The questions of "Am I my brother’s keeper? And at what cost? are explored in Director Charles Murray’s new thriller, The Devil You Know.
Murray’s film tells the story of Marcus Cowans (Omar Epps), who after a lifetime of trouble is trying to turn his life around with the support of his loving family. Upon discovering that one of his brothers may have been involved in a horrific crime, Marcus grapples with the limits of brotherhood and loyalty as he also finds himself in the crosshairs of a seasoned but jaded detective (Michael Ealy).
Following the DGA membership screening in Los Angeles on April 30, Murray sat down with Director Matthew A. Cherry (9 Rides) to discuss the making of The Devil You Know.
During the conversation, Murray spoke about how he likes to give his actors free reign to bring their characters beyond what’s on the page and what his role is in that process.
“Hitchcock said that you as a director are the first audience member and I think that what you have to give over as a director is as you're seeing the personality of the actor, you're seeing how that person is taking over the character. If they're in if they are in line with kind of how you envision it, you let him roll and then when you sit next to the camera or you're sitting in video village watching you're like literally seeing this character for the first time, not when you did all the drafts, not when you cast them and did the auditions, but as they're doing it. Then, I think, your biggest job as a director is to shape the larger story as they are shaping the scenes.”
In addition to The Devil You Know, Murray’s credits include the feature films A Cold Hard Truth, The Summoning and Things Never Said; and an episode of Sons of Anarchy. Murray has been a DGA member since 2014.
You can listen to Murray's Q&A by clicking the podcast episode embedded below. You can find more DGA podcast episodes here.