The wild making of Lee Daniels ‘ “ The Deliverance ,” his Christian horror movie for Netflix , included star Andra Day actually speaking in tongues on set — and off-script. And it may be the first Black-driven studio movie ever made for the mainstream that tackles demonic paranormal activity, a space otherwise dominated by the white likes of everything from “The Exorcist” to “Insidious.” Of all the auteurs Netflix could’ve hired for a streaming push into faith-based content, hiring Daniels, the Oscar-nominated director of the bleak family drama “Precious,” political tapestry “The Butler,” and B-movie Southern hothouse “ The Paperboy ,” may seem a surprise choice.
But Daniels, who was raised Christian in Philadelphia before his move into Hollywood as a talent manager and casting director and then a filmmaker, might be the most inspired pick. “I wanted to be the first at the gate to tell this type of story,” Daniels told IndieWire. Both intimate kitchen-sink drama and splatter-and-CGI horror genre offering, “ The Deliverance ,” shot in Pittsburgh, centers on “ The United States vs.
Billie Holiday ” Oscar nominee Andra Day as Ebony. She’s the hardscrabble single alcoholic mother of a Pennsylvania brood of three who moves her family into a new house, only to find demonic possession afoot dating back to the home’s previous residents. Ebony meanwhile is paying for chemotherapy for her mother, Alberta (Glenn Close), a religious woman lon.