In One Of Them Days, Dreux and Alyssa share an apartment in a complex that feels more like a community. Everyone knows everyone, but for Dreux, there is one slightly unwanted guest in her home: Alyssa’s boyfriend, Keshawn. This marks the starting point for the film: Alyssa gives Keshawn their rent money to pass on to their landlord, but instead, he takes it as ‘loan’ for his T-shirt business. Yes, the T-shirt business is as ridiculous as it sounds.

The writing in this film is excellent and incredibly funny, but there was also a lot of room for improvisation from the actors too. “We were allowed to really improv and play around with lines and the crew encouraged it. A lot of the things that were chosen for the movie are things that we improvised,” Palmer tells me over Zoom. One Of Them Days had me cackling in a screening early on a Thursday morning, and there aren’t that many films that can do that these days.

One scene that Palmer loved filming and reflects on is when Dreux and Alyssa go to a fast food drive-through after giving blood. “I really remember that day; it was just so fun with all of us hanging out together. SZA and I just eating the chicken and then we were so mad because we actually ate some and then had to eat more for the scene and we were like, ‘Damn, how much chicken we gonna eat today?’”

And it’s this chemistry between Dreux and Alyssa that brings the entire film together. Palmer and SZA bring so much love, care and complexity to their characters – just like how real best friends would interact and love each other. Their story is the real love story of the film, and it’s such a hilariously beautiful exploration of female friendship. However, before One Of Them Days, Palmer and SZA had never properly met in person.

“When we started working together for this film, that was when we got to spend more time with each other outside of just being peers in our industry. And the chemistry was immediately there. SZA was just so open and she’s a person that’s very hard not to love because she lays it all out there. We went all-in together and very much supported each other throughout the whole film.”

One Of Them Days launches in UK cinemas on 7 March

One Of Them Days: Keke Palmer on her new buddy-comedy film and her friendship with SZA