‘The Old Guard’ Director Gina Prince-Bythewood on Casting KiKi Layne - Variety

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“They said in the room that they loved ‘Love & Basketball’ and loved ‘Beyond the Lights’ and loved what I did with the characters with that and they wanted that vibe for ‘The Old Guard’ so that it didn’t just feel like an action film, but more like an action drama,” she recalled.

As the film opens in the era of Black Lives Matter, it seems Hollywood may be catching up to Prince-Bythewood, who has focused her career on putting Black women in front of the camera

“I feel like I’ve been in a sustained fight for 20 years in putting Black women up on screen,” she said

While other action movies have nudged gay representation to the sidelines or keep audiences guessing about characters’ LGBTQ identity because of purposeful ambiguity, “The Old Guard” lets you know exactly who Joe and Nicky are and how and who they love

“The Old Guard” is available on Netflix