Second Chance, the movie starring dancehall deejay Spragga Benz has been finished and is due for release this summer, 2021.
Spragga Benz, whose real name is Carlton Grant, has been keeping fans up to date with developments on the set even though he’s been careful not to spill too many details. In April, he and Tony Matterhorn teased some info about the upcoming flick.
Spragga Benz is expected to play a character called David. In an Instagram post on April 10, he showed fans some highlighted sections of the script on his Instagram page. He captioned that post, “‘Second Chance’… Movie in the making.”
Matterhorn also posted a video clip, which he captioned, “Pure jokes on set for the new movie #secondchance.”
The “Who Next” deejay announced earlier this year that he and Ky-Mani Marley are working on the Top Shottas TV series as opposed to doing part two of the cult classic Jamaican movie. Second Chance was filmed in Florida, USA, and was officially finished filming on April 29, according to the producer, Cleon James, who spoke with The Gleaner about what fans can expect to look forward to. James is the CEO and founder of Top Notch Vision Films, which is based in Boston. The upcoming movie will be his sixth feature film, and he explained that the story is about “the struggles people go through to gain the opportunities they want.”
He also shared a little synopsis of the film. “David, a recent graduate looking to land a role in corporate America and soon finds himself stuck with a tough decision,” he shared. He also revealed that Spragga Benz was intentionally chosen for the lead.
“I had a project in 2012 titled Green Card, and Spragga was a part of it. Then, when I released Trust in God, he called, and he was mad (he wasn’t included). However, I had this other movie script which is based on a true story told to me by the pastor who had officiated at my wedding ceremony. I told Spragga about it, and it was a go,” James said.
It’s remarkable that he was able to get the movie done, considering most other similar ventures have been shut down due to the pandemic. However, he shared that it was not easy to achieve.
“One of the main challenges was funding, but we moved ahead and did it by ourselves. Then, owing to the COVID restrictions, everything shut down, and because we are based in Boston and intended to film in Miami, that was another level of hurdles,” he said. The producer added that some of the challenges also included the fact that they could not fly out to visit locations and that a lot of the casting calls ended up being done via Zoom. Of course, this delayed the production.
While he remained tightlipped on the details of the movie, he did say that it featured a lot of spiritually charged scenes and that he had to tweak it a bit to accommodate Spragga’s Rastafarian beliefs.
He also described working with the dancehall veteran as a fun and entertaining experience. He said that he had an outstanding work ethic and brought energy to the set every day as he gave “120 per cent.” It must have been demanding as the film was shot in two and a half weeks and took about 22 hours of work every day.
“We had a night shift and a day shift. So those who had night scenes would sleep during the day and vice versa. But Spragga was in most of the scenes, so he was only able to take a quick nap in-between scenes,” he added.
Spragga Benz’s acting career includes cult favorite, the 2002 film, Shottas, which was written and directed by Cess Silvera, and also starred Ky-Mani Marley, Paul Campbell, and the late Louie Rankin. Second Chances is currently in editing, and they are hoping for an August 7 première in Ft Lauderdale. He said that he is also hoping that the movie will be picked up by Netflix or Amazon.
