Netflix’s They Cloned Tyrone follows John Boyega’s Fontaine, Jamie Foxx’s Slick Charles and Teyonah Parris’ Yo-Yo as they solve a murder that leads them to peel back the layers of a larger issue in their community.
At Tuesday’s premiere of the film, Boyega and Parris pulled up in a convertible before hitting the carpet, where the stars gave an update on the missing part of their trio, as Foxx continues to recover from a medical complication he experienced earlier this year.
“I spoke to him recently and he just wished me the best of luck with the press tour, and he assured me that he’s all good,” Boyega said. “It’s all love.”
Parris added that she heard Foxx was doing “really well” and “I’m happy that he’s taking the time he needs to heal in whatever way that is for him.”
In April, Foxx’s daughter Corinne Foxx announced that the actor “experienced a medical complication” but was “already on his way to recovery,” later saying he had left the hospital and was continuing to heal. Foxx, who was shooting the Netflix film Back in Action in Atlanta at the time, has not made a public appearance or spoken out directly since news of his medical issue broke.
Although Foxx was not physically present at the premiere, those involved with the film spoke highly of him and shared some of their favorite on-set stories. “Jamie’s a phenomenal actor, a great friend and confidant, and at the same time, the best O.G. you know and there for guidance,” Boyega said. “There wasn’t one dull moment.” J. Alphonse Nicholson, who plays Fontaine’s enemy-turned-collaborator Isaac in the film, said his favorite memory of Foxx was “seeing him work out, seeing him kind of just have a good time, but also remain so focused.”
They Cloned Tyrone is set in an ambiguous time period and is a fantasy mystery thriller, with comedic reliefs and blaxploitation references throughout. Blaxploitation is a genre of African American movies that tackle difficult topics, including drug use, violence and Black empowerment — a theme that Parris said her character, who takes the lead on the mysterious case, is on par with as art reflects life. “You know, Black women coming through, saving the day, that’s nothing new,” she noted.
The complex storyline in the film is one that producer Stephen Love said was tough “having to marry together perfectly and still have an overall story that brought people to where we wanted them to be,” he explained. “Indoctrination, mind control, all these things — they’re in there, but it’s so deeply buried and woven into the fabric of all the genre stuff that you can just enjoy it.”
They Cloned Tyrone hits theaters July 14 and premieres on Netflix on July 21.
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