Director X, music video guru, tackles student race riots in Across The Line
Has created videos for Drake, Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar, Justin Bieber, Iggy Azalea and Sean Paul
Julien Christian Lutz, better known as Director X, is the creative mind behind some of music's most popular videos for the past two decades: from Usher's club anthem Yeah and Nelly Furtado's sultry Promiscuous to Drake's viral sensation Hotline Bling and Rihanna's dancehall-inspired Work.
Now, he's changing gears for his first feature film, Across the Line, inspired by dark moments in Nova Scotia's history that made national headlines.
"It's something you've never been told about ...The underground railroad — those people stayed. Whatever happened to them?" X told CBC News.
Across the Line takes place at Cole Harbour District High School, where decades of racial tension in the surrounding communities erupted in riots between black and white students in 1989, in 1997 and again in 2008.
"I wondered if we had put it on too heavy," he said of the depiction of racism and violence in the film.
"But [people who lived in the community at the time] were like 'No, that's it.'"
The film is written by Floyd Kane, a former Cole Harbour student who is now a lawyer and TV producer. Shot in Nova Scotia, the drama stars young Toronto actors Stephan James (Race) and Shamier Anderson as well as Sarah Jeffrey of Vancouver.
Music, naturally, plays an important role in the movie.
"I wanted the music to be a voice," X said of Across The Line's haunting score.
"When you heard the music, you knew the movie was talking to you. Something primal, something that felt stirring and uncomfortable, but yet engaging — and wasn't glorifying of the violence."
X already has another feature film in the works, but he says he enjoys different forms of storytelling, including his ongoing collaborations with Toronto rapper Drake.
"He knows what he likes and what he likes is what his fans like. He has a vision for himself and it works."
The pair previously teamed up on videos for HYFR, Started from the Bottom and Worst Behaviour, but X said he had no idea Hotline Bling — with close to 650 million YouTube views so far — would take off in the way it did.
"We knew we wanted to make something fun. It was immediately unique, the sets and the lighting. This was its own thing."
Although the director travels back and forth between Los Angeles and Toronto, he calls the latter home and has offices for his production company in the city.
"Hip hop is very connected to the city you're from. It's just the way it works. Doesn't matter where you go, where you move, Kanye will always be Chicago, Jay Z will always be Brooklyn. I will always be Toronto."
Across the Line opens in select Canadian theatres starting April 8.
