Recently having its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival was Kenny Leon’s American Son, based on the acclaimed Broadway play, and starring Emmy-nominee Kerry Washington in a gripping story of an interracial couple trying to find their missing teenage son.
Based on the acclaimed Broadway play, the Netflix Television Event AMERICAN SON tells the story of Kendra Ellis-Connor (Emmy-nominee Kerry Washington), the mother of a missing teenage boy, as she struggles to put the pieces together in a South Florida police station. Steven Pasquale, Jeremy Jordan and Eugene Lee also reprise their roles in the adaptation which presents four distinct viewpoints, while also navigating the unique dynamic of an interracial couple trying to raise a mixed-race son.
AMERICAN SON by Christopher Demos-Brown is directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon. Washington and Pilar Savone executive produce under Washington’s banner Simpson Street. Jeffrey Richards and Rebecca Gold also serve as executive producers.
For Washington, it’s a return to the screen since her TV series Scandal ended. Washington also serves as a producer to the film and will also co-producer her new series Little Fires over at Apple. Blackfilm.com caught up with Washington as she spoke about doing the film version of the play.
When did Kenny tell you that you filming a film version of the play?
Kerry Washington: I actually called Kenny because I produced the play with Jeffrey Richards. In producing the play, I spoke really early on Netflix’s Ted Sarandos about the play and sent it to him. H got it right away and wanted to be part of bringing this story to a larger audience. He came to see the play here. He loves theater and and I agreed that it was important not to do a film version of it, but to bring the theatrical experience to a global audience. Because it’s a powerful medium, but it’s a medium that only allows for certain number of eyeballs. And so to be able to tell this story, and bring the feeling that you had in the play, it’s such an intimate play where it all takes place in this one room. We didn’t want to mess with any of that we still wanted to keep it in one room. We tried to film it in a verité style where you really feel like a fly on the wall, overhearing these really, really private conversations that people have, but don’t have in public. So it was really exciting. When we told the cast, everybody was really thrilled for the opportunity.
What did you want to do different with the film?
Kerry Washington: Well, one thing is again, not only that, not enough black people are coming to the theater, we actually had really, really diverse audiences, which I was proud of. But on my social media, I had people in South Africa, we’re dealing with the same kinds of issues with police, and saying, “God, I wish I could see it, I would, I feel like I would relate to it.” There was no way to bring it to those audiences and now we can. In terms of what we wanted to do differently, I really wanted to honor the play. The goal of the play was to have it be a truly intimate experience where you felt like you were witnessing a family’s journey long train and two people who are really really love each other, but cannot figure out how to overcome their cultural divide. That was really important to me to to maintain that sensibility.
Then also, I think when it comes to our issues around police violence, we tend to think that that is just a problem for the black community to deal with. It is all of our problems, right? The abuse of power in this country is everybody’s problem. And I thought it’s so beautifully written that Jamal belongs to all of us, because his father’s white, white people don’t get to turn away and say, this is somebody else’s problem. Because he is America’s son, because he belongs to all of us. It’s all of us trying to come together to do what’s best for him. I think that too is what’s so special about the writing and the material. I wanted the film version to make you feel like you were witnessing conversations that normally you wouldn’t be privy if you were fly on the wall that you were stuck in rooms that you’d normally never be able to overhear these particular conversations between these people.
In the film, there’s a scene involving a water fountain and a bedroom that wasn’t shown in the play.
Kerry Washington: Kenny will be very happy to hear that. I think we wanted to stick to the word of the play. We didn’t want to change any of the word, but we knew, even without changing a single word that we can have some visual flexibility. So it’s great.
Is there a message to get from this film?
Kerry Washington: I don’t know about a message. I feel like if there’s a message in it, I would say it’s that we just need to be listening to each other more. Because I think it’s powerful that you have these four different characters who have very, very different points of view. I find myself even when I watched the material still being cold in four different directions. The people I assume I’m going to identify with, I sometimes don’t and the people I assume I’m not going to agree with, I’m sometimes like, “Oh,” and that’s the point. I think that’s part of it. We live in an age right now where we’re so unwilling to talk to people whose views are different from ours. We change the channel, we walk away, and we don’t want to be in that conversation, white or black, rich or poor, republican or democrat. Being able to create spaces where we can actually talk to each other and listen to each other and figure out where those commonalities exist is really important to be able to put our ourselves in each other’s shoes. The way I think this piece allows you to put yourself in other people’s shoes is important.
But I think also when I, when I consider Kendra’s journey, I think Kendra is a woman who, for a really long time, tried to sweep stuff under the rug. She tried to pretend that things weren’t an issue when they were or make herself be likable enough and just trying to really quiet the truths in her life in an effort to live outside of the reality of what it means to be a black woman raising a black child. I think we meet her in the play and now in the film at a moment where she is no longer willing to do that. But she’s no longer willing to sweep it under the rug. She’s trying to put her son first in a way that she hasn’t been able to and she’s really trying be honest about what it means to be black for him and for herself. That was part of what drew me to the character also. I don’t know that we’ve seen that character, that woman a woman who has tried to belong to the white world, in an integrated life and an academic world and buy into some sense of safety by being with this white man, and then these white circles and has said like, “I have to stop. I have to be honest about who I am for myself, but also for my son who is so confused and grappling.”
Is this a role you can walk away from?
Kerry Washington: I had a wall in my dressing room where I had a lot of these guys, pictures on the wall and the women to Sandra Bland and Korryn Gaines and I kept adding pictures through the production. Every time we would lose somebody, and a lot of their mothers and sisters came to see the play, and I would bring them into my dressing room and show them the pictures. I felt like we were doing something sacred. To have Philando Castile’s name said on a Broadway stage and be in the cannon like in Samuel French forever. You have Tamir Rice, that we were making that part of the lexicon of what we consider dramatic literature in this country felt important to me. We completed the run of the Broadway play. Then we took about a week off and then we went right into filming it because I think none of us wanted to go away from it too long. I don’t know if I could have come back to it. If I stepped away enough to really let go of it, I would not have come back. It was just too hard.
What’s the feeling like as a producer?
Kerry Washington: I love producing and I’m more of a producer than an executive producer. It’s different obviously in film and television but I’m a roll your sleeves up in the trenches, making phone calls or working on budget, hiring, firing. I really love it, because I feel like my job is to create opportunities for other artists. So that feels like a real privilege.
Do you see yourself doing more work behind the screen?
Kerry Washington: I think both. I’ve also been doing some directing, I directed at Scandal I directed at SMILF. I love to be behind the camera. I would say about 40% of the stuff we’re producing at Simpson Street is stuff that I’m in and the other 60% I’m not in. Our series on Facebook Watch right now obviously I’m not in. We just set up a film that I am in, but we have two other film projects set up that I’m not in. So we have we have a lot going on on the producing side. Film is a collaborative process. I get an opportunity to create an environment where artists and artisans can come to work and do what they do and excel and that gives me a lot of pride. I enjoy being in front of the camera. But what I think I’m finding more excitement or I’m discovering equal excitement in other parts of us as we do.
What’s a good reason to see American Son?
Kerry Washington: I would say it’s important to watch because we’re living in a time where we’re afraid to have our private conversations in public. This is about people really going outside their comfort zone to share ideas with one another and it creates sparks. It’s just so exciting to see people have those conversations. We are talking and thinking a lot about the relationship between the black community and police; but really an examination of study of how that impacts your family and life is important.
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