For John Burr, Writer/Director/Executive Producer of the movie “The Gates,” it is a very personal story.
A movie with a message, the film follows 3 young Black college students who take a wrong turn in a wealthy white neighborhood.
It’s a very personal story. We take people a thrill ride, entertain them and in the end have them talking about some of the lessons that were learnt along the way,” says Burr.
His second feature, following his debut, the supernatural thriller “Muse,” the film follows college students — Derek, Kevin, and Tyon (Mason Gooding, Algee Smith, Keith Powers) who take an ill-advised shortcut through a remote gated community, where they find themselves trapped behind the walls after witnessing a murder.
Over the course of the night, they find themselves blamed, hunted, and fractured by their own differing belief systems, while the perpetrator—James Van Der Beek, at his most charming and terrifying—emerges as the cunning patriarch that holds the entire community under his influence.
“Mason was the first one to come onboard,” Burr continues. “He was a rising star and the guy that I had in mind for the Derek character. The chemistry of these 3 guys was just off the wall. Getting them together felts like a blessing and really set the foundation for the film. They were all established in their own ways and finding a common ground was exciting to see.
Tackling racial, bias, systematic prejudice, suburban fear, and violence, primarily within the context of a gated community, for Burr, it felt like a timeless piece.
“It feels both timely and unfortunately timeless. It does explore the nuances of growing up as a Black man in a certain community and the different perceptions and experiences you have and how that shapes your outlook on the world and how in a moment of crises how that can be put to the test and changed.”
“The Gates” is playing in US theatres.
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