Juel Taylor never imagined that his debut feature would tout such a cheeky title. They Cloned Tyrone sounds more like a Weird Al cover of the eponymous Erykah Badu song (a truth that the Netflix film makes sure to acknowledge before the credits roll). But in the beginning, it was actually the working title for what would become the Creed II scribe’s directorial debut. He had a slightly more cerebral title in mind for the real thing.

“We were going to call it Reagan Era,” Taylors tells Inverse. It certainly encapsulated the Matrix-like paranoia and haunting themes that Taylor wanted to explore in the film. But it glossed over another side of his story: the coded humor that invoked films like Shaft and Friday. As Taylor and his writing partner, Tony Rettenmaier, developed the story further, They Cloned Tyrone felt more like a natural fit.

The epithet was also more popular with Taylor’s friends. “The more I said it as just the joke title, the more people gravitated towards that,” Taylor explains. “And then it was They Cloned Tyrone.”

Inverse chatted with Taylor about the inspirations, iconography, and the joys of disorientation in his trippy sci-fi thriller.

Annie Murphy may be developing a type. After playing fabulously vapid yet charming Alexis Rose in Schitt’s Creek, which saw her trying to keep up a big city lifestyle after her dad saddles her with living in a small town, she’s now lending her voice to Petey, a young woman trying to keep up her big city lifestyle after her dad saddles her with living in a small town, in the Freeform series Praise Petey.

“I guess there's a certain theme to my career so far,” Murphy told Inverse. “I was so excited to play Petey because there's a little overlap between Alexis Rose and Petey, so I knew it was in my wheelhouse.”

That said, there’s one big difference: Petey not only inherits a small town from her deceased dad, but also a cult, complete with human pets, minor celebrity sacrifices, and weird rituals. Alexis may have forged her own way in Schitt’s Creek, but Petey’s got to lead a town full of people looking to her to guide them.

Annie Murphy discusses cults, her new role, and Praise Petey’s original title with Inverse.