Imani Pullum knew she wanted play Ella, the main character in Prime Video‘s newest coming-of-age drama, Classified.
“When I got the breakdown of the show and the description of the character, I really liked Ella because she’s just so strong and so powerful and so outspoken, and that really drew me to her,” she said to Blavity’s Shadow and Act. “And I just knew I wanted to play her. I was like, ‘I have to do this.’ I love the character. I love how descriptive they were about her. I felt like I knew her before I even read the script, just from the breakdown. So year, I was like, ‘I have to do this.’”
Filmed in South Africa, Classified follows Ella, a socially-conscious teen from California, who has to go live with her estranged father in South Africa after she gets in trouble with the law during a violent protest. Part of her new life includes getting used to her new school–an international, upper-class school–and her stepmother’s (Christine Horn) semi-secret life as part of the CIA.
Ella, Pullum said, grows throughout the series as she learns more about her surroundings and her stepmother’s dangerous job.
“I think in the beginning, she’s very against being there. She doesn’t want to be there at all. She wants to be home,” she said. “But I think there are multiple points where she realizes this is going to be her new normal for now. So she has to open herself up and has to create connections and form connections with people. So she’s able to dig in and just accept that this is what’s happening and she’s able to make great connections from it because she’s accepting the fact that this is her life.”
The series combines the trappings of teen drama with topical social issues, such as racial discrimination and violence in America. Pullum said that she was “really happy” to be part of a series “that handled topics that are really important with such care and such understanding.”
“Just to be in something where we’re having discussions about so many topics that are important to me, I was really happy to do that,” she said.
Another conversation the series is engaging in is changing how Africa–in this case, South Africa, is perceived in Western media.
“I think it’s great,” Pullum said of the show’s efforts to change audience’s perceptions about the continent. “I think [South Africa is] shown in such a positive light, in such a way that’s true to what it is, because there are so many South African people who worked on creating the project and who know so much about Johannesburg and the culture and they were able to highlight it in a way that I don’t think many people could because they know it so well. It was great to like, be able to be a part of that.”
She also noted how one of the directors of photography talked to her about how, in her words, “he was really happy and excited that the show was happening because usually we get to see Africa in a very different light.”
“It’s always like we’re poking fun at Africa and we’re laughing and making jokes, but in this way [on the show] it’s not like that. We see the beauty in South Africa and in Johannesburg,” she said. “I thought it was really beautiful. It’s a gorgeous place. And I met a lot of great people in Johannesburg who are from Johannesburg, who were able to show me around and make sure I felt comfortable there and I really felt at home and just everyone I met, even people who weren’t a part of the project, they were so welcoming and really wanted me to have a full experience and enjoy my time in Johannesburg. That kind of hospitality was incredible.”
“I felt very welcome and very at home there and I mean, there weren’t many things that were too different in my eyes,” she continued. “I think mostly the biggest difference that I noticed were that just, there were different words for things that are words that I don’t use, but they use. Like, they call traffic lights “robots” in South Africa, and nd that’s a point in the show too. So it’s just things like that, but I felt very at home and very comfortable there.”
Pullum said since Classified has already come out in South Africa, she has already seen just how much South African fans have positively responded to the series.
“I’ve gotten a lot of feedback about it and there are a lot of people who love it and are really happy to see their country portrayed so beautifully,” she said. “With American fans, I hope they like it too. And I hope that they’re able to relate to Ella or any of the other characters in the cast as well…I hope that fans enjoy watching it and that they can just relax and just unwind and binge it and just have a good time watching it. But I also hope people are able to see the beauty that Johannesburg has to offer.”
For Pullum, part of the enjoyment she has regarding Classified finally premiering in the States is seeing how American audiences view South Africa through her eyes.
“It was my first time in Africa period, but [also] my first time in South Africa. So, to be able to experience my first time there and Ella’s also having her first time there. It was nice to be able to play off of that.”
She’s also excited for fans to see the rest of the cast, including Horn, Sule Rimi, Victor Makgati, Nicola Nothnagel, Paballo Koza, Shuwa, Mila Rayne, Omhle Tshabalala and Matt Blerk, among others. The actors who play Ella’s family–Rimi, Horn and Tshabalala–quickly became like her real family. The other cast members, who play her high school friends, frenemies, and other important people in Ella’s life, also became part of the family Pullum made on set.
“That was like one of the highlights of working on the project because I never expect like to come into a work environment and to like have all these like super close friendships because it’s not like a requirement, but like it is really nice when it happens,” she said. “It was nice. It felt really natural as well. And a lot of us were coming in from different places and we all stayed in the same hotel and we had like cast dinners together and we would go do things together,” she continued. “Yeah, it’s really nice, and I still talk to them all to this day. I haven’t stopped talking to them, which is awesome. I’m really grateful that I was able to create life long connections while working on the show.”
Classified is now streaming on Prime Video.
