Just Business

WHEN ACTOR AND DON’T LET GO CO-PRODUCER David Oyelowo first got his hands on an initial script and decided he wanted to make it, there were some changes that needed to happen. First, it needed to be moved out of rural Ohio, where it was originally set. And second, if Oyelowo was going to star as Jack Radcliff—a police officer whose niece, brother, and sister-in-law are murdered—the family would have to be black rather than white. And because his producing partner was Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions, this was no big deal.

“He gives creative autonomy to his filmmakers and his actors on a level that is so extraordinary and wonderful, and you can see it in the work,” Oyelowo said in a recent phone interview. “I saw that firsthand with our film and how well-nurtured [director] Jacob Estes was.” Oyelowo, who, added a bit more bluntly: “At no point did we feel like it’s the studio’s way or the highway, which can definitely be the way in certain studio situations.”