Shadow Force's Kerry Washington DM'd co-star Omar Sy to offer job role
Kerry Washington and Omar Sy play couple Kyrah Owens and Isaac Sarr in the upcoming action thriller flick 'Shadow Force', and the actress has confirmed she DM'd him on Instagram to ask if he wanted the role.
Kerry Washington slid into Omar Sy’s DMs to give him a role in ‘Shadow Force’.
The 48-year-old actress hunted down the 47-year-old actor online to ask if he wanted to play Isaac Sarr after she and her husband Nnamdi Asomugha had brainstormed together on who would be the right choice for the character.
She explained to US TV show 'Extra': "I used to go on these hikes with Nnamdi, with my husband, and we'd be naming actors - 'no' - naming actors - 'no, no no' - and then one day, I don't remember whether it was Nnamdi's idea or my idea, but one of us said Omar, and we were both like, 'That's it!'
"And so it was with Nnamdi's permission that I slid into Omar's DMs."
Omar "loved" the unique way Kerry - who co-stars with him as Kyrah Owens - got in touch with him about the action thriller project because of how "direct and frank" her approach was.
He said: “The way Kerry found me on Instagram … I loved it because we were, like, so direct and frank.
"So I had the script. The script is amazing … I was so happy and glad to have that opportunity to work with her.”
However, he did admit that he was initially cautious about responding to 'The Six Triple Eight' star's message because he feared it was a scam.
The 'Jurassic World' actor noted: "You never know with those phones, you can be surprised.
"I had to make sure it was her. It was difficult to believe, actually."
'Shadow Force' - which is released in May - follows "an estranged couplewith a bounty on their heads must go on the run with their son to avoid their former employer, a unit of shadow ops that has been sent to kill them".
And Kerry said Omar putting his heart and soul into the movie " levelled the film up".
She explained: "It just leveled the film up, like, suddenly the film became a global story about an international family.
"I know that Omar could do the action work. I knew he could bring all that heart to the role. It just became what it was supposed to be in Omar's hands."
