Speaker 1: You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 2: Operation Aunties now available on AMC streaming channel All Black.
Speaker 2: It's an action packed dramedy which tells the story of
Speaker 2: a longtime friendship that is tested when a risk averse
Speaker 2: cryptocurrency expert and her retired detective best friend become vigilantes
Speaker 2: after discovering a cyber crime syndicate in their city.
Speaker 1: Hey, I'm a mina.
Speaker 3: Hope you got water?
Speaker 4: Good?
Speaker 1: It's about your niece. Amina's a salt case.
Speaker 4: Oh my god.
Speaker 1: Okay, we trace him to this larger operation.
Speaker 4: There are guys who use a new ras sha at
Speaker 4: to traffic women in the crypto.
Speaker 3: Coin Did you thank you?
Speaker 2: We go after him and everyone else missed network.
Speaker 4: Okay, vigilantes, there are some dangerous people that are part
Speaker 4: of this.
Speaker 3: You owe me a spat day.
Speaker 4: All we need is from sexy outfits. I know that's right.
Speaker 2: By specializing in computer technology, you.
Speaker 4: Can identify everyone involved in this. Detective got your service?
Speaker 4: Are you high? Yes?
Speaker 2: Destroy This directed by Wendy Raquel Robinson, who you know
Speaker 2: from her time on the TV show The Game and
Speaker 2: also opposite Steve Harvey. On The Steve Harvey Show as
Speaker 2: principal Greer MS. Robinson, A pleasure to speak to you again.
Speaker 2: How are you?
Speaker 4: Oh? I am fantastic. Thank you for that wonderful under Dutch.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and I'm also joined by Venerabull, comedic actress and
Speaker 2: co star Tisha Campbell, who you know from the House
Speaker 2: Party movie franchise, television classic Martin and opposite Eddie Murphy
Speaker 2: in another forty eight hours.
Speaker 4: Ms.
Speaker 2: Campbell is good to have you back on as well.
Speaker 4: Yeah, thank you, glad to be here.
Speaker 2: Tejer Let me start with you. I get great joy
Speaker 2: by watching the evolution and growth of your career over
Speaker 2: the years. What's it like to branch out into action
Speaker 2: with Operation Aunties.
Speaker 3: I just love that Wendy saw me for this role
Speaker 3: and that I get a chance to do any and
Speaker 3: everything that I've ever wanted to do. Like during COVID isolation,
Speaker 3: I made a pack to myself because you know, you're
Speaker 3: by yourself and all you have is yourself to you know,
Speaker 3: I didn't have anybody in my ear telling me what
Speaker 3: I could or could not do, and so I made
Speaker 3: a pack to myself that I was going to try
Speaker 3: everything and make choices for myself, and this was one
Speaker 3: of them.
Speaker 2: Wendy, my mother, my late father, and my sister are
Speaker 2: all Howard University graduates such as yourself, and I would
Speaker 2: be cussed out something awful if I didn't shout out Hu.
Speaker 2: You know, did you have any idea while walking down
Speaker 2: Georgia Avenue next to the Wonderbread factory in Washington, d C.
Speaker 2: That you'd be one day in the director's chair?
Speaker 4: Wow? Thank you for that. You know what one thing
Speaker 4: that I love about Howard and that theater department. We
Speaker 4: had to rotate and do everything, and that goes from
Speaker 4: lights to sound to you know, hair, makeup, wardrobe. We
Speaker 4: had to do all of the practicoms and sit in
Speaker 4: every single chair as it came to not only theater,
Speaker 4: but all of the fundamentals from even the admin side
Speaker 4: of running a theater. So I do want to say
Speaker 4: that my days at Howard prepared me for a little
Speaker 4: bit of everything. So as I smell the wonderbread that
Speaker 4: I now here is a whole food store and the
Speaker 4: evolution of it all it was. It was a wonderful
Speaker 4: time in my life and I'm just so grateful for
Speaker 4: the opportunity to have worked alongside such amazing talents as
Speaker 4: I walk those halls and Georgia Avenue as well.
Speaker 2: All right, Winnie, let me stay right there with you.
Speaker 2: Let's get into Operation Aunties and the Mayhem included. What
Speaker 2: are the these Aunties in for?
Speaker 4: Ooh, these Aunties are in for everything, just like you said,
Speaker 4: the Mayhem, the chaos, the comedy. But I also want
Speaker 4: to say it's an edutaining experience because we are dealing
Speaker 4: with some serious content, you know, in terms of the
Speaker 4: sex trafficking, which is very, very real. So we had
Speaker 4: to do a balancing act. And it's like, well, what
Speaker 4: do you do when the FBI or you know, those
Speaker 4: forces that are supposed to be handling things are not
Speaker 4: doing it in a timely manner. You take things into
Speaker 4: your own hand and you become vigilant. And that's where
Speaker 4: we got the vigilantes for Operation Aunties. And I think
Speaker 4: the audience is in for a ride. You know, it's
Speaker 4: not often when you can get the tech world needs
Speaker 4: a little bit of comedy, a little bit of action,
Speaker 4: a little bit of you know, we got a little
Speaker 4: bit of everything. But it's a wonderful, delicate balancing act
Speaker 4: that is educating and entertaining for everyone. So I'm really
Speaker 4: really proud of it. And it was a ride. It
Speaker 4: was a ride for me as a director and just
Speaker 4: pulling it all together so seamlessly. But I was surrounded
Speaker 4: by incredible talents of Tisha Campbell and Melissa Desosa and
Speaker 4: it just really made it. It made it a wonderful
Speaker 4: experience for me that I'm going to cherish forever.
