Photo Credit: Ariel Nava(NEW YORK) — Real-life friends and Oakland natives Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal have teamed up for their Oakland based drama, Blindspotting.
The film centers on Diggs’ character, Collin, and the complicated relationship he has with his best friend, Miles. Casal, who plays Miles, says they wanted to make the film to authentically showcase their city.
“We really tried to rely on making the film come across as intimately as it was made,” Casal tells ABC Radio. “And so, there were these crossroads, where it was like, ‘Oh well, you know, we could ask so-and-so big-name person to be in it and that would give us a little candy coat here.’ [But] we really just leaned into telling the story in the way that felt the most sincere to the place and the people.”
For former Hamilton star Diggs, it’s been somewhat of a surreal experience to see so many support his indie project, which he reveals was shot in only 22 days.
“So like as grateful as we are to the reviewers who have been highly positive about it, who have really been pushing people to go see, this is an indie,” Diggs says. “There’s not a ton of budget behind it.”
Even with Blindspotting just being a “small film,” Casal knows what a big response at the box office would mean for them.
“It would mean that we get to make more films,” he says. “It would mean that there’s more exciting stories that we can both tell ourselves and create opportunities for other people in our community to tell those stories. The Bay Area is having some kind of moment that people are interested in, which is beautiful. Let’s just keep that going.”
Blindspotting opens nationwide today.
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