Source: Courtesy of Lifetime
Lifetime’s upcoming original film LINE SISTERS is scary good!
Starring LeToya Luckett, Kierra Sheard-Kelly, Ta’Rhonda Jones, and Drew Sidora, the spooky drama follows the story of four devout sorority sisters as they reunite during Black Greek Weekend to celebrate their pledge to the infamous Alpha Beta Omega Sorority (ABO). However, these sorors share a little bit more than their inseparable sisterly ties. The girls were embroiled in the mysterious death of ABO’s head dean nearly 15 years ago.
As the line sisters enjoy a fun weekend on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, strange and inexplicable things begin to happen, quickly revealing the deep dark secret that could tear their strong sisterhood apart.
Ahead of the film’s release, MADAMENOIRE had a chance to catch up with the cast to hear more about some of their scary moments on screen and the importance of Black sisterhood.
MADAMENOIRE: We gotta say, we loved this movie through and through! We watched LINE SISTERS the right way too! Turned off the lights, set up a real scary atmosphere, but come to find out there were so many different emotions flowing throughout each and every last one of your storylines. Was this everyone’s first time starring in a scary film and if so, what was the auditioning process like?
LeToya: It was my first time. I don’t do scary at all. Even if there’s a commercial on and I hear some music change, I cut it off and go into another room! Thank god I have kids, so I put it on kid channels. This was me taking a leap and trying something different, conquering a fear for sure.
Ta’Rhonda: I don’t like anything scary and like, LeToya you know-how in the middle of the night when you’re asleep and you hear a little infomercial. HBO has always got something freaky and spooky on. I just have to cut the TV off!
LeToya: I learned that even with our process of the movie like when we would go and do some of the after-work and post-work when you don’t hear the music and you’re just watching the actions. you’re like ‘oh okay’ and of course, you know what’s about to happen, but when they put the music to it, I felt like ‘I was there and it’s still scaring me!’
Drew: You’re not lying LeToya! It’s something about that music where you know something is definitely about to go left!
Were there any scenes, in particular, that were really scary to film?
Drew: When I showed up and there was a real snake in my bed on set! I thought it’d be a prop, so I was like wait a minute, y’all want me to lay next to the real snake? and it was slithering under me? I was like okay this is a real horror movie.
Ta’Rhonda: I think it was the murky water for all of us. Getting into the water and hearing the toads. You could hear the alligators! You could hear everything in the atmosphere and it sounded so spooky.
Kierra: I’m the sister that couldn’t swim, but I could swim to save my life if you put me to the test. All of the other sisters can swim, so I was just nervous about the water. A real-life situation was scary for me.
Wow, it wasn’t apparent to us! The power of movie magic certainly did its thing. Did any of you ladies actually pledge for a sorority in real life?
LeToya: I wanted to be in a sorority so bad. I would go to all the step shows with my friends. And you know, I had a lot of friends who were a part of my favorite sororities. I remember I wanted to be a part of it so bad. I was doing a tour for my first solo album, and we’re doing a tour at different universities. So sis, sis being me, went around and took pictures at all of the different sororities…. what is that called again? Oh, it’s called “The Yard”! I was giving them shoutouts on Twitter. Baby those replies came back like sis we understand your intentions, but you’re not supposed to be on top, only actual Greeks can do that. I didn’t know it was so many rules!
Drew: But now we’re with ABO!
We love that. Seeing the dynamic relationship that you have on-screen with one another, it was apparent that even outside of the film, you all spent a lot of time with one another. That chemistry was just so seamless on camera.
Keirra: It was really special. We had girl talks on the side and we had many prayer revivals that turned into girl nights to empowerment sessions. Rhonda cooked for us. We were crashing each other’s rooms like “where are we gonna eat?”! The chemistry that yall see, it really became that.
The big takeaway from the film for us was the importance of having that sisterly bond in your life, whether that be with a family member, a close friend. Sometimes as Black women, we are expected to show up and show out for so many others, but we might not always receive the same support in return. The film was a beautiful reminder to see all you ladies together supporting one another.
Is there one person in your life that you can really turn to for support that embodies that idea of sisterhood?
Ta’Rhonda: I think we all have that somebody. I have six sisters. So it’s easy and natural for me, but I think living in the world today, especially where’s there’s so much going on, a lot of people lack empathy. Having that support from LaToya, Kierra and Drew. It’s very rare. It’s almost nonexistent. But it was such a beautiful moment. I’m so grateful for them and the women in the tribe that I have. I think during a time like this, we all just need to figure out how can we display more empathy towards one another.
This question is for Ta’Rhonda and LeToya. There were some intense moments between your characters Simona and Valarie throughout the film, but there was this one scene in particular where Valarie finally confronts Simona about what happened to the dean and things got pretty heated on-screen. What did you two do to prepare for that scene?
Ta’Rhonda: We were frustrated because we were pressed for time. It was raining and there were airplanes buzzing!
LeToya: I think as Val, I could relate in so many ways. I had one of those moments where I had to put somebody else’s face on Ta’Rhonda’s face to make it true. I really dropped in at that moment to who Val was and what she was really going through. She loves Simona. She loves all of her sisters. She takes everything seriously. I think she felt like nothing she could say or do overtime would get through to her. Everything was either funny or she didn’t understand the weight of it. This was Val’s moment to say, ‘Hey, man, listen to me. Like I’m not gonna keep repeating myself. Do you understand the severity of this situation?!’ Like we can’t overlook what happened and I blame you. It was a real moment.
I remember we did this one-shot, we were like that was the one! We both started crying but it was a wide shot, it wasn’t close up. It wasn’t a good juicy shot where you could see the tears! We were so frustrated. ‘We were like did yall get that? That was the one!’
Ta’Rhonda: That’s what I meant by I think we were just so frustrated with the circumstances it conveyed so well on-screen. The frustration started to build and I was like I’m gonna take it out on you.
LeToya: She went in. She was super aggressive!
Ta’Rhonda: I’m sorry!
We definitely felt that as viewers . Now without giving too much away, it seemed like the ending kind of left off with a cliffhanger. Will there be a LINE SISTERS 2 in the near future?
Drew: We were all asking the same thing! I don’t know!
Kierra: We don’t know, we gon see with you, sis!
LINE SISTERS officially premieres on Feb. 12, at 8 P.M.EST/7 P.M. Central.
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