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Kiki Layne had a screen debut that may sound familiar to any working Chicago performer. “Must have been my episode ofChicago Med,” the actress and star of Netflix‘sThe Old Guard says, punctuating it with a laugh. “All Chicago actors know: It was either on Chicago Med,Chicago Fire,Chicago P.D. Somewhere in Chicagoland, you ended up, you got yourself a credit.”
In this episode of “The First Time,” Layne discussed her new role alongside Charlize Theron — “Charlize is dope as fuck” — and the filming process for The Old Guard, which is now streaming on Netflix.
“The first action sequence…is literally the first thing we shot for the film,” she says. “So I get to set, and already I have the first-day-of-work jitters. But then also, first-day-of-work, ‘Hey, get on this tiny airplane and throw some punches at Charlize Theron’ — I was sitting there like, ‘Girl, if you actually hit her…it is all over!’”
Layne also recalls meeting a personal idol, Regina King, on the set of director Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk, and the first time she got introduced to a passion of hers, X-Men, through the cartoon series, where she developed a strong connection with the kickass Storm character (who has also been portrayed by Halle Berry and, most recently, Alexandra Shipp).
“Storm is a goddess, and I feel like that has been missing,” Layne explains. “We’ve been downplaying how powerful she actually is.”
