‘Nanny’ Star Sinqua Walls Explains Why Film Is a ‘Psychological Horror Experience’ (Exclusive)

The new film Nanny is now streaming on Prime Video and has earned a lot of praise. And while the film can be called a lot of things, one star uses three words to describe it. PopCulture.com recently spoke to Sinqua Walls who explained why he called the film a “psychological horror experience.” 

“I think it’s one of those things because I call it that because when you watch the movie, there’s the elements that play on the screen that I think we all see, and the things that scare us and haunt us, and elements coming up the wall, shadows coming over the bed, those kind of things,” Walls exclusively told PopCulture. “But then there’s those things that stick with you later that are in your dreams.”

Walls plays Malik who’s the love interest of Aisha, who is played by Anna Diop. Aisha is a nanny from Senegal working for a privileged family in New York City. And as she’s preparing for the arrival of her son who is in West Africa, Aisha is haunted by a violent presence in her dreams and reality. 

“I think the human nature is what made Malik attracted to her,” Walls said when asked about Malik’s attraction to Aisha. “And then I think the spirit is what made him really intrigued, and he saw something in her that he also saw in himself, and it made him even more inquisitive. You can tell from the first introduction of those two characters, he was really intrigued by her. And then he saw that there’s a lot more to her than meets the eye and he wanted to really see what that was.”

Walls went on to explain how Malik is also a calming figure for Aisha as she begins to be haunted. “I think they grew that comfort, and I think, again, life imitating art in a way, or art imitating life,” he said. “You have moments where people over the course of your journey in life where you guys kind of see each other. I always say the term namaste, the light in me sees the light in you, and they happen unexpectedly where you’re talking to someone and they share something, and then you share something and you go, oh wow, there’s a connective tissue here of camaraderie. 

“And I think even from the first date that they do have, when Aisha’s talking about a little bit of her journey to getting to this point in America, and then Malik starts talking about his mother, that was an unpacking of vulnerability that naturally I think they both could see in each other and gave more inquisition.” Nanny also stars Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Spector, and Leslie Uggams. The director is Nikyatu Jusu who won an award at the Sundance Film Festival for the movie.

Walls wants viewers to do one thing after watching Nanny. “To watch it again just like I had to read it again,” Walls stated. “I think the biggest thing, I think the films that are so amazing to me are the ones that you discover something new every time you watch it. And I’ve gone back recently and watched so many of my favorite films and I’m, ‘Wow, I missed that the first time.’ And you’re going to watch Nanny. And it’s okay, it’s a great script. It’s a great story. It’s really well done, it’s well shot. Hopefully, people are appreciative of the acting performances, but then there’s something that you miss that you want to go watch it again. So I hope that what people take away genuinely is to go watch it again.”