Issa Rae Chats Exciting New 'Black Mirror' Episode, Working with Keke Palmer & Her First-Ever Super Bowl Commercial

PureWow: First off, loved One of Them Days. It truly captures the essence of '90s comedies but doesn't shy away from real issues like gentrification and financial hardship. How did you and the team strike that balance between comedy and serious themes?

Issa Rae: Well, first of all, thank you, and that's all credit to the screenwriter, Syreeta Singleton. We've been working on the project and developing it for seven years now. I love her writing because it does just that, it finds comedy in painful truths, and she knows how to write people that milk and mine the humor out of everything. For her, it was authentic, specifically because this is her neighborhood, and in many ways, this is her experience.

We did that during Insecure, I've seen that with my own neighborhood, living in South L.A. and just watching the neighborhood change and feeling powerless, and seeing the prices go up and and knowing why they're going up. So, you can cry about that or you can find a way to laugh at it and make people aware of it. And she chose the latter.

PW: I know you served as producer on this film, and you've also produced Insecure. How did those experiences differ for you?

IR: Well, first, we had way more time on Insecure. Insecure was so much of me and in all aspects, and so it was fun, but it was exhausting and it was all a blur. With One of Them Days, you know, it was such a pleasure to be behind the scenes. I felt like I could breathe a little bit more and observe objectively, whether it was the story or performances, and whatever the set design was like. I just felt like I had more opportunities to weigh in creatively, but it was way more of a collaboration because this is also not directly my project and film. It's a director's media. Luckily, Lawrence [Lamont] is incredible and talented and super collaborative. So, it was a pleasure to watch him do his thing and then trust him.

PW: Do you have any other exciting projects coming up?

IR: I do—most of them I can't talk about...I know I can talk about a Black Mirror episode that's coming out soon, that I'm excited about. Unfortunately, everything else is kind of under wraps.

PW: What was it like to work on the Black Mirror episode?

IR: It was a dream come true. Honestly, I'm such a fan of the show. I'm such a fan of Charlie Brooker. I didn't know until two years ago that he was responsible for nearly all the episodes, he had like a co-writer from, fun fact, Succession—Jesse Armstrong—in the first season, but then he's just been writing them all himself, so they're all from his brain. But I got to shoot it in London with an incredible, incredible cast, and it's unique, and I'd say the episode feels like a blend of some of my favorite Black Mirror episodes.

PW: I know you have a partnership with TurboTax and that you'll star in your first-ever Super Bowl commercial. What was that like?

IR: I am thrilled. I definitely had being in a Super Bowl commercial on my bucket list and the creative for this, just around TurboTax, really appealed to me specifically because taxes are hard as hell and they're always daunting. To be able to let people know, and even the early 20-year-old version of me that was just like, 'What are taxes and how do I do this by myself?' To be able to introduce people to an app that does everything for you, via this TurboTax expert who literally does your taxes for you and makes filing taxes easier and less stressful. It was a pleasure. And it's a really funny ad.

PW: As we're on the subject of limiting stress and doing things the easier way, what advice would you offer to women who juggle a lot?

IR: Be real with yourself. Like, be honest with yourself about what you can and cannot do. That's something I've had to tell myself repeatedly when taking on a project, when saying 'yes' to something, I always ask myself, 'Is this something that you really want to do? Is this something that you can do? Is this something that you're going to make time for?' But like, interrogate yourself to the T so that you can be real about yourself. You can only, again, blame yourself at the end of the day, if you take it on.

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