Strung director Malcolm D. Lee spoke with ComingSoon’s Tyler Treese about his new thriller movie. Lee discussed changing genres, the film’s unique producer duo of Jason Blum and Tyler Perry, and gave a Girls Trip 2 update. Starring Chloe Bailey and Lucien Laviscount, Strung begins streaming on Peacock on June 26, 2026.
“From director Malcolm D. Lee, a talented violinist takes a prestigious job as a music tutor for the gifted daughter of an influential and enigmatic family. As she becomes entangled in their opulent world, unsettling secrets begin to surface, forcing her to question her safety, her dreams, and even her sanity,” says the official synopsis.
Tyler Terese: Malcolm, congrats on Strung. You’ve made so many incredible comedies. I’ve seen Undercover Brother more times than I can count. But this film has a lot of twists. It’s sexy, it’s like a throwback to the erotic thrillers of the 90s. What made you wanna show a different side of yourself here?
Malcolm D. Lee: Well, I’ve been wanting to not be considered a one-trick pony. I want to try other genres. And this script just spoke to me. It was kind of a no-brainer ’cause it was a page turner and I was talking out loud to the script. So I knew that was a good sign and I thought it was very castable and that we could put something great [together.] I find that Blumhouse always has a great finger on the pulse of these types of movies. So I wanted to like, you know, dip my toe in that water.
The wonderful Lynn Whitfield is in this film. She’s a legend, and you give her such a fun role. I think it’s gonna surprise people how far she goes during some of these wilder scenes. How did you know she was up for everything?
You know, Lynn is a consummate professional. I’d heard great things about her when we met. I was just like, you know, enthralled with her. We were talking about working together for a while now, and she’s just fantastic. I knew an actor of her caliber could do anything, and I knew that she would fully immerse herself within the character.
We talked a lot about subtext and her past and things like that. I know that an actor of her caliber wants to know what motivates her and things like that. So, you know, working with her, I don’t think I had any kind of doubts that she would be able to achieve it, whatever was required.
You mentioned Blumhouse earlier. Besides Jason Blum, Tyler Perry was also producer. That’s a unique producing duo for this film. How is it getting their input? Because in certain elements of this film, you can kind of fill their touch. So it’s a cool combination to watch.
Malcolm D. Lee: Blumhouse has their kind of horror scare school that they infuse this with. I may have looked at it, I know my editor looked at it, and when it comes to any kind of project that I take on, I listen to what has worked. Then I have to trust my own instincts as well. I remember there were a couple of times in the editing process where they were like, “Oh, try this.” “Don’t do this, don’t do that.” And I was like, “Hmm, okay,” and I did it. I was just like, “That doesn’t work. Not for what I’ve put together here.” Not that my way is necessarily better, but it just worked and fit with the movie that I directed.
So it’s always trial and error. You never know how things are gonna go, and that comes with any great producer that you work with, whether it’s… You mentioned Undercover Brother, same thing with Brian Grazer. It’s like, you know, he’s got his way that he saw, and then I had my way, and then it was a great combination to put it all together. So the combination of Bum, Tyler Perry, and myself, it will end up being Strung.
You’ve done a ton of movies. I believe this is your first movie that’s being released on streaming. Does that feel odd to you? How has that been?
You know, listen. We’ll see. It’s… I certainly want to make whatever I do theatrical and cinematic. And so, you know, what’s happening with streaming platforms and in television in general, is that movie television is increasingly cinematic.
So, you know, here we have an opportunity for audiences to enjoy a movie, and hopefully they’re bringing their friends over to watch and they’re also live tweeting about it and discussing it as they’re watching the movie. So you’ll see how it goes, you know, you never know.
Any update on Girls Trip 2? People are dying for it.
We’ll see [laughs]. We’re working on the script. We’re actively, actively trying to get a green light.
Thanks to Malcolm D. Lee for taking the time to talk about Strung.
