‘Not Today, Satan’: Lee Daniels on the Spiritual Work of ‘Deliverance’ and Casting Glenn Close

Award-winning director and producer Lee Daniels has added a brand new genre to his catalog with The Deliverance. Trying his hand at suspenseful horror, Daniels’ latest Netflix film follows the true story of Latoya Ammons, who claimed her three children were possessed by a demonic spirit while living in Gary, Indiana in 2011. Known as the “Demon House” case, Daniels admits he initially “stayed away” from the film for spiritual reasons.

“I know the spirit works through me. So what kind of spirits do I want to have on me? So I just thought, ‘No, I’m not going to do that,'” Daniels said Hollywood Reporterexplaining how Ammons’ story stuck with him without end. “We’d never seen that story, through the lens of this African-American woman, on screen, and I just felt like we were living in such dark times, and I don’t think people really know how dark times we were living in. And I felt like I had to reconnect with my higher power.”

In addition to influencing the decision to make the film, the “Precious” director’s spirituality also motivated a number of decisions made in the film and on set. Understanding the history of strange occurrences occurring during the production of horror movies, Daniels reportedly had a delivery person on set in any respect times to not only guide the solid but additionally “protect (the cast and crew) from the set.” After his mother further warned him about the spiritual implications of reenacting history, the director revealed that he, the solid, and crew prayed on daily basis.

“Listen, I read these books about the making of ‘Poltergeist’ and ‘The Exorcist.’ And I thought, ‘No, not today, Satan. Nothing’s going to happen in this motherfucker today.’ So we prayed every day,” Daniels said. by variety“We developed a system where I could say, ‘I don’t want to offend anyone, but those of us who are not prayer-minded are free to leave the set.’ And there were a few people who did, but most people, most of the 200 or so crew members (members), knew they wanted to be protected.”

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The film also stars Andra Day, with whom Daniels worked on “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” Caleb McLaughlin and, controversially, Glenn Close. The role of the 77-year-old Oscar nominee Alberta, a white woman with a biracial black daughter and black grandchildren, has sparked controversy and countless memes on social media.

“Every black person knows Alberta. She is part of our community, but we have never seen her on screen before. Thank you Glenn for bringing her to life so beautifully,” Daniels wrote on Xdefending their casting decisions.

However, many viewers weren’t thrilled with Close’s presence in the film, especially since Alberta was clearly a black woman in real life.

“This n***a added a white woman to a real story that didn’t involve a white woman and then said it’s because white women like her are part of the FABRIC OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY. He’s objectively worse than Tyler Perry, sorry… he’s like Tyler Perry and Kenya Barris if they had a baby” one user wrote.

Another added: “There is literally NO scenario where a non-Black person is the actual ‘fabric’ of the Black cultural community, literally ever… especially since Black grandmothers and Black matriarchs have been the focal point of our community since the beginning.”

Despite criticism of the film — and the ongoing debate about Close’s character — Daniels appears to be having fun with the response from black Twitter users, laughing with X usersUltimately, the director hopes “The Deliverance” will motivate people spiritually.