Jeffrey Wright delivers one of his best performances as Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, a Los Angeles college professor and author struggling to break through the publishing world’s affinity for racial stereotypes. The brilliantly satirical American Fiction has Monk ghostwriting a racially derivative novel as an absurd joke. He’s stupefied when the book becomes a smash bestseller that competes for an esteemed literary award. Monk’s life is further complicated when he returns to Boston to care for his ailing mother (Leslie Uggams). Sterling K. Brown co-stars as Monk’s brother Cliff, who faces a costly divorce and custody battle after being outed as gay. Monk also unexpectedly falls for Coraline (Erika Alexander), a caring neighbor who can tell he’s hiding something.

American Fiction’s razor-sharp humor and superb dramatic narrative stems from its portrayal of sophisticated Black people living normal lives not usually seen in Hollywood movies. Wright comments that he and writer/director Cord Jefferson (The Good Place, Watchmen) didn’t want to make a “class statement, it’s just who these people happen to be,” but he understands in “terms of the cinematic canon” that “they may be extraordinary.” Brown somewhat agrees but adds that “artistry and commerce, trying to make them into bedfellows, is not always comfortable being Black or anything else.”

Alexander considers “identity” and “who we perceive others to be” as primary themes. She “gets to be cute” and play “the Meg Ryan who drops her groceries.” She and Monk “get to seduce each other, have conversations over wine, and be awkward about it.” She pointedly asks, “Why did it take so long” to see this kind of representation? Wright takes a comic jab at the notion, saying, “Come to my house [and] you see Black folks drinking wine every day.” Brown gets another big laugh with, “I haven’t had a 40 in a long time.” Read on for our complete interviews with Jeffrey Wright, Sterling K. Brown, and Erika Alexander, or check out the interview videos above and below.

Jeffrey Wright & Sterling K. Brown on Family and Wine
American Fiction Release Date December 15, 2023 Rating R for language throughout, some drug use, sexual references and brief violence

MovieWeb: What do you think are the biggest themes of this film?

Jeffrey Wright: At the end of the day, it’s love and family. A friend of mine said to me that she identified it as a Confucian idea — without family there is no revolution. I think that this portrait that we were able to do together is messy, beautiful, maddening, but ultimately they have no other choice. Loving family is in some ways the most subversive thing in this film. And for me, it was new. I’d never been asked to play inside a set of relationships like that. The core themes are about the basic ordinary humaneness of the individuals that we see on screen.

Sterling K. Brown: Yeah, I would agree with that. I mean, maybe tangentially, you’re talking about artistic integrity. I think any artist that works in a business is going to have to find some sort of way forward that doesn’t always feel good or right, because those two things can sometimes be at odds with one another. Artistry and commerce. And trying to make them into bedfellows is not always comfortable, be you Black or anything else.

MW: American Fiction has Black people having adult relationships, drinking wine, and doing cosmopolitan things that you normally only see white people do on screen. I’ve been covering films for 25 years. It’s refreshing to see this kind of representation.

Jeffrey Wright: You come to my house, you see Black folks drinking wine every day. I hear what you’re saying, and it is what it is. But what we also did not want to do, and Cord Jefferson spoke about this, we didn’t want to make this kind of celebration of the talented, some kind of class statement. It’s just who these people happen to be. So that’s interesting, I guess in terms of the cinematic canon, maybe extraordinary. But they’re actually really ordinary at the end of the day, which is kind of the tension.

Sterling K. Brown: In terms of going to your house though, the point is that we don’t get to go to your house, right? In terms of what we consume in media, and our ideas of Blackness.

Jeffrey Wright: I don’t necessarily want everyone at my house. But no, you’re absolutely right. You’re absolutely right. But we’re here.

Sterling K. Brown: I haven’t had a 40 in a long time (laughs).

Jeffrey Wright: I got a jar of moonshine at my house this very moment. You know, anything’s possible.

Sterling K. Brown: Anything’s possible. We run the gamut, from Johnnie Walker red to blue (laughs).

Related: Best Sterling K. Brown Performances, Ranked

Erika Alexander Gets Her Meet-Cute

MW: What do you think are the biggest themes of this film?

Erika Alexander: Identity. Who are we? Who do we see and perceive others to be? Who do they have to be in order to be successful through a different type of paradigm that doesn’t necessarily see most of who they are? This is about the loss, love, and themes of that. It’s also about Black people passing. There are other ways to pass. We think of skin color, but who do they have to be in order to assimilate? It’s hard.

Related: Best Black Cinema of 2022

MW: Coraline and Monk have this sophisticated adult relationship. That’s rarely seen on screen with Black couples. Talk about fleshing that out with Cord Jefferson?

Erika Alexander: Coraline is a quiet storm. She has an opportunity to do something, as you say, that hasn’t been done so often with Black people. She gets the meet-cute. She gets to be the Meg Ryan who drops her groceries, and Tom Hanks comes over, but it happens to be Jeffrey Wright, who we also haven’t seen really touch and feel a woman. They get to seduce each other, have conversations over wine, and be awkward about it, and then have interesting conversations while walking through the Everglades. That’s beautiful. Why did it take so long?

Erika Alexander: I’m happy to be here. Cord Jefferson knew that the culmination of my career could deliver something that was so very subtle. I’d say this is like embroidering on a silk background; Jeffrey’s the silk, I just don’t want to pull the thread out of place. I think that Coraline has also lived through a few things. She is mature enough to have these conversations. She comes as a whole person. She knows who she is. She’s dealing with a person who was unsure. That’s what makes it interesting.

MW: What was the best and worst day for you on American Fiction?

Erika Alexander: I think the best day is when I arrived. The worst day is when I left. It was over. I’d have to wait like everybody else to see it, and it was worth it.

American Fiction will be released theatrically on December 8th from Amazon MGM Studios.