Who would have ever thought Regina Hall and Kelvin Harrison Jr. would join forces for a musical fantasy film like Hulu’s O’DESSA? Now available to stream, the film follows a farm girl who embarks on a journey to recover a cherished family heirloom in a post-apocalyptic future. Her journey soon leads her to a strange and dangerous city, but she meets her one true love. To save his soul, and their love, she puts the power of destiny and music to the ultimate test.
It’s a new role for both Hall and Harrison Jr. Their work is expansive, with Harrison Jr. recently lending his talents in a voiceover role as the ultimate villain in Disney’s Mufasa. In O’DESSA, Hall takes her shot, and lands it, as the villain. Both performances will surprise and wow fans. Hall and Harrison Jr. spoke with Collider about the new world they ventured into with O’DESSA.
Regina Hall and Kelvin Harrison Jr. Enjoyed the Fantasy Element of ‘O’Dessa’

Image via Searchlight Pictures

COLLIDER: Congratulations on the film. So I’ll start with you, Regina. This is a different role for you. You’ve made us laugh, made us cry over the years in all of your work, and you’re taking us into a different world with this project. So what made you want to dig your teeth into this role?
REGINA HALL: I really think just because of that, it was different. I loved the world, the writing, the cast,, the musical element of it, although I don’t sing, I love the musical element of it, and I love the idea of playing the bad guy and doing something that I hadn’t done myself. I think t’s easy to kind of – in this or any business – get put into a box, so I think it’s always great to have those opportunities to stretch and grow and just show another thing, another side of performance in every role. I love Jeremy. I thought Jeremy was smart. I love the hopefulness in the movie. It was also nice to play the dark sinister part, and just to really be a part of the project and to support Sadie [Sink], because she’s so wonderful in the movie.
COLLIDER: Now Kelvin, you’ve also done some pretty cool suspense work that have had some psychological elements to it. How was it entering into this sort of fantasy musical bubble for you?
KELVIN HARRISON JR.: Yeah, it was cool. I mean, similar to Regina, I’m always looking for an opportunity to break outside of the typical characters that I get to play. I’ve had the privilege of doing a lot of biopics and playing a lot of amazing men that are real. So to be able to create a character like Yuri and show a more softer side and not so manipulative, but someone who was just here because he loved art and he loves expression and individuality and creation and just wanted to love, I think there was something so simple about that. In an extraordinary world and an extraordinary look that is overlooked, I think that was really fun for me to meet that challenge of how can I reduce the extraness of this guy to being something that we can all understand because it’s just about loving and community and being seen and appreciated. It’s easy to do the bells and whistles, but can I get that simple thing? So I was, that was cool to me.

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Sadie Sink Is on a Post-Apocalyptic Rock ‘n’ Roll Journey in First ‘O’Dessa’ Trailer

Kelvin Harrison Jr., Murray Bartlett, and Regina Hall also star in the rock opera coming to Hulu this March.

‘O’Dessa’ Tests Viewers’ Morality

Image via Searchlight Pictures

COLLIDER: Regina, talk to us about the physical transformation that went into this role. You don’t have eyebrows. What was that like when you first saw yourself as your new character?
REGINA HALL: It was great. I loved it. I didn’t want people to look and see me. You know it’s me, but I didn’t want people to look and be like, ‘Oh Regina.’ I wanted them to at least be like, ‘Is that her?’ I wanted her to really feel like Neon Dion. It was long, but I will say that once they got it, each day it got better, but some days it was hot. The leather didn’t stretch, so that wasn’t the easiest, but it was so much fun. I think all of those things inform the character. I’d be mad too if I had to do all that every day. So I think they all played into the villain idea. Being able to sense who Dion is, and the darkness inside of her, which is so different from the love and optimism and purity of O’Dessa. And then our relationship, our dynamic is so different from love and purity. He [Kelvin] looked at me differently. The film makes you question does love win in this darkness. And love does win. It just may not win in maybe the way we expected or we envision and hope, it may not be idealistic, but it is true.
COLLIDER: Now speaking of love winning and having that theme of hope and, how timely do you think, Kelvin, a project like this is in the times that we are currently in?
KELVIN HARRISON JR.: I think in some ways, it’s a cautionary tale. We get to see human behavior play itself out over and over again, and I think we get to see a very – it’s so big – this world and fantastical that we can kind of remove ourselves but still learn something, and I think that’s one of the beauties of this movie. You ask yourself, ‘Where do I see myself in this space? What patterns am I repeating? Am I desensitized to some of the trauma and the brutal nature in which we treat each other right in front of me how selfish can I become? How attached am I to the media and cell phones? Am I at times focusing on love? And am I embracing my own individuality? All those themes are present in our own society. And it’s a way to have a look into it without feeling attacked. I don’t think movies are meant to attack, but maybe just challenge and bring up some questions.
COLLIDER: Regina, you touched on playing the villain and how it was fun for you to kind of escape into that character. What about the villain character did you like the most?
REGINA HALL: She is completely selfish. I mean there is no thought of another person’s joy or feelings. It is a very self-absorbed way to go through a world. And I think with Dion, you see things and you go, ‘How could someone be this way?’ And so to kind of delve into the psychology of what allows someone to be really that apathetic where nothing really matters except her thoughts, her ideas, her goals and so just to be able to tap into it and play with it, what does that look like and what does that sound like? But more importantly, what’s underneath it?
Because underneath that, there is some hurt or some emotion that has driven you to be that cold. And so I think being able to have that love underneath, which does exist in Dion, but to cover it up and and then cover it and fill it with all the dark parts of humanity, that part is fun. But it’s so far gone – that innocence, that hopefulness, that creativity, because she got some creativity. She had the eye shadow, she thought the hair was a style. But what happens when all of that is buried so deep within us, within ourselves that we only see ourselves, we don’t leave room for the other. And I think that’s kind of where Dion is. There is no room for the other.
When you live in a state of self preservation of everything related to yourself, your life, your lifestyle, your comfort, your whatever, that’s what happens. So it was just fun to experiment and play and think about those things and then act as if.
O’Dessa is now streaming on Hulu.

O’Dessa

Release Date

March 13, 2025

Runtime

106 Minutes

Writers

Geremy Jasper

Producers

Dan Janvey, Jonathan Montepare, Michael Gottwald, Rodrigo Teixeira, Lourenço Sant’Anna