Anika Noni Rose, Wood Harris, David Alan Grier to star in ‘The Watsons Go to Birmingham’Posted by Wilson Morales
April 10, 2013
Anika Noni Rose and David Alan Grier are set to star in the Hallmark Channel Original Movie ‘The Watsons Go to Birmingham,’ an adaptation of Christopher Paul Curtis‘ 1995 novel which centers on an African American family living in the town of Flint, Michigan, who visit their grandmother’s home in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, a turbulent time during the civil rights movement.
Directed by Kenny Leon (Lifetime’s Steel Magnolias remake), the film is being produced by Spike Lee‘s wife, Tonya Lewis Lee and her producing partner Nikki Silver. Lee, a former corporate attorney, also wrote the script and spent nine years trying to get it to air. Walmart and P&G are co-sponsoring the film.
With production starting this week in Atlanta for a 19-day shoot, the film will have its World Premiere on Friday, September 20 (8pm ET/PT, 7C). The rest of the cast includes Skai Jackson (“Jessie”), LaTanya Richardson (“The Fighting Temptations”), Wood Harris (“The Wire,” “Remember The Titans”), Bryce Jenkins (“Easy A,” “Have A Little Faith”) and Harrison Knight (“We the Party”).
Set in the Summer of 1963, Flint, Michigan is home to the Watsons, a close knit “All American Family” made up of Daniel and Wilona Watson (Harris and Rose) and their three kids, 15 year-old juvenile delinquent Byron (Knight), nerdy 11 year-old Kenny (Jenkins) and eight year-old adorable sister Joetta (Jackson). When Byron’s antics go over the top, his parents realize enough is enough and they decide the family needs a dose of Grandma Sands (Richardson) no nonsense approach in Birmingham, Alabama.
So the Watsons load up the 1948 Plymouth Brown Bomber outfitted with a true tone Ultra-Glide turntable and head South with plenty of comedy en route. When they finally make it to Birmingham, they meet Grandma Sands and her friend, Mr. Robert (Grier), who show them around town, and the Watsons discover that life is very different there than in Flint – and not necessarily for the better. During that historic summer, the Watsons find themselves caught up in something far bigger than Byron’s antics. Something that will change their lives and country forever.
