‘Till’ Stars Danielle Deadwyler And John Douglas Thompson, Director Chinonye Chukwu On Creating Film Set “Rooted In Community Care” – Contenders New York
deadline.comTill stars Danielle Deadwyler and John Douglas Thompson and director Chinonye Chukwu kicked off Deadline’s Contenders Film: New York event with a discussion about the atmosphere they sought to cultivate on the film’s set. “This wasn’t a solitary endeavor,” Deadwyler told the crowd at The Times Center. “Everything about this film was rooted in community care, in the same way that Mamie Till did. … It wasn’t about hiding away … We were all doing this together.
Everybody was mourning with me, and joyful at the same time.” The film recounts the events surrounding the abduction, torture and lynching of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy in Mississippi.
Given that she plays Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, Deadwyler said she “talked to my therapist a lot before, during and after … yay, therapists!” On a more serious note, Chukwu said a therapist was on set every day during the shoot for anyone on the cast or crew who needed their services.
The director also explained that her intent was to deliberately not sensationalize the inherent violence and hate of the episode, but instead ground the story in the resilience and struggle of Till-Mobley, on whose memoir Till is based. “I never saw it as a ‘trauma story,'” Chukwu said. “When I think about my life as a Black woman, my joys, my community and love exist alongside the inherent pain and sadness that can come along with being a Black woman in this world,” she said. “So, that was how I approached this film.
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