KARLA CROME IS NOT INTERESTED IN STAYING ON ONE SIDE OF THE CAMERA. AN ACTOR WITH A KNACK FOR FINDING THE FUNNY AND THE UNSETTLING IN A CHARACTER, SHE HAS ALSO BEEN STEADILY CARVING OUT A SPACE FOR HERSELF AS A WRITER. NOW, WITH POSSESSION, HER NEW SKY SERIES STARRING GUGU MBATHA-RAW, CROME TURNS HER ATTENTION TO A STORY WHERE HISTORY REFUSES TO STAY BURIED – A SUPERNATURAL DRAMA SPANNING CENTURIES, CONTINENTS AND THE ENDURING WOUNDS OF ENSLAVEMENT.
AT ITS HEART IS AN IMMORTAL MAN, A JAMAICAN HERITAGE, AND A WOMAN FORCED TO CONFRONT THE GHOSTS – LITERAL AND OTHERWISE – OF HER INHERITANCE. IN THE FIVE-PART DRAMA, CROME DRAWS ON GOTHIC LITERATURE, CARIBBEAN SPIRITUALITY AND HER OWN EXPERIENCE OF THE DIASPORA TO BUILD A WORLD WHERE HORROR BECOMES ANOTHER LANGUAGE FOR HISTORY.
AFTER APPEARING IN NETFLIX’S SOMETHING VERY BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN EARLIER THIS YEAR, CROME IS ALREADY LOOKING TOWARDS HER NEXT CHAPTER — AND, PERHAPS TELLINGLY, TOWARDS WRITING A PART SHE MIGHT PLAY HERSELF. HERE, SHE TALKS ABOUT TURNING HISTORICAL RESEARCH INTO FICTION, EMBRACING THE SUPERNATURAL, AND CREATING A FEMALE PROTAGONIST WHO DOESN'T NEED TO BE IMMEDIATELY LIKEABLE.
Left Jacket and shoes Mithridate, pants Emporio Armani
Right Full look Prada
What was the catalyst for Possession? Where did the idea first come from?
It started with a conversation with a friend of mine, who was the head of development at Snowed-In Productions at the time. She was working with a writer called Jefferson Bannis, who had this seed of an idea about an enslaved man who had lived to the present day and was involved in a reparations dispute regarding his own enslavement. They were looking for somebody to flesh it out and bring it to series, and I was really intrigued by the idea. I thought it was full of levels, fantastic and magical. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand. And I thought, yeah, I'd like to pursue that.
Left Full look Miu Miu
Right Jacket and shoes Mithridate, pants Emporio Armani
Spirituality and the supernatural are such an important part of the series. Is that something you've been drawn to for years, or was it something that developed in you more recently through Possession?
As I get older, I get more woo-woo, if you know what I mean. I really enjoy tarot and seeing psychics and things like that. But for me, it's more a bit of fun than anything else. When it does chime with your real life, I think that's quite exciting. So that's as far as it goes for me.
When we had this central conceit of the immortal man, if you like, then you have to invest in the ideas of the supernatural. And so that opened up a conversation about Creole African spirituality, like voodoo, Obeah, and Orishas, which differ across different pockets of the Caribbean. But as we fleshed out Claudia and discovered that she would be of Jamaican heritage, we decided to educate ourselves more on Obeah and Myal, which are specific to Jamaica.
Left Full look Emporio Armani
Right Top Mithridate
The show also has this strong gothic quality. What drew you to that atmosphere, and how did it help you tell the story?
I'm a really big fan of M.R. James. I'm looking at his collection of ghost stories right now – it's on the bookshelf in front of me, actually. His stories are usually about a white academic who is a sceptic and is drawn into some kind of bizarre, eerie, uncanny situation that they can't explain. And that's the starting point for him.
I'm also a fan of gothic literature like Jane Eyre, The Woman in Black, or even the recent film adaptation of Nosferatu. It usually involves a young professional, a lawyer, or a solicitor being taken to this haunted gothic house on a hill somewhere and uncovering secrets that also have some kind of supernatural element to them, or a connection to some dark past.
