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April 2009
AMERICAN VIOLET |An Interview with Alfre Woodard

 

AMERICAN VIOLET
An Interview with Alfre Woodard
by Wilson Morales


April 15, 2009




What can be said about Alfre Woodard that hasn’t been mentioned or written about already? We know that she’s veteran of many films; always reliable and brings in her ‘A’ game to each role she takes. Having been nominated for Oscar previously and a multi Emmy Award winner, Woodard continues to reinvent herself with each performance.

In her latest role, she plays Alma Roberts, mother of Dee Roberts in ‘American Violet.’ Based on real events and set in a small Texas town in the midst of the 2000 Bush/Gore Presidential election, the film tells the astonishing story of Dee (critically hailed newcomer Nicole Beharie), a 24 year old African-American single mother of four who is wrongfully swept up in a drug raid.
Despite the urgings of her mother (Woodard), and with her freedom and the custody of her children at stake, she chooses to fight the powerful district attorney (Michael O'Keefe) and the unyielding criminal justice system he represents. Joined in an unlikely alliance with an ACLU attorney (Tim Blake Nelson) and former local narcotics officer (Will Patton), Dee risks everything in a battle that forever changes her life, and the Texas justice system.

In speaking with Blackfilm.com, Woodard talks about her latest role and working with Nicole Beharie.


What attracted you to the role?

Alfre Woodard: What attracted me to the role was that the war on drugs, in particular the drug task force, was off the rails and had gone berserk. It was wreaking havoc in the lives of thousands of Americans. Because it was not only inthe moment but it was affected the lives of their children’s future. People were being convicted as a felon because they took a plea bargain due to the fact that they could not afford representation. The D.A and the public defender would get them to take these pleas and make money for each department; meanwhile that person can’t vote or get Medicaid or public assistance if they ever need it. It was limiting their lives and their children as well. I tried to do a similar film a few years ago when the situation was done in Tulia, Texas, so when Bill Haney came to me, I was so excited that this story would get made and jumped on board.




With as many films you have done where you have the mother of a character, what was different in playing one this film?

AW: Every mother role I play is different and I respect that as an actor and I think a lot of people don’t respect that as writers or actors. In this film, I’m not playing a mother, I’m playing Alma, this woman who had a life before her daughter was born. I have to discover what that back-story is, educate myself to that part, and then look at the script to see what she does in different circumstances. Then I have to find and build a reality that will allow this woman to behave a certain way. The fact that she would try to convince her daughter to take the plea tells me a lot about how she grew up in the area she live in. Also, the fact that she befriends her daughter’s baby daddy shows you the world she’s grown up in. She trusts the pecking order of the man. Even if she knows that his girlfriend is a little suspect, she trusts that he will do the right thing. In Texas, the D.A is king in places like that. People in that region learn how to walk around the obstacle, and the obstacles are life and death most of the time. That’s how I built that mother.


How wasworking with Nicole in her first starring role?

AW: Whether it’s her first starring role or her 20th, I approach it as she’s my lead and she has a lot of weight on her and she has to make the full arc that the rest of us fill in the blanks on. She has to be firm in what she’s doing and so, and as a supporting actor I make sure that the person is given choices in each take. When they can react to a range of possibilities, there’s more to edit. She’s just starting out, but she’s a gifted actor and a trained actor. There’s nothing like being a trained actor. It doesn’t matter how young you are or old you get, that’s thing that sustains you. That’s your spine. Nicole was just wonderful. You were able to stay with the story because the portrayal of Dee had to be captivating.




Why should anyone see ‘American Violet?’

AW: It is without a doubt one of the best, put together, well crafted film that I have seen in a long time. It’s dynamic. It’s beautifully shot and engaging. Although it is a very frustrating and terrible circumstance, there are some laughs in it. It’s funny. When you watch someone like Dee stand up in the face to everything that has happened to her with the drug war, people from various screenings I have attended, have been lifted up. They can weather whatever is happening with them. Ninety percent of people that go to court end up taking plea bargain because they don’t want to be in jail for a long time. Not only is the film entertaining, but it gives you something to talk about.




AMERICAN VIOLET OPENS APRIL 17


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