When it came to playing demanding roles in their new film Duplicity, costars Kat Graham and Meagan Tandy had each other’s backs.
“It could have been a very isolating experience for any actor,” Graham, 35, exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, March 18, of her role as Marley in the Tyler Perry drama. “I gotta credit Meagan … because [if] she wasn’t as amazing of a person as she was, and didn’t make not just me but everyone around her just feel so comfortable and loved, I just don’t know how anyone could just, you know.”
In the action thriller, Graham’s Marley, a high-powered attorney, is tasked with taking on her most personal case yet when she’s asked to uncover the truth behind the shooting of her best friend Fela’s (Tandy) husband, Rodney (Joshua Adeyeye).
Graham told Us that given the “topics that we cover in this film,” making the movie “could have been a very difficult experience” if it wasn’t for Tandy’s support and ability to create a safe environment for everyone on set.
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“It’s a very rare thing,” she continued. “A lot of actors can be very selfish on sets … [and] only focus on themselves. And that wasn’t the case. So I got, I felt, very lucky about that.”
The feeling was mutual between the two costars — especially when they were tackling their more emotional scenes.
”We all, honestly, are very, very lucky that we got to have each other,” Tandy, 39, told Us. “And it’s really the personalities that we have — we both innately, just, connected on this level. It really did make the experience that much better.”
The pair’s ability to support each other influenced others on set as well. While attending the film’s premiere in New York City on Wednesday, March 19, fellow cast member RonReaco Lee told Us the chemistry on set “was really great.”
“I don’t think we realize[d] how well we got along until after the fact,” the Sister Sister alum, 48, explained. “We didn’t get a chance to really kick it, but honestly, doing press, like, I realize now — we all got great chemistry.”
Lee went on to gush about both Graham and Tandy.
“I really enjoyed Meagan Tandy,” he said. “I worked with [her] on a show called Survivors and More so I knew her … And Kat, I knew of Kat, but [was] blown away by her ability.”
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In addition to leaning on one another and their fellow castmates, Graham and Tandy also relied on other methods to keep themselves calm, cool and collected throughout filming, whether it was working through an emotionally challenging scene or enduring one of the film’s necessary water stunts.
“For me, personally … I hold onto my faith,” Tandy explained. “Without that I would not be rooted. So I have to be rooted in something outside myself. And I also really, really do love to give back. I have my own foundation and taking the focus off of myself and putting it onto others and helping them — that kind of stuff helps to keep my zen.”
“And my dog,” she added, “who I just love. I miss her so much. My little fur baby.”
Graham, for her part, said she relied on “water and meditation,” adding that it also helped to focus on “loved ones at home.”
Graham reiterated, “But to be honest, like, with this kind of film, because we worked very fast, Meagan was, for me … [she] made me feel very safe emotionally.”
Armed with their best off-screen self-soothing methods and a seemingly iron-clad behind-the-camera friendship that translated onscreen, it’s no wonder to Us that both Graham and Tandy found a way to enjoy even the most physically demanding of stunts for the film.
“I think with the stunts, we kind of both jumped in head first,” Graham explained. “And we were super excited, so that, I think, mentally prepares you.”
“I love doing stunts,” Tandy added.
Tyler Perry’s Duplicity is now available to stream on Prime Video.
With reporting by Kat Pettibone