So, yeah, I thought it was an interesting way in. I wanted that kind of classic gothic element, but for it to feel contemporary and to have, instead of that white academic sceptic at the centre of it, a woman of colour from the present day.
Left Full look N°21
Right Full look Miu Miu
How did horror become another way of approaching the story?
I think Black history is horror. And I think when you, as we have, decide to do a dual timeframe and you set a section of your show in a period like the 1760s, obviously you have to engage with the brutality of enslavement on the plantations. I think it was horrific and brutal and violent, and you can't really shy away from that.
But at the same time, you want to create a show that's entertaining and watchable and doesn't immediately turn people off, basically. So there's the real horror of that. But also, you have protagonists in situations where they have to survive, whether that be against supernatural forces or real-life threats, the kind of brutality of enslavement. Everyone is just trying to survive. And that means that they have to be brutal.
Left Full look Miu Miu
Right Full look Fendi
Claudia begins the story somewhat detached from her cultural inheritance, but that changes as she becomes more deeply connected to her history. Why was that tension important for you to explore?
I just think, personally, probably as a member of the Caribbean diaspora who feels very culturally British, that I'm probably one of many people who don't really have a relationship with the, quote-unquote, motherland. And sometimes you can feel excluded from the discourse because you don't have a connection.
The story moves across different periods and geographies, which must have required a huge amount of research. How do you balance that research with trusting your imagination?
That's a good question. I think if you're going to write narrative fiction, at some point you have to, as you say, step out of the research and the academics and history of it and allow yourself, allow your imagination to kind of run riot. And you temper that where you can with facts and figures. But I think if you're too restrictive with yourself about stuff that exists, then, you know, maybe you take the route of being a documentary filmmaker, and that's not what this is. It is narrative, it is fiction.
Left Full look Prada
Right Full look MM6
What did Gugu Mbatha-Raw bring to the role of Claudia that perhaps you hadn't fully imagined when you were writing her?
I think what's great about Gugu is that she, firstly – and I don't think we say this enough – is just a dream to work with. She's exceptionally polite, understanding and kind. And not all actors are like that, or feel like they have to be. She’s prepared, she's professional, and she treats everyone with respect. And I don't undervalue that. That's really important.
But also, she's able to bring this kind of frosty, brittle quality to Claudia. She's not instantly likeable. And I like that about her. I don't think she's trying to be everyone's best friend or make anyone like her. She's also ambitious. I like that she's kind of sparky and smart and, at times, selfish. But Gugu's really able to take her on a journey to find something more vulnerable.
Left Full look MM6
Right Jacket and shoes Mithridate, pants Emporio Armani
Are there any stories you already have in your head for future projects that feel too daunting to tackle right now, or that you're preparing yourself for?
It's interesting. A lot of writers just have this motor of story in their head, and they've always got an idea, and they're always pitching. My mind doesn't really work like that. I need to do one thing at a time, draw a line under it, and move on to the next. And the process is not yet complete until the show is out there in the world. Once that's done, I think I'll have the space to think about the next idea.
What I do know is that I think I'm ready to write the part that I want to play. And I love comedy. I love doing it as an actor. It's my preference. And funnily enough, it's all that I've done as an actor this year.
Last year I did Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen – and that was sort of quite dark. But this year I just kind of naturally found myself drawn to a lot of comedy. It's a natural tonic to life. It's really fun. It makes me laugh. I meet people who are really entertaining and lift my spirits. And, yeah, I think that's what I'd like to do more of.
There's actually a thread of comedy in Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, particularly in your character. Did you enjoy bringing that into something otherwise quite dark?
Yeah. I'm glad you said that because when I read it, I kept laughing. I thought it was so funny. And the way that it turned out, I could still see it there, but a lot of people, I felt, missed the comedy in it. I thought it was quite subtle and dark in the comedy. And I like that. I quite like irreverent humour.
Interview by Martin Onufrowicz
Photography by Andrew Broadhurst
Fashion by Steven Huang
Hair by Marcia Lee at Forward
Make-Up by Bianca Simone Scott at Forward using Hourglass cosmetics
Photographer’s assistant Simon Lesley
Stylist’s assistant Francesca Ward
