‘A Thousand and One’ Made ‘People See Me’

“Intentional” is a word that comes up quite a bit when talking to Teyana Taylor about “A Thousand and One,” the feature debut by writer-director A.V. Rockwell in which the Harlem-native plays Inez, a woman who kidnaps her son from the foster care system in an attempt for them both to have a fresh start in a rapidly changing New York City.

The opportunity to star in the Focus Features release came at a major turning point in Taylor’s career, when she had just had her second child, was battling postpartum depression, and “was in a space where I felt like the people that I love most were not showing up for me, especially the people that’s supposed to make sure I have what I need,” Taylor said to IndieWire over Zoom.

Coming off the release of her third R&B LP “The Album” in 2020, not feeling any support from her record label Def Jam, Taylor says she locked herself in a room one day, and “I made an announcement that I was retiring from music, and that I wanted to focus on other things that I loved just as much,” she said.  “I hate when people try and box me into one thing. So it was time to take charge and say, ‘This is what I want to do.’ [Music] can wait.”

It was a leap of faith, but Taylor trusted her heart and her gut. “I want to say not even a month later, I get this script across my desk,” she said. “It was just something that drew me to this that I was like, ‘This is the one.’ This is going to be the one that…