Black Greek life is one of the benefits of Black American culture. It’s been explored in several projects before, including Stomp the Yard, the movie that made Columbus Short famous. But rarely is it explored from the female lens.
Lifetime’s newest film Line Sisters puts a Black sorority and its members at the center. The film stars LeToya Luckett, Drew Sidora, Ta’Rhonda Jones, and Kierra Sheard as four 30-something-year-old sorority sisters attending a “Black Greek” beach weekend that turns sour when the women fall victim to some unsettling pranks. A dark secret from their past is exposed.
Luckett stars as the no-nonsense, professional Valerie, Sheard is the sweet, trusting, and faith-filled Cassandra, Sidora plays the friend who is full of fun and frolic as Dominique, Jones is the tough and confrontational one as Simona. Shadow and act spoke to the four women ahead of the movie’s premiere.
Luckett says the college element was the most fun for her
Luckett has been in the industry since she was barely a teenager. She’s of course known as one of the original four of the biggest-selling girl groups of all time, Destiny’s Child. She says the experience was something unreal as college was always a dream of hers that never came to fruition due to her career path.
“I always wanted to go to college,” she told Shadow and Act. “I always wanted to be a part of this world. So this was very fulfilling for me and doing a horror film was something I’d never done before and I thought was going to be super-duper challenging for me. So this was like a really cool experience. That’s what I have to say, but I’m so glad that it was based on the HBCU experience. I think that more light needs to be shined on that. And I think we’re doing it through this film a little bit.”
Sheard dotes on working with her co-stars, who she now calls her sisters for life
Sheard’s work in the gospel music realm is unmatched. Even more so, her lineage as a second-generation Clark is honorable in itself. But getting to work with her co-stars in the film has been one of the most rewarding moments in her career thus far.
“We have such good chemistry,” she said. “I think that was, even more, special and the bond that we just share. So for me, it was a whole other experience which I was super grateful to have the experience to be in this movie, but it was a whole other joy that I just gave and just a value from just working with these powerful women.”
Jones says she is happy to be part of the change happening at Lifetime Network
Jones, whose claim to fame was on the Fox musical drama Empire where she showcased her Chicago flow, is more excited to be part of the change that’s taking place at Lifetime.
“It’s honestly an honor and a privilege because back then, many of us were not on the forefront of things like this, and I love the stories that they are putting out and portraying us in a great light and not such a bad light,” she notes. “Yes, we get movies, but it’s always the bang-bang, shoot ’em up movies, and things like that. But these are really some great movies, and I love how this movie portrays sisterhood and inclusion coming together and just uplifting one another. I am honored to be a part of such a movement. And I think that when you are part of a movement that’s monumental, it’s very important that you be authentic to what you’re portraying and authentic to the character because you are shining a light or you are a reflection of the people who are like us watching.”
Watch the full interview where the cast gives behind-the-scenes secrets of filming a horror flick and what they ultimately want the audience to take away from the film.
Line Sisters debuts on Lifetime on Saturday, Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. EST.