Speaker 2: Actually, Tisa, let me talk more about that balancing act
Speaker 2: with you. And I'm always curious to know how much
Speaker 2: leeway actors have to improvise on projects like this. Yes
Speaker 2: there's a serious undertone, Yes there's comedy. As I said
Speaker 2: at the top, it's a dramedy. So I'm going to
Speaker 2: ask you, in front of your director, Wendy Raquel Robinson,
Speaker 2: how free were you, Tisha Campbell, to improvise or have
Speaker 2: fun with your character?
Speaker 3: Well, you know what, we only had ten days to
Speaker 3: film this what And so yeah, we had ten days
Speaker 3: to film this and TJ Ali the writer and Wendy
Speaker 3: carved out on wonderful story. So I kind of tried
Speaker 3: as much as I could to stick to that. There
Speaker 3: were ad lib moments, but for the most part, I
Speaker 3: didn't want to stray too far because this was an
Speaker 3: intricate story to tell, and I wanted to make sure
Speaker 3: that my contribution wasn't over the top and not going
Speaker 3: to take away from the story Wendy that.
Speaker 2: I think that leads me right into my next question.
Speaker 2: Because if you're under a tight schedule, what you are
Speaker 2: with ten days, there are limitations and what you can
Speaker 2: do as far as shoots and reshoots. How did that
Speaker 2: figure into your calculus as far as directing a piece
Speaker 2: like this.
Speaker 3: Well, you know what.
Speaker 4: It all starts in the planning. They if you listen,
Speaker 4: if you don't plan, you're gonna fail. Because there were
Speaker 4: no opportunities to do a reshoot, that's out of the question.
Speaker 4: We had to make our days. So I worked very
Speaker 4: closely with the DP and Wow, we worked for hours
Speaker 4: just getting a solid shot, lists and just going play
Speaker 4: by play. I had a wonderful production and producing team,
Speaker 4: Letitia Fortune and Sheena Carter. They came through and just
Speaker 4: made sure that every tea was crossed, every eye was dotted.
Speaker 4: We had back to back zooms with every department and
Speaker 4: just ensuring that the move the looks. So when we
Speaker 4: got to set, everything was just as we had planned
Speaker 4: it to be. Yes, there were a few glitches, you know,
Speaker 4: there were weather. Oh my god, it was almost a hurricane.
Speaker 4: You remember that night we were finale. We were shooting
Speaker 4: the finale, and it was a huge hurricane in Florida
Speaker 4: of the backlash of the brain and everything in Atlanta.
Speaker 4: But the crew, we all came together. Nobody wanted to leave,
Speaker 4: and you know, we all stayed and we made it happen.
Speaker 4: So teamwork can make a dream work. And I really
Speaker 4: want to say that, not just because it sounds flowery,
Speaker 4: but everyone was so invested and it just all came
Speaker 4: together because there was no room for error. Was there
Speaker 4: was only room for adjustments. And I said, for every problem,
Speaker 4: there's going to be a solution, and we made it happen.
Speaker 4: One of the funniest things was how do we create
Speaker 4: the brain of this massive computer? Because Melissa Desosa's character
Speaker 4: is like a Steve Jobs. How do you show the
Speaker 4: expansive world of this woman who has this crypto and
Speaker 4: you know, blockchain technology, and how do we show her
Speaker 4: world in basically where we were shooting, it was just
Speaker 4: a home that we used every single bedroom to create
Speaker 4: the world of this movie. And I got to give
Speaker 4: a shout out to our DP. He came up with
Speaker 4: the concept of creating the brain of this incredible computer.
Speaker 4: He frosted two glass doors, and the brain existed behind
Speaker 4: these two basically two French doors that were just glass doors.
Speaker 4: But you know, we became very creative and we tapped
Speaker 4: into resources that we didn't have, and we made it work.
Speaker 4: And that's the one thing I walk away with, you know,
Speaker 4: most proud.
Speaker 2: Of Operation Auntie is now streaming on the AMC streaming
Speaker 2: portion All Black. It is available right now. I want
Speaker 2: to thank my guests right now, Wendy, Raquel Robinson and
Speaker 2: Tisha Campbell. I enjoy you both. I loved you both
Speaker 2: over so many years, and I hope to speak to
Speaker 2: you again soon.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Hi, thank you.
Speaker 2: It's Later with mo Kelly KFI AM six forty. We're
Speaker 2: live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1: You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from
Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty