Love Part of AAMU Bulldogs LEAD Speaker Series
Producer of ‘They Cloned Tyrone’ Visits The Hill
By Christin Watson
Award-winning producer Stephen Love was on The Hill this week to speak to students about his journey to Hollywood. “Master Class with Stephen Love,” is part of the Bulldogs LEAD Series, designed to prepare students for future leadership endeavors.
Love, a trailblazer in film and advertising, produced “They Cloned Tyrone,” which ranked in the top ten in 17 countries when it debuted on Netflix last July.
“I went to USC with the writer and director Juel Taylor,” said Love. “Juel told me about this idea in 2017. He wanted to tell a story about these three people from a rough neighborhood in the South, like the one we both grew up in. ‘The three people, who are not detectives, have to figure out how to solve the mystery.’ I said, ‘That's gonna' go! Let me produce that for you.’ At the time I didn’t know it was going to be a major studio movie with Jamie Foxx.”
Love told students about his humble beginnings selling peaches on his grandfather’s farm in rural South Carolina and the drive it took to get to where he is today.
“I grew up in a place where the closest movie theater was an hour away,” he said. “We didn’t have cable. We were so deep in the country that even if you could afford it, you couldn’t get cable. So, when I go back to look at my journey, the scary things that have happened, the college escapades, I was still able to focus enough to graduate on time. That stuff is not lost on me. I’m still here, and that means the mission is still alive. That is what pushes me forward.”
Love, who graduated from Morehouse College, answered questions about the film industry, which film festivals are best for new and upcoming artists, and how they were able to create so many clones of ‘Tyrone.’
“We had a casting call just for twins,” Love said. “What I learned is that a lot of twins don’t look alike. They may be identical, but they don’t actually look alike. For John [Boyega] and for [Jamie] Foxx, we created a few body scan creations, like physical sculptures of them.”
Love encouraged students to strive for their goals despite the challenges.
“I didn’t take doubters personally because I understood it had to do with their limitations, not mine,” said Love. “I’ve never had a moment where I was like, maybe this isn’t supposed to work. I never quit.”
“I really believe that we all are whoever we were at five years old. If you really think about it, the things that are important to you now, the things that make you mad now, the things that get you excited now, the things that inspire you now, the core of those things are pretty similar to who you were when you were five. When it’s really tough, I kind of tap back into just my story. You are seeing the product, but nothing about how I grew up, where I’m from, makes sense for me to be here and in the position I’m in, except for God’s grace.”
The Bulldogs LEAD Series continues on Thursday, March 7. Writer and Director Dennis Delemar will speak to students at 5:30 p.m. in Buchanan Hall Auditorium.