over Chicago. It wasn't even just with the killings. I remember the summer when everybody started joining gangs. But I remember it was a time when that innocence was all we had.

Bet.com: This film also amplifies the power of imagination. When you were younger, what did you imagine about adulthood? 

Jurnee Smollett: When you're young, you say, "Oh, I can't wait to drive. I can't wait to have my own bank account and pay bills." Come on, they can keep it! I watch my son now and when I tell him, "No" he'll say "I can't wait until I'm a grown-up!" I'm like, "Yeah, I think you can wait. Trust me, enjoy it now."

I love the aspect of imagination and magical realism that the film gently touches on kids' innocence and naivete.

And I think Dolores learns to reconnect to her own sense of dreaming and the possibility of what could be outside these walls from her son. They say when you're raising a child, that you're actually parenting your own inner child. I think we all just have to dream a little bigger. God's a big God. How dare we limit with him?

Bet.com: When thinking about gang culture in the 1990s,, were there moments when you utilized the power of imagination as an outlet?

Rel Howery: That's why I am where I am now, and I applaud my parents for that. I grew up in the environment, but I have both of my parents and had amazing aunties and uncles. I had a community that raised me. I can't wait to screen this in Chicago because my family shows up for everything. That's how I grew up.

Bet.com: The family dynamics between you and your onscreen son became tense at times, and it seemed likethat Eric just wanted his father to be proud of him. How does that dynamic resonate with you? Did you see any similarities between your childhood and Eric’s?

Rel Howery: My family –my dad and my mom– are very supportive, but with my dad sometimes I didn't know what he thought about [my] accomplishments. He would say, "good job" but it was always in this kind of stern way.

It wasn't until I did stand up and I ran into one of his coworkers one day and he's like, "Yeah, I'm gonna come to your show." I'm like, "Oh, cool. How'd you hear about it?" He's like, "Well, your dad be passing out your flyers every time you have a show. He's telling us about it."

And I didn't know that. I never knew he was doing that. He never said nothing. We never really had that conversation.

Bet.com: Rel, you’ve been taking on more dramatic film roles lately. When I talked to you a couple of years ago, you mentioned this has allowed you to develop a more extensive fan base. In what other ways has your career reached greater heights with the evolution of your on-screen career?

Rel Howery: Just dreaming big. I'm about to direct and star in my first feature film. I'm living beyond the stuff I had on the checklist.

I was talking to my son and I've been in this space where I wanna figure out my own superheroes. So I had my agent send me a bunch of some IPs of superheroes that nobody has done anything with. I sent the list to my son –he's 14– and he sent me two or three one-pagers. I'm like, "How you learn how to do that?"

I did tear up a little bit because I'm like, "Wow, I've created a space where I can create this kid that I can only dream of being." That's a beautiful thing. I've positioned myself where the sky is the limit to where my kid's normal thought is, "Hey, I can be that type of creator."