Adrienne Warren (Mamie Till-Mobley) and Cedric Joe (Emmett Till)
On Thursday, December 16, 2021, the red carpet event for ABC’s new limited series Women of the Movement was held at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, California.
The cast, including Adrienne Warren, Cedric Joe, Tonya Pinkins, and Ray Fisher, gathered to celebrate the upcoming premiere, stopping to pose for group photos in honor of the LA premiere. Carter Jenkins, Chris Coy, Julia McDermott, and Joshua Caleb Johnson were also in attendance, among other special guests like consultants Reverend Wheeler Parker and Ollie Gordon; Fatima Curry, executive producer of the ABC News documentary special Let the World See; Shari and Gina Belafonte; Danielle Jalade and Daria Johns of Disney Channel’s upcoming show Saturdays, and more.
Women of the Movement is a historical drama limited series on the true story of Mamie Till-Mobley, who risked her life to find justice for her son Emmett Till after he was brutally murdered in the Jim Crow South, 1955. Till-Mobley’s mission to keep her son’s name in the papers turned her into an activist and sparked the civil rights movement.
A panel discussion moderated by Meena Harris took place after the preview screening of the limited series, with participants Marissa Jo Cerar (showrunner, creator, and executive producer), Adrienne Warren (Mamie Till-Mobley), Cedric Joe (Emmett Till), Tonya Pinkins (Alma), and Ray Fisher (Gene Mobley).
Glynn Turman (Mose Wright), Tonya Pinkins (Alma), Adrienne Warren (Mamie Till-Mobley), Cedric Joe (Emmett Till), and Ray Fisher (Gene Mobley)
While on the red carpet, cast members and consultants spoke about their involvement in the project, what it meant to them, and what they hope viewers will learn.
The Knockturnal: How was it working with such intense content?
Adrienne Warren: You know, I am really, really grateful to have the most incredible writer, MJ Cerar, and the most incredible directors, all Black women, directing this series, which never happens.
Ray Fisher: We were in an intense bubble, but luckily, I think folks were very good at decompressing when we weren’t on set. It’s one of those things where if you don’t take time to find joy and to laugh, you come home and break down. Not to say that there weren’t those days. We were filming on location in Mississippi where a lot of these things actually occurred, and you can still feel some of the energy down there. One of the beautiful things is despite being in that environment, we ended up meeting a lot of really good people who I’ll call friends probably for the rest of my life.
Julia McDermott: I really felt that everyone who was a part of this was really diligent and delicate with the story … Yes, it was very tough material, but we all were there because we wanted to be there and we wanted to do it justice. It gave us this camaraderie and we relied on each other a lot. It was definitely hard some days and we just had to keep checking in with each other.
Joshua Caleb Johnson: It was really just keeping my mind there, and it helped that I had a lot of really great people around me to keep my emotions in check and to keep my head on. Making sure that I was emotionally there and not horsing around because you know, sometimes kids… Cedric Joe, he’s been like my best friend since we were about four years old, so it was surreal and it was amazing and just altogether wonderful.
MJ Carer: It was really challenging. The material is devastating. When I watched the hours and hours of footage of Mamie and I read her book and I read Devery Anderson’s book, and I read many other books and newspaper articles, I was devastated. There were so many things that I didn’t know about Emmett Till. I didn’t know that he almost died at birth. I didn’t know that he survived polio. He survived all of these things only to be murdered right after turning 14, and so, it was hard. But I’m used to working with very challenging material. I’ve worked on a number of shows about heavy things… But that’s what I do. I really only want to write things if they matter and if they are socially relevant, so it was familiar, it was very challenging, but I felt like I was equipped to do the job.
The Knockturnal: What do you want the audience to take away from watching?
Ollie Gordon: I think that people will have a better understanding of how hatred tears the world apart. This was a 14-year-old youth who was brutally beaten and killed because of, basically, the color of his skin. I don’t think a lot of young people understand what the world was back in 1955 as opposed to how it is now. So, I think they will have a better understanding of why people fight and why people keep bringing up Emmett Till’s name and why people keep remembering his mother, who had the power and the courage to continue to fight for some kind of justice. She would often say, “What does justice look like? What is justice? How do we really achieve justice?” If the world could have reconciliation and if the world can learn to eradicate racism, then that would be justice in her eyes. She taught love. She did not teach hate, and that was what all of our family has embedded in us.
Cedric Joe: I want them to get to know who Emmett and Mamie really were outside of just what we know. I think our writer MJ did a great job of humanizing them throughout the story. And I also want them to take away that we are all equal.
The Knockturnal: What was the most inspiring thing to you about this whole story?
Ray Fisher: The most inspiring thing to me, I think, about the story is the idea that you can do what you feel is right and have it change the world. Mamie Till-Mobley, I don’t believe she was setting out to change the entire world when she decided to do what she did, by putting Emmett out there for the world to see. I don’t think she thought at that time that it would have the massive impact that it did. But that would be the most inspiring thing to me: the idea that you can change the world simply by living your truth.
Tonya Pinkins: You know, you hope all of your life that you will get to do work that will have a lasting impression upon people who see it, and this is one of those maybe once, maybe twice in a lifetime projects where everyone involved has a commitment to an authenticity and a way of storytelling that we are not accustomed to seeing.
Women of the Movement is scheduled to premiere on January, 6, 2022, on ABC. The six-episode series will air in three parts. For more information, visit here.
