‘Till’s Chinonye Chukwu On Using “Care And Honor” To Tell Emmett Till’s Story And Danielle Deadwyler’s Understanding Of Mamie Till-Mobley – Contenders LA3C
deadline.comTill co-writer/director Chinonye Chukwu joined Deadline’s Contenders Film: LA3C awards-season event to talk about the importance of making the film, creating a safe space on set, and casting Danielle Deadwyler.
Till tells the powerful story of Mamie Till-Mobley’s relentless fight for justice after her 14-year-old son Emmett Till was lynched in rural Mississippi while visiting his cousins in 1955.
The drama from Orion Pictures, MGM Pictures and United Artists Releasing stars Deadwyler as Mamie and Jalyn Hall as Emmett. Rounding out the ensemble is Whoopi Goldberg, Sean Patrick Thomas and Frankie Faison. RELATED: Deadline’s The : Full Coverage One of the biggest challenges for Chukwu in helming an all-Black cast while navigating them through this monumental story in the civil rights movement was ensuring everyone felt safe to be vulnerable. “[I made] sure to protect the emotional well-being of cast and crew, and also myself.
I was hyper-aware of everybody else making sure that everybody had what they needed in order to go to the places of vulnerability that they needed to go to.” Chukwu said. “That was a challenge at times, just compartmentalizing, you know, because I have a job to do, but I’m also human, you know, and, and on top of that, I’m a Black woman, and there are parts of the story that are triggering and that, we all had to make sure that we do our job, but how do we also protect the person that’s doing that job?” One of the most harrowing scenes in the film is that of Mamie’s brave decision to hold a five-day open-casket funeral, where she could display the horrors done to her son’s body, so the country could understand the brutal harm and injustices caused by white supremacy.
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