A version of this story about Laura Harrier first appeared in TheWrap’s magazine’s Cannes issue.
Laura Harrier was on vacation on a beach in Greece when she got a call from an unfamiliar number. “I answered the phone and heard, ‘Laura, this is Spike Lee,’” she said with a laugh. “Whaaat??? I didn’t know Spike Lee, but he wanted me to come back to New York and audition for “BlacKkKlansman.” I had to figure out how to get off that island and fly home the next day, and I was thinking, ‘I’d better get this part.’”
She got the part after a marathon audition that found her doing improv with Lee himself.