The Book of Clarence round-up: new music video, new TV spot, new interviews

The 'Hallelujah Heaven' video and the 'Defy' TV spot have a bit of new footage.

Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield) is put on trial in The Book of Clarence.

Jeymes Samuel was a music producer before he turned to filmmaking, so of course he has been very involved in the soundtracks to his films.

Last month, he released ‘Hallelujah Heaven’, the first single from his new movie The Book of Clarence—which takes place in Jerusalem during the time of Jesus—and now, he has released a music video that includes a bit of new footage from the film.

You can watch the video here (slight language warning):

A Lil Wayne fan site posted a super-brief 17-second behind-the-scenes clip:

The Lil Wayne website also points me to an interview Samuel did at Genius a few weeks ago, in which he addresses whether there is a theological contradiction in this song between the verses sung by Lil Wayne (aka Weezy) and Buju Banton:

At one point in the song, Weezy declares, “I’m a god, so when you see me, say Hallelujah.” At first, this bold declaration of divinity would seem to contrast with Buju’s pious line at the start of the second verse, “All praises to the most high,” but Samuel doesn’t see a disconnect between what the two artists are communicating.

“It’s different understandings, but it’s all the same thing,” says Samuel. “God is inside us. God made man in his own image. Both Buju and Wayne are uplifting, and I think what Wayne is doing is internalizing the upliftment. We say, ‘Peace to the God,’ ‘Peace, Black king,’ ‘Peace, God.’ [When Wayne says] ‘I’m a god, so when you see me, say hallelujah,’ it’s just that.”

Meanwhile, we have a new TV spot for the film that also has a bit of new footage:

And EURweb has posted another interview, this time with Anna Diop (who plays Clarence’s love interest Varinia) and David Oyelowo (who plays John the Baptist, and who calls the film “playful but also reverential in relation to faith”):

Sharp magazine also has an interview with LaKeith Stanfield, who plays Clarence and his twin brother Thomas. Beware: it seems to get into some spoiler territory.

The film comes to theatres January 12, i.e. three weeks from now.

Previous videos for The Book of Clarence:

• The teaser trailer (August 29, 2023)

• The BFI London Film Festival world premiere interviews (October 13, 2023)

• The official trailer, the ‘Behind the Scenes’ featurette, and the ‘Hallelujah Heaven’ lyric video (November 28, 2023)

Other previous posts on The Book of Clarence:

• ‘Jeymes Samuel and LaKeith Stanfield are going to make a Bible movie’ (May 16, 2022)

• ‘The Book of Clarence gets a production company and a new co-star’ (October 22, 2022)

• ‘Pins and Needles (formerly The Book of Clarence) now filming in Italy’ (November 25, 2022)

• ‘The Book of Clarence: a lot of new actors, and a few new plot details’ (December 6, 2022)

• ‘The Book of Clarence gets a release date’ (March 4, 2023)

• ‘The Book of Clarence gets a test screening’ (June 5, 2023)

• ‘The Book of Clarence is now coming out in January’ (August 16, 2023)

• ‘October release-date news: The Book of Clarence gets a world premiere, Taylor Swift scares off Angels and demons’ (September 2, 2023)

• ‘The Book of Clarence — the world premiere round-up!’ (October 13, 2023)

• ‘Talking about The Book of Clarence’ (November 3, 2023)

• ‘The Book of Clarence gets new posters, sneak-peeks in Atlanta’ (December 19, 2023)