ABFF 2017 – John Singleton & Cast Talk FX’s SnowfallPosted by Wilson Morales
July 4, 2017
During the 2017 American Black Film Festival (ABFF), Blackfilm.com had the opportunity to speak with the cast and creators of FX Networks’ upcoming series “Snowfall,” created by John Singleton & Eric Amadio and Dave Andron.
The new FX drama series about the start of the crack epidemic in Los Angeles, will premiere on Wednesday, July 5 at 10 PM ET/PT on FX
Snowfall is executive produced by Singleton, Amadio, Andron, Thomas Schlamme, Michael London and Trevor Engelson. Andron serves as showrunner.
The cast includes Damson Idris as Franklin Saint, Isaiah John as Leon Simmons, Sergio Peris-Mencheta as Gustavo Zapata, Carter Hudson as Teddy McDonald, Emily Rios as Luica Villanueva, Filipe Valle Costa as Pedro Nava, Billy Magnussen as Logan Miller. Amin Joseph as Jerome Saint, Andrew Howard as Avi Drexler, Juan Javier Cardenas as Alejandro Usteves, Michael Hyatt as Cissy Saint, Angela Lewis as Aunt Louie, Malcolm Mays as Kevin and Alon Aboutboul as Avi.
The 10-episode season of the one-hour drama is set in Los Angeles 1983 against the infancy of the crack cocaine epidemic and its ultimate radical impact on the culture as we know it. The story follows numerous characters on a violent collision course, including: Franklin Saint (Damson Idris), young street entrepreneur on a quest for power; Gustavo Zapata (Sergio Peris-Mencheta), a Mexican wrestler caught up in a power struggle within a crime family; Teddy McDonald (Carter Hudson), a CIA operative banished to the Los Angeles office who begins an off-book operation to fund the Nicaraguan Contras. When he sees an opportunity to reverse his fortunes, Teddy risks everything to get his life back on track. and Luica Villanueva (Emily Rios), the self-possessed daughter of a Mexican crime lord.
Hyatt plays Sharon “Cissy” Saint, he no-nonsense mother of Franklin. Frustrated in both her personal and professional lives, Cissy has sacrificed her dreams to give Franklin opportunities she never had. Angela Lewis will portray Louise Saint, Franklin’s party girl aunt. Cardenas will play Alejandro Usteves, a calculating rebel from the Nicaraguan Contras movement who is determined to keep his revolution alive by any means necessary. Costa will play Pedro, the cocky heir apparent of a Mexican crime family that sells marijuana throughout Los Angeles.
Can you talk about putting this series together?
Dave Andron: My involvement was coming on to an idea that John Singleton and Eric Amadio had and helping them get it across the finish line. We’re really trying to tell the story of crack and what happened when crack landed in Los Angeles specifically and how it affected not only the people in South Central but the areas in South Central as well.
John Singleton: This is a dream project for me and it’s great to meet all these talented people. They all come from all walks of life except for the core team. We’ve made something that will have a huge impact on a lot of people.
John, can you talk about casting Damson Idris in one the lead roles?
John Singleton: With Damson, I was first skeptical because he was a Brit and I wanted someone from the hood to play hood, but he is such a good actor. He studied acting and he grew up watching all of my movies and listened to Snoop, and the West Side connection. When he started doing the role, I had to tweak his accent a little bit in terms of the way he would play the part because a lot of people from South Central are from Texas, Louisiana and second generation people from the South and they have a twang in their voice. He got that twang voice real quick and he was official and that was it.
What role do you play?
Michael Hyatt: I’m Cissy Saint, the mother to Franklin. Franklin is the lead character who is finding a way out of this neighborhood..in his mind. I am the single mom trying to help my son become a man in the best way I can.
Carter Hudson: I’m Teddy McDonald, a CIA officer who’s running from a dark past and this opportunity sort of falls into his lap to start smuggling cocaine and he takes it.
How much of the subject matter did you know as you read the script and did research for your role?
Isaiah John: For this specific project, because it’s about crack cocaine, I’ve had family members that used to use crack cocaine and I would just talk to my mom on how she grew up around that. I tried to understand the mindset of they got involved in that and got started. My research was more like an interview. I just asked questions.
Carter Hudson: With Teddy’s storyline, which involves the CIA, I didn’t know much about any of it. It took a lot of research, a lot of reading, a lot of YouTube rabbit holes that you can really fall down into and find really intriguing and terrifying. I also learned what a kilo is. On the first day on the set, I was like, “Can someone explain to me what that is?” I have no idea.
What’s the end game to the series? Is it to introduce the cocaine story from the 80s to now?
Dave Andron: We hopefully want to thread together this pastiche or this overlooking view of what crack did to LA and then to the country at large when it landed from all these different points of views and all these characters and how it affected their lives.
Promo
Trailer
