Before tuning into Cypher for the first time under the impression it’s simply a documentary about a rapper’s rise to fame, perhaps take the following statement from the director to heart: “It plays more like horror.” The man behind Me at the Zoo and Netflix’s Gaga: Five Foot Two, Chris Moukarbel wrote and directed the chilling new hybrid documentary Cypher, about another famed musician, Grammy-nominated rapper Tierra Whack. Dating back to 2011, Whack has been all over the music scene and finally has her own studio album dropping next year, six years after her first LP, the 15-minute Whack World.

In the meantime, her acclaimed new film Cypher should be embraced by music and conspiracy-lovers everywhere. We recently caught up with Moukarbel to learn more about how he got Whack to sign on to such an alternative, mind-blogging feature. Don’t miss it, and check out more from our exclusive interview below.

Rap Music Laced with Conspiracy Theories
cypher Release Date November 24, 2023 Cast Vanya Asher, Chris Moukarbel Main Genre Documentary Rating R Directors Chris Moukarbel

Is the music industry run by forces greater than humankind? Is Tierra Whack a literal goddess without even realizing it? The thought didn’t exactly cross her mind until crazed fans started approaching her and spilling this sort of knowledge — unsolicited, of course. These shocking story beats, whether real or staged for the sake of this “meta hybrid-documentary narrative feature,” are all over Cypher. “It’s not a horror movie, but it does kind of play that way with an audience,” said Moukarbel in detailing his new film. On that note, we had to ask point-blank what components of Cypher are real, and what were manufactured. His response:

“Obviously, Tierra is real, and the people in life are real. Her career is real. There’s also elements in the fictional storyline that came from actual things that exist in the world, in terms of that Wired Magazine article about the manuscript — that was a real article. There was an 18th century secret society called the Oculus. They were eye surgeons, originally. They were obsessed with lenses. And so I kind of built into that, in a way.”

“I was interested in telling a story like this,” continued Moukarbel. “And I was looking for an artist that I could collaborate with, messing with the format of the music doc and taking that format that people trust. And I’ve done in the past, and people will assume I’m doing it again, and then, ‘How can I kind of end their expectations and make something that’s a fictional thriller, that deals with the subject matter of secret societies in the entertainment industry?'”

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As Moukarbel told us, the initial idea behind Cypher was always that the real artist and their real work would be the foundation for this story. “But even though I had a concept and I had a story in place, I was writing scenes and writing scripts as we were going along that would meet her real life,” he told us, detailing how he captured Tierra Whack’s life in real-time.

“I would do an interview, or we would do a fake interview, and then she would say something — she would improvise because she freestyles in her own art. So she was also doing that in terms of the film we were making. And she would give me something, and I pick that up, and I would go write something and back into that. Or, for example, she was invited to be in Beyoncé’s film Black Is King, which I didn’t know that that would happen. So when I found out, which was the night before, I was told I could run down there with a camera and I could film that day.”

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Tierra Whack is relentlessly fun to watch, especially in Cypher, which blends her high-octane music videos with her day-to-day life and navigating the music business. But there are countless talented rap artists out there these days, so how did Moukarbel land on Whack? “Honestly, she seemed like the perfect partner for something like this because of the way she messes with genre and because she really is an artist. And there’s a lot of people, especially at her stage in their career, that wouldn’t take a risk like this and wouldn’t want to play around with the format of what they’re doing. But she’s always been open to that, and so she’s up for that creative adventure,” the director said, adding:

So I just really like her as a person. I mean, she’s just cool. I felt really lucky to be able to work with her […] She was really excited to get on board with something like this right out of the gate. And that meant a lot because again, they get offered a lot of things. So I took it very seriously that she was willing to work with me.

On Lady Gaga and Rosemary’s Baby

Another musical artist who was the subject of a Moukarbel project: The mastermind behind “Bad Romance,” Lady Gaga. The lovely Netflix documentary, Gaga: Five Foot Two, dropped back in 2017, which Moukarbel helmed. “I love telling stories about musicians and performers,” he said. “It’s kind of been my thing. A lot of my work has dealt with music in that way and probably always will. I’m really interested in doing narrative right now. Scripted stories are coming my way, and I’m working on scripts. So it’s really kind of about pivoting into something that feels more solidly fiction, and [Cypher], for me, also felt like that transitional piece.”

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Between the psychological-thriller elements and the building tension throughout Cypher, one could only wonder if past mind-bending classics helped fuel Moukarbel’s vision for his new film. “There are two movies that come to mind. I wouldn’t say that they are represented in Cypher, but I would think, tonally, were always inspiring for me, and that’s Rosemary’s Baby and Hereditary,” he told us.

“I think that they’re both grounded horror in this way that also reflects the anxieties of the culture. And that’s what I like about horror and thrillers, is that oftentimes, they tell you more about what the collective is dealing with and what people are stressed about and paranoid about. And so it’s safer for me, understanding how much conspiracy theories around secret societies are around people, pulling the strings and having power that is exchanging hands and not knowing where that power comes from. That anxiety, I think, is pervasive right now, especially with the internet really amplifying that.”

Moukarbel told us firsthand that he’s interested in these conspiracy theories in general. Looking ahead, we were curious if he perhaps wants to weave some of them into the narrative cinema he’s adamant about shifting towards. “I have been thinking about a story that deals with shape-shifting and the paranoia of a family that is potentially dealing with a curse, and the idea of this old Middle Eastern myth around the djinn. And that is something that I’ve thought about recently.”

He went on to elaborate, “One of the aspects of the djinn is that it does shapeshift. And this idea of a demon or an element that could become your mother, your friend, your enemy, a plant, a tree — that, I think, is interesting because we’re living in a time, as you know, where people become their avatars, this idea of not visually representing yourself in a way that causes anxiety for people. And I think that that can be an interesting place to create a thriller or horror movie.”

In the meantime, Moukarbel’s thrilling new film Cypher is now streaming on Hulu; you can watch it through the link below:

Watch on Hulu