Writer and director Tamera Hill and stars Victoria Rowell and Lisa Arrindell open up about betrayal, healing, and why Black families need to see this film Easter weekend
The Secret Between Us is not a comfortable thing. Written and directed by Tamera Hill, founder of Hidden Gem Entertainment and co-writer of the Netflix feature Never Heard, this family drama about betrayal, folk, and forgiveness is now playing in AMC Theaters, and you need to see this film. Executive produced by multi-platinum R&B artist Keith Sweat, the film stars Michael Jai White, Victoria Rowell, and Lisa Arrindell in a story about what happens when a parent’s past comes to the surface.
What is The Secret Between Us about?
Tamera Hill: It’s about a pretty well-to-do, seemingly perfect family. They get an uninvited guest that comes to the house, and the son that shows up is from a long-ago affair he had during their marriage.
Lisa Arrindell: We have a beautiful African American family, husband and wife, married more than 25 years. They have a beautiful daughter, and they are sideswiped by information they never expected to face. The story unfolds that way. You begin to see how things that seem to be built up fall apart, and then in comes a wonderful caregiver into their lives. Nurse Maxine.
Victoria Rowell: She’s the hired home nurse, and she finds herself in the middle of a storm. She brings wisdom and drops pearls of that wisdom gently, with levity, a little bit of quirk, just enough where she’s not intimidating, not overbearing, to gain the trust of Wanda, the character that Lisa beautifully portrays.
Lisa Arrindell: We have powerful African American men who have been given the opportunity by our writer Tamera to explore what it means for men to be able to articulate their feelings and to still remain respected, loved, revered, and strong.
What made you want to tell this story?
Tamera Hill: It was definitely God-inspired first. I wrote the film from my own experience, finding out that I had a sibling later on in life that my father fathered. This story is not my entire story, and we’re still in the middle of our story even now.
But along with a little imagination and creativity, this is the story I created for our community, to be able to see themselves. We have a lot of unforgiveness in our households, and secrets, and things that we have buried. I think this is a good film to cause people to open up and have dialogue and conversation about family secrets and forgiveness.
Victoria, what drew you to this project?
Victoria Rowell: It just really resonated with me. It was germane to my own personal experience, having found my paternity six years ago, and it was healing for me as well. Comedy is difficult to write in a dramatic scenario, but you need it. I was very impressed how Tamera was able to knit that in. It’s subtle, finessed very nicely. And I love the power of the character, someone who works her way into a family where she sees a need for healing.
Lisa Arrindell: I said yes because I loved this idea that a Black woman can be written as articulate, as successful, loving, that she can be sexy, that her husband can also be the love of her life, and that in the middle of all that is positive, she has to find a way to deal with this darkness that seems to encroach upon their family. Things change very quickly in this story, as they do in real life.
Holding up the mirror to nature in art, showing that there’s a way to handle things without hatred, without malice, even though you’re in pain. Tamera gives me an opportunity to express the character’s real feelings while she’s also making room for what other people are feeling.
How did the cast come together?
Tamera Hill: While I was writing the script, I kept seeing Michael’s face. I knew I wanted a manly man to play this role. I reached out to the manager and had no success. So I contacted an actor friend and said, I need to get in contact with Michael Jai White. Michael knew me from another project. He was very receptive to receiving the script and reading it. He read it that day, contacted me the next day and said, “I think we have ourselves a classic here.” He then brought Lisa to my attention. We had already had someone else, but it changed. When Reggie suggested Victoria, I knew she would be perfect for the role.
Lisa Arrindell: That’s an encouragement for young people who think it’s already a done deal. If it’s yours, even if someone else has it right now, it will change course.
Victoria Rowell: We have Tre Ryan, he’s kind of up and coming, but he does a fabulous job. What they all brought to this film is amazing. We kind of handpicked everybody. It came together organically.
What was the energy like on set?
Victoria Rowell: I produce and write myself, so I have radar when things are afoot. On this set, I felt there was a real symbiotic feeling, like people were pulling together. This is an independent project, not a big studio movie. We got our scenes in. The crew was amazing because everyone, it has to gel, from the caterer to your editor, it all has to work. Ten days, there’s no room for daylight, and there’s always something you’ve got to make adjustments on, but everything worked.
Why open the film on Easter weekend?
Tamera Hill: Absolutely. It’s Resurrection Weekend, and the focus is forgiveness, redemption, and family.
Victoria Rowell: Renewal, love, family, unity. All of those things are involved in Resurrection Weekend. We’re not going straight to streaming after three days.
Lisa Arrindell: We need you to see the film the first weekend. Make it a family event. Bring your family, your kids, your neighbors, cousins. It is going to be a celebration. In this particular moment in our world history, we need uplifting entertainment, and this is an inspirational story.
Tamera Hill: We need Black films to succeed in the theater. Hollywood says we don’t get good numbers, so they don’t have a lot of faith in Black films coming to theaters. We want to prove them wrong.
Lisa Arrindell: We prove them wrong often. We just don’t hear that report. Show up. Keep showing up the way you do.
Victoria Rowell: Please come and see our film. I’m going to challenge my young and restless audience. You’re in the millions. My women, I want you to come out with your families. Go to amctheatres.com, put in your zip code, and it will tell you which theater you can see it at.
The Secret Between Us is now playing in select AMC theaters.