David Oyelowo and Mo McRae on A Lot of Nothing, One-Shot Openers, and Conversation Starting Films

In his feature debut, Mo McRae directs and produces a thrilling and chaotic film called A Lot of Nothing. To anyone in the world, James (Y’lan Noel) and Vanessa (Cleopatra Coleman) would seem like the picture of a perfectly happy couple. Married, successful in their careers, and living comfortably, they seem to be people to look up to. But when a tragedy is reported in a news, a child is killed by a cop, and they find out the cop is their next-door neighbor (Justin Hartley), their lives soon take a sharp turn. A Lot of Nothing tackles a lot in its 104-minute runtime. From race to class to family to trauma, the film weaves a complicated web while keeping the energy high as the stakes keep getting raised higher and higher for James and Vanessa on a night when they are hosting James’ brother Jamal (Shamier Anderson) and his pregnant fiancée Candy (Lex Scott Davis). We spoke with Mo McRae along with executive producer David Oyelowo during SXSW about the film. We discuss McRae’s shor