'Supacell' Creator Rapman Reveals Inspiration For Netflix Series

One of the best watches on streaming this month has to be the new Netflix superpowered series Supacell.

Source: Ana Blumenkron / Netflix

Rapman Says ‘Supacell’ Reflects How Normal People Would Behave With Powers

If you haven’t seen it yet, the series follows a group of seemingly ordinary people from South London who unexpectedly develop super powers. As they deal with the impact on their daily lives, one man has to bring them together to protect the woman he loves, all while avoiding the powerful and nefarious agents who have noticed their special abilities.

BOSSIP caught up with Supacell’s writer and director Rapman about the series and what inspired him.

“I love the sci-fi genre, in the sense of the superpower genre,” Rapman told BOSSIP. “I loved ‘Heroes,’ I liked a lot of the Marvel and DC stuff, but I never saw a show I felt fit someone like myself. If I get powers I don’t want to wear spandex and a mask and stop a bridge from falling. I want to sort out my life and my families life first, and then maybe later we can cure world hunger and the rest of it. So it’s just about normal people, because if normal people get powers they’re not thinking about saving the world first. They’re trying to sort out their situation and there was never a show like that. I got tired of waiting. I’m in a position where I can get this done and then next thing you know we’ve got Supacell.

Source: Courtesy / Netflix

‘SUPACELL’ Creator Rapman Says For Every Story He Writes, The Motivation Has To Make Sense

Michael Lasaki and his fiancé Dionne’s love story is central to the plot of Supacell, but the other people with power, Andre, Rodney, Tazer and Sabrina, are all motivated by their love for their friends and family as well. It’s no surprise that Rapman told us that love was a vital part of the fabric that made Supacell.

“The one factor that drives all of us is love,” Rapman told BOSSIP. “It doesn’t have to be love for your partner, it could be love for your child, it could be love for your sibling, it could even be love for your work. Honestly it sounds so cheesy but I think love does make the world go around, because I think every decision we make is based on the love of something or someone. Every time I write any story the motivation has to make sense. No one is going to go to all of them lengths for something that they’re not completely passionate about, so I had to put in things that I knew – love of a father for his son, sister for sister partner for his fiancé, things like that. I had to make sense and I just believe it when I watch it, even though I created it. I believe all of their reasons for doing what they’re doing and I think that’s important, because it doesn’t matter if you’re in the States, I’m in the UK, I’m sure you can resonate with everything that they’re fighting for individually.”

Source: Kevin Baker / Netflix

Rapman Says ‘SUPACELL’ Reflects The Real South London

Considering the global impact of films like Marvel’s Black Panther and Wakanda Forever and the international reach of Netflix, we had to ask Rapman about potentially making South London the new Wakanda.

“I’ve been watching superhero stuff since I was a kid and it’s always set in New York, it’s always a big drama in New York, and I love New York but London is a crazy city as well,” Rapman told BOSSIP. “It’s like why are we not portraying that more? So for me I want people from the States, I want people in Africa, I want people in other parts of Europe, to really be like, ‘Oh that’s what it’s like in London! That’s the Black experience in London.’ That’s what London is really like, because how you see the parties, the music they listen to [in Supacell], that is literally South London. The only thing that you see made-up there is the powers, but everything else is the British experience as a Black person in the United Kingdom. So I’m hoping that it’s like an education for people that don’t know what it’s like. I’m really excited. A Wakanda moment? I would love that, so here’s to hoping!

Source: Courtesy / Netflix

One thing about movies with superpowers is that special effects are a must! Supacell does a great job of delivering believable stunts and Rapman said

“One of the main things I said when I signed on to do this Netflix show with them, I remember saying to the commissioners, ‘The VFX need to be good,’ and it was like a funny thing, like everything sounds good, ‘Like look I’m down, but the VFX — if the VFX look bad, the show gets pulled down with it,'” Rapman recalled. “They were like, ‘Don’t worry you’re going to get everything you want.’ I asked that so early on so when we were going back and forth for the VFX there was always a lot of leeway, because that’s all they remember me saying four years ago. The show probably looks a lot more expensive than the budget we actually had. So they tried their best to let me do as good as I could do it. It’s a hard process because you gotta tell the head of VFX, ‘I want it to look like this — mad lasers…’ and it’s like, ‘How do they describe that?’ It’s in your head, but you don’t know how to get it down to them, so that was actually a tough process. People are really big critics on VFX nowadays and I just hope people will be gentle with us. We tried our best.”

SUPACELL is streaming on Netflix now.