Lakeith Stanfield plays it again with homages to Casablanca and Joker in the new video for “Fast Life,” his debut single under his music moniker, Htiekal.
Directed by Three Dead Crows, the clip opens with an ode to Casablanca in which Stanfield re-creates a scene between Humphrey Bogart’s Rick and Dooley Wilson’s Sam using some original audio from the film. The sequence fittingly ends with Stanfield’s morose Rick telling Sam to play the song he wants to hear: “Fast Life.” From there, the clip follows Stanfield and a romantic partner as they dance and argue around New York, primarily in Times Square, although at one point they appear on the same steps where the famous Joker dance was filmed.
Stanfield released “Fast Life” back in February, and he’s reportedly prepping a full-length project set to arrive at some point this year. In an interview with GQ, Stanfield spoke about the scope of the songs he’s working on, saying they touch on his struggles and successes in Hollywood, as well as issues like loss and grief.
“I feel like I have to be vulnerable about these things so I can grow,” he said. “And hopefully that’ll inspire other people to do some self-therapy. Face your demons and the real things you’re going through. Sometimes I try to walk through life without letting the trauma of my past affect me. But sometimes it still does. This is about how you get through moments like that.”
Stanfield most recently co-starred with Issa Rae in the romantic drama The Photograph. Later this year, he’s expected to appear alongside Daniel Kaluuya in a new movie about the Black Panthers and Fred Hampton.