Keke Palmer carved out time to ‘connect’ with SZA before One of Them Days shoot

Keke Palmer went out of her way to spend time with SZA before filming their buddy comedy One of Them Days.

The Scream Queens star made a concerted effort to get to know the musician before filming, from doing chemistry reads in Atlanta and to hanging out right before SZA’s performance at the 2024 Grammys.

“That wasn’t just me, Keke Palmer, the actress, making sure we had time to really connect,” she told The Cut. “That was me, Keke Palmer, the producer.”

One of Them Days stars Palmer and SZA, real name Solána Rowe, as best friends and roommates Dreux and Alyssa, who spend the day trying to make money to pay their rent otherwise they will be evicted.

Palmer, who served as an executive producer on the project, met the Kill Bill hitmaker when they appeared on Saturday Night Live in 2022. The buddy comedy marks SZA’s feature film debut.

“A lot of people think musicians can’t act, but she’s just naturally hilarious,” Palmer praised. “As vulnerable and excitable and eccentric as SZA is, she also is very serious, very brilliant, and a focused person.”

One of Them Days was in development for almost five years and underwent four different rewrites before it made it to the big screen.

The Akeelah and the Bee star explained that the studio wanted more adventure and high jinks so she used her clout to make sure the story didn’t lose focus of the central themes of community and gentrification.

“I had to really be specific about what needed to change, what the jokes were going to say, what story we’re telling about where these two characters come from,” she stated. “I was more than just an actor doing the role. I really cared about the project as a whole.”

One of Them Days is in U.K. cinemas now.