EXCLUSIVE: Numa Perrier Talks Directing Gabrielle Union & the Costumes in Netflix’s ‘The Perfect Find’
Today, June 23, Netflix released its brand new romantic comedy, The Perfect Find. Starring Gabrielle Union and Keith Powers, to celebrate the release, we sat down with the director of the new movie, Numa Perrier to talk about brining the story to life.
During our chat, we talked how she became attached to directing the movie, collaborating with Union on the project, the amazing costumes featured throughout the movie, New York City, and so much more. Check out what she had to say below.
How did you get attached to making this movie?
“I had just come off making my first feature, my micro budget indie Jezebel. And a lot of people responded positively to that film. So, I started getting scripts sent my way, and this one came with the beautiful bow of Gabrielle Union producing and starring. So, I read it. I related to it very deeply and I took that meeting as fast as I could and made sure that no one else would get it.”
Was there something that you did that sealed the deal?
“I definitely had to work for it. That’s just how it goes. And I’m glad, because I definitely feel like I earned it and they wanted to hear my point of view and everything. I told them how I related to it and what my vision was for it, some of the casting ideas that I had for it. But really, what I think what sold it is when I sat down with Gabrielle that we talked about what we each wanted for is the next chapter or the next movement of our careers. And it was in perfect alignment. So it just made sense for both of us to do this together.
Can you talk a little bit more about that collaboration Gabrielle Union?
“She’s been in so many romcoms. She’s an icon to so many of us. But she said, ‘I really want to show this other side of the ambitious woman’” What does it look like when you’ve had a very public failure, very public embarrassment, and how do you reorient yourself first and then reframe yourself to the world? And that was just something we both really understood, and we just made that our beacon of light that we followed through with that in every scene. Directing her is really giving her the space to relax and enjoy and have fun and actually play and actually fall in love with this younger guy. You’re in a safe space to do it, fall in love in the context within the boundaries of this scene, but go for it. Let that overtake you. And so that was great. The performance that she turns in this film I think is really special.”
The costumes are a huge staple in this movie. Can you talk about how you shot the movie to ensure the costumes played a key without taking over the movie?
“The costume meaning is like the sister recipe for how we got there. Once I knew that I had the job and I went and watched everything that Gabrielle had ever been in, I watched every season of Being Mary Jane. I watched every film and I’d seen a lot of them, but there were a few that I had missed. I just took a deep dive into everything she had done in the past because that was the best way for me to think about how to be different for the future. I noticed that she often dressed in a similar way because she’s playing these strong woman roles wearing very bold colors or being kind of the disruptor in a relationship.
And so that evokes a certain sense of style. And in this film, I said, ‘I really want the sense of style to be something we just haven’t seen her in before.’ So, with Amit Gajwani [Costume Designer], the first boards that he brought me after we had our first meeting were unlike any other. I knew that he was the one, he understood it and he worked with an incredible team to get her some one of a kind custom pieces all the way from Africa. I mean, he really put his foot in it. I just really loved working with him and having that costuming storytelling be so strong.”
Were there any costumes that didn’t make the cut?
“Oh, sure. You always have three or four or five options for every single scene, but they were all great. It was just which one is the greatest of these great options that I’m being given right now? And then it would just come down to the fitting. Gabrielle would know when she stepped into something. I’d always send her the boards early and ask her what she thought. And she told me, ‘This is so different, but I’m here for it. Go, go, go.’ So, she gave a lot of autonomy to me in that way and a lot of trust. Because how you look in the movie, this matters forever. It’s like We die, but the films live on. So, she gave a lot of trust, and she was very open to all of it. But as soon as she put something on, she would know if it felt right and her eyes would light up and you could see it in the photos. So yeah, we all worked really closely together on it.”
Well, you not only directed the movie, but you starred in it as well. Was that planned from the beginning?
“Oh, always planned. I’m an actor. I love acting. It’s something that I’ll always do. I’m always trying to find a way, how can I do both. I co-starred in my first feature film, I’m always going to be in front of the camera as well. But also, it really takes a page from as far as what I want to continue doing as a filmmaker, looking at how Spike Lee would put himself in all of his films and his pack would do the same. And it’s kind of following alongside being visible. So for me, it takes on an even greater meaning of, this is a way for me to be more visible. The more visible you are, the more opportunities, the further you can travel this thing. So it’s about my love of acting and my desire to be in front of a camera as well as behind. But it’s also strategic about visibility.”
How do you balance the two, especially when you have to direct yourself?
“There’s a tiny piece of the director that’s always going to be kind of lingering in the back, but the best part about acting is being able to surrender to something else. Whereas you’re the orchestrator when you’re directing. It’s like you get to be the instrument when you’re in front of the camera. So for me, it’s about just having a really good plan, trusting the team to execute the plan that I have and then letting go. And now it’s my turn to play and have fun for a moment in front of the camera.”
What would you say was the most challenging scene for you to shoot?
“We had a lot of challenges. We filmed two summers ago here in New York, and I don’t know how this summer is going to be, but that summer there was a lot of rain. There’s a lot of rain in our film because it was always raining. And to me, it was a gift. I felt like it was a gift from the Angels because I would talk to Mother Nature every day when I would see rain forecast and I would say, ‘Mother Nature, please.’ I’d make all kinds of little side deals with Mother Nature. But anytime you see rain in the film, that was not in our control, but it gave the film so much more romance and textures. It made it challenging because we were always on the edge of our seats. Are we going to get rained out? Is this a safety issue? There was flooding during that time.
But we ended up getting the most beautiful shots …Like the Brooklyn Bridge scene. There was a storm, and we were going to be shut down. And I was just talking very quietly in my Haitian way to Mother Nature, doing my little spells and stuff. Do you know that cloud moved, and we ended up having such a beautiful scene. It looked like we had the whole bridge to ourselves because everybody left, and it looked like they wet down the bridge just for us. But that was really just the rain. It ended up being such a perfect scene, but we were so scared for the safety of our crew and everything because it was lightning that day. The weather made those scenes challenging, but those end up being the best scenes themselves.”
And it’s true to New York. The city is absolutely beautiful, and you managed to capture that and add it as basically a secondary character to the story. Was that something that was always planned?
“Tt was absolutely in the plan. I said, ‘I want to make a big, bright New York romcom.’ And there’s no better more exciting dream than to make my first studio film in New York City. For me, you can fall in love anywhere, but falling in love in New York just has that extra cherry on top. So, to be able to have that as the character, another lover in the film, you can fall in love with the city watching this movie.”
For my final question for you, what are you hoping fans get from the movie?
“Mostly, it’s just to believe in love, even if you’ve been knocked on your ass a lot of times, to always give it another shot. And no matter how messy it gets, that it’s worth it. It’s worth the feeling. It’s worth the experience.”
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Photo credit: Noam Galai/Getty Images for Netflix