‘Run’ Star Marques Houston on His Character’s Sacrifice, Possible Sequel and What His New Thriller ‘Leave’ Will Uncover 

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for “Run,” now playing in theaters.

Marques Houston is on a mission to bring more Black audiences to theaters.

That goal has served as his north star as the CEO of Footage Films, a production company where he executive produces and writes the majority of the titles.

Founded and chaired by Chris Stokes, the independent film company is behind Tubi and BET+ originals including “The Stepdaughter,” “Forever Us,” “Vicious Affair,” the “The Stepmother” franchise and “Sacrifice.”

Houston is an R&B artist, producer and actor who catapulted into Hollywood in the 1990s with his first acting role as the voice of Khalil in the 1992 film “Bébé’s Kids.”

His most notable role – which is still referenced in pop culture– is his portrayal of Roger from the popular ’90s sitcom “Sister, Sister.” He played a persistent yet annoying neighbor who became popular largely due to the catchphrase, “Go home, Roger,” which “Sister, Sister” stars Tia and Tamera Mowry frequently shouted at him.

“It’s the greatest feeling in the world to be a part of history and culture with ‘Sister, Sister,’ ‘You Got Served,’ and my music group Immature,” Houston tells Variety. “Knowing that you have a part in history makes you feel like you did something great – that you made your mark. That’s all you can take away from this industry.”

By 2010, he embarked on his behind-the-scenes filmmaking journey after joining forces with Stokes.

With a wide range of horror and thrillers under the production banner, sci-fi suspense feature “Run” is ’ latest project to hit theaters on Friday. 

“Run” is a story about the nation being overtaken by an alien attack. After Melissa leaves her fiancé Andre at the altar, her best friends take her on a cabin getaway to help clear her head. But their girls’ trip takes a shocking turn when one of their friends is found maimed in the woods. With a surprise visit from Andre and his crew, the group of friends try their best to survive.

Houston and Stokes work in tandem on scripts, often sharing similar approaches that the actor described as “creatively seeing eye-to-eye and sharing the same vision.”

Their ability to work closely together stems from being longtime collaborators. Their relationship can be traced back to 2004 when Houston starred in Stokes’ blockbuster hit “You Got Served.” 

Despite starring in several projects from Footage Films, Houston admitted that he had not planned to have a leading role in “Run,” but Stokes suggested it to him.

“I was like, ‘Wait a minute. Oh, no. I wasn’t expecting to be in this.’ But he was like, ‘I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want you to write it for yourself. I wanted you to write the character.’’

Once Houston signed on to play Andre, the two cast the remaining actors Annie Ilonzeh, Erica Mena, Drew Sidora, Erica Pinkett, Ken Lawson, Claudia Jordan and Obba Babatundé. 

Houston spoke with Variety about the film’s concept, that cliffhanger with Andre, his push for Black-led horrors and thrillers to become more mainstream and more.

Where did the concept of “Run” come from?

It was Chris’ idea. We’re both big fans of sci-fi. He had this idea of taking this situation with aliens and putting it in a group setting with friends in a cabin. He gave me this whole concept of he how he wanted to do it. I thought it was dope.

Did you all have any influences that you pulled inspiration from for the story?

Not at all. We like to be as as original as we can, so it’s better to not pull from anything and go with the creativity. Chris will give me this whole story outline, and it’s my job as a screenwriter to pair that with the dialog and direction. It’s the both of us sitting down and being like, “This is what we want to talk about. This is a story we want to tell. Let’s get it together.”

What were some of the biggest challenges being involved behind and in front of the camera?

It was more difficult because I had to do a lot of action and running. Once the script was done, I told everybody, “Now that this is all done, I have to go into actor mode. Y’all just focus on everything else.” That’s why you have to trust your team. The team that you choose to be around while making movies is important. It’s very key, so you can focus on the character.

In the end, Andre sacrifices himself to save Melissa from the aliens. What made you all take that direction, especially after their decision to be together if they made it out alive?

We wanted to set up for part two. Chris wanted to continue the storyline. The movie ends abruptly. You don’t know what’s going on. You don’t know what happens when I go into the house. At that point, anything could happen. It’s like a Marvel movie where you’re left on that edge and you’re like, “Wait, what’s happening next?” We wanted to leave it so that you just don’t know where these characters fall, so that there could be a sequel.

What ideas or themes are being discussed if a sequel were to happen?

We’ve talked about more of an invasion by the aliens — maybe taking it out of the woods and putting it more into the context of the world. We’re bouncing around ideas right now. It’s still fresh, but we know what characters survive.

You have another thriller, “Leave,” to be released at the top of next year. What inspired the concept of the film?

“Leave” is more of a psychological thriller based on true events that happened in Freemanville, Fla. After the Civil War, that was one of the first places where Black people could own and buy property. It’s based on when that happened. 

How was your creative process for “Leave” different from your past projects?

It’s not too much different. Every movie, you do research. We go over the storyline. Once the story is all set, we put it into play with the characters. The creative concept is the same for every movie, but it’s just different ideas that we have to write with. “Run” is original and not based on anything, but it’s sci-fi. “Leave” is based on a time period. It’s different. 

What are you hoping to bring to the cinematic experience that viewers will be excited about for the film?

I’m hoping people will take away the information. It’s knowledge. “Leave” has a lot of subtle hints in there about information that nobody really talks about. I hope people are educated on what happened during that time, how Black people were treated and where they came from. People don’t know a lot about Freemanville and how they [Black people] were able to buy and sell property. African American history is always good to talk about.

What made you want to center “Leave” on the history of Freemanville, Fla.?

Chris was just trying to do something different. He wanted to make a movie that was  empowering and knowledgeable. He wanted this movie to be informational, but also to scare people and have them on the edge of their seats. We love to do thrillers. We love to exhilarate and excite our audiences because the whole thing is putting Black people back in the theaters. There’s an empty slot there for Black people going back to the theaters, getting all their family members together and having a good time. We’re trying to get that energy back that makes people actually want to go to the movies.

There has been a rise in Black-led thrillers and horror films in recent years. Many of Footage Films’ projects reflect that. With your partnerships with BET+ and Tubi, why is it important for Footage Films to push for Black horror and thrillers to become more mainstream?

We can do the same thing as other filmmakers. Black people love horror. Maybe you wouldn’t think that, but Black people like to get scared. We get scared in a different way, but we get scared too. It’s important to bring that to the forefront and let people know we could do the same thing. We like our movies to reflect successful Black people as well. It’s not anything against any other Black filmmakers out there because I take off my hat to anybody that’s creating content, jobs for people and opportunities. In our films, we like Black people to be successful and have these situations where you could take a white movie and put it in a Black cast. There’s no difference. It’s all Hollywood. It’s all filmmaking. It’s all creativity. Creativity is more important than Black or white. 

What’s the goal or mission of Footage Films when it comes to championing diverse storytelling and talent?

Our main thing is creating opportunities for all kinds of talent and job opportunities for workers, new producers, upcoming writers and actors to really make their mark in Hollywood with an opportunity that would not have been there if it had not been for Footage Films.