The TikTok "Who TF Did I Marry?"-inspired movie drops today. Here's how to watch it.
Who has time to invest in a relationship saga told over 50 parts on TikTok?
Well, millions of people apparently. But in case you don’t, Alvin Gray’s got you covered. Sort of.
The Baltimore, Maryland, film director’s 9/10 Productions Film releases a movie inspired by the viral “Who TF Did I Marry?” 50-post series on TikTok today.
His “The Wife That Didn’t Know Who She Married” debuts on YouTube. And the running time is a mere XXXX.
In the TikTok series, which debuted Feb. 14, Teresa “Reesa Teesa'' Johnson shares how she met her “pathological liar” ex-husband at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The man, she said, claimed to be a wealthy former athlete and a company vice president, but actually worked as a forklift driver, was on probation for various offenses, used different Social Security numbers and deceived her in promising to give her houses, cars and trips. Johnson divorced him after a year.
The series racked up more than 400 million views on TikTok in the first three weeks and landed Johnson appearances on the “Tamron Hall” show and “Good Morning America.” Johnson wrapped up her tale three days after she dropped the first installment/episode.
The social media buzz around the story was right up director Gray’s alley.
The 38-year-old, who also acts, has found a niche with his ripped-from-the-headlines stories. His “The Nurse that Saw the Baby on the Highway” (on Apple TV+ and Tubi) and "The Rapper Who Got Shot in the Heel’ (streaming on Amazon Prime) are inspired by Carlee Russell, the Alabama woman who was charged in the 2023 faking of her own abduction, and Tory Lanez, the rapper-singer convicted in the 2020 shooting of rapper Megan Thee Stallion.
Gray posted a trailer for the movie on March 8 that had social media expressing surprise about the speed of production.
Gray shared with IndyStar how he turns out work so quickly and where to watch “The Wife That Didn't Know Who She Married.”
Check below for information about his next project, inspired by a Marvel Cinematic Universe star.
The “Who TF Did I Marry?”-inspired movie was shot in four days
Gray began filming “The Wife That Didn't Know Who She Married” on Feb. 26. The trailer dropped on March 8.
“I was writing the days that we shot,” he said. “I would tell my actors in the morning, ‘Hey, listen, we're gonna shoot today at three o'clock. I'm writing a script right now. Give me a couple of hours to get you a call sheet.' And that's how we did every day. I would get up in the morning, like six o'clock in the morning and just start writing dialogue — two or three things that I felt like would be appropriate for the situation.”
The movie budget was $600
This latest project isn't a cash grab for Gray but rather a way to show his ability to turn around a film in a short period of time.
"It's a very micro budget film. It's more of a passion project, if anything else,” Gray said. “This was a quick flex, as young people would say; to show I can create a movie in less than 10 days and to show the quality and to show people in Hollywood we can do this if you just give us a shot. Stop limiting us to just one or two directors when you have talent all over the world.”
Gray worked with a script supervisor and seven actors over five locations.
“Baltimore's a very hungry place where there’s a lot of talent, just undiscovered. So when opportunity presents itself they step up; the actors, the locations, everything,” he said.
Alvin Gray is no stranger to going viral
Gray has gotten flack for trivializing sensitive subjects but says that does not perturb him.
“Some people get angry. Some people love it. That's just the way the world is. But every time I put it out, the naysayers have something to say," he said.
Many assume his movies are Tubi streaming service productions. But Tubi, part of Fox Corp., has more than 74 million monthly active users and is growing its original content by working with independent filmmakers like Gray.
While Gray has several projects on the platform, he bristles when his works are credited to the streamer.
“Social media sparked a fire saying this is a Tubi movie, and they think all my movies are Tubi movies; and they're not,” he said. “Any time a Black director puts out a film that looks somewhat decent but you can clearly tell is not a huge budget, it is automatically assumed to be a Tubi movie.”
How Gray heard about the Reesa Teesa TikTok story
Initially, he said, Johnson's story didn’t interest him. He’d heard similar stories of deception.
“It wasn’t until my wife said, ‘Hey, Alvin, this is getting pretty popular and I think you could probably pull some stuff from this,’” Gray said. "But there was no way I could sit through and watch all of that, so I just went through social media and listened to the things that I kept hearing over and over and over again — five particular things that I felt were really strong points. And from those I just wrote in dialogue and painted around that picture.”
Is Alvin Gray stealing Reesa Teesa’s story?
Folks on social media have questioned the production, saying that it should not have used Johnson’s series as the basis for a movie without crediting or paying her.But Gray says that such critiques are unwarranted.
“There's no ill intent here at all. I'm just an artist that is influenced by things that are given to me through the universe; whether it’s an apple from the tree that I'll eat or a familiar story that we all have that might inspire certain things. I'm just a storyteller. That's what I do,” he said. “I touch on topics that are trending or things that people in social media are talking about.”
“I don't really feel like I stole the story. This is no different than SVU (TV series ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’) or what the news stations have done. They just told the tale in their way,” he said. “I just heard a couple of different snippets and played what I think could have possibly happened. I didn't use any names. I try my best not to mimic certain things.”
Johnson recently signed a deal with talent firm Creative Artists Agency for representation, saying she wants to bring her story to a bigger platform.
IndyStar reached out to Johnson for comment on the Gray project but she did not respond.
Watch the “Who TF DId I Marry”-inspired movie.
“The Wife That Didn’t Know Who She Married” premieres at 8:30 p.m. March 14 at the 9/10 Productions Film channel on youtube.com.
Alvin Gray’s next movie is inspired by a Marvel movie actor
Expect another movie shortly.
On March 15, the trailer drops for “The Actor That Got Chased Around The City,” nodding at the legal troubles of Jonathan Majors.
Contact IndyStar reporter Cheryl V. Jackson at cheryl.jackson@indystar.com or 317-444-6264. Follow her on X.com: @cherylvjackson.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: A"Who TF Did I Marry?"-inspired movie drops. Director shares details
