Cast and crew members of FOX‘s new drama-filled event series Shots Fired were on the Red Carpet at the Urbanworld Film Festival where they premiered episode 1 of the 10 hour series.
Shots Fired cast members Stephan James, Aisha Hinds, Jill Hennessy and creators/executive producers Gina Prince-Bythewood & Reggie Rock Bythewood share their thoughts on the timeliness of the series, bringing art and activism together and a few other things on the carpet.
Dealing with the heavy subject matters of the criminal justice system and race in America, the series also stars Sanaa Lathan, Helen Hunt, Tristan Mack Wilds and touches on the racial divide and frustrations that occur in a small town of North Carolina after an unarmed white college student is killed by an African American police officer.
Speaking with Stephan James (plays Treston Perry in Shots Fired)
How does it feel to be out tonight, premiering your movie?
Stephan James
It’s incredible. It’s incredible. It’s my first time at Urban World so for me it’s a whole new experience. It’s my first time seeing the first hour with an audience so that’s like … I’m a little scared, a little nervous. But also very, very excited to see how they react to it.
Can you speak on the timeliness of the film coming out now with all that’s going on? Just in the news and …
Stephan James
Yeah, you know, it’s very great timing. The fact that we’re doing this show right now. It’s not like we planned to do it at this certain point of time. We actually shot this show in Charlotte, North Carolina. It’s a little eery to see the irony of the things that are happening there right now. But obviously very, very timely and I’m happy because we turn that race awareness for the discussion that needs to be had. The discussion that’s going to happen tonight at the Q&A and the discussion in the country is about police relations in the communities and race relations in America.
What was the biggest challenge bringing this to the screen for you?
Stephan James
I mean, for me, just the importance of it. It’s such an important, important story and you know that you just have to do it justice and you have to tell it correctly. Luckily, I had a great cast with me. You know Aisha Hinds was lovely, incredible. Jill Hennessy, Sanaa Lathan, Helen Hunt, Richard Dreyfuss… a lot of incredible, incredible talent. I’ve been very fortunate.
Is there anything in particular you want the audience to walk away with?
Stephan James
They’re going to take what they take from it. You know what I mean? The point of this show is for them to see it and for them to discuss how they feel about it. Not everyone is going to feel the same way about this show. Not everyone is going to feel the same way about some of the subject matter that we deal with in the show but the point is that we’re raising the awareness and we’re having the discussion and we’re talking about it because that, in turn, will affect positive change.
Interview with Jill Hennessy (plays Alicia Carr)
Tell us about your character in the film.
Jill Hennessy (actress):
I play the mother, (Alicia Carr). I’m a mother whose 18 year old son is shot by a cop in a town basically that is based on Charlotte, North Carolina. This is one of the trigger incidents of the 10 hour series Shots Fired. Deeper we go, we find a lot of other issues. One of the brilliant things that Gina Prince-Bythewood and Reggie Rock Bythewood achieve in this is they show so many different points of view through so many lenses, again, without generalizing, without stereotyping.
What was really cathartic for me was I got to take my own frustration of just watching the news every day, of things that we’re all feeling when we turn on the TV and we’re watching the news and you want to scream and you want to cry. Or you do cry. I could go to work, hang out with Gina, Reggie, incredible actors like Aisha Hinds, DeWanda Wise – when you see them, by the way, let’s just say that it was one of the most inspiring jobs I’ve ever had. We’d do these scenes. I’d see Aisha up on stage as Pastor Janae, and myself and about 120 background actors would be in tears and cheering. Even my 8 year old son was a background actor in a scene, and he was shouting “Amen! Amen!”
This was really a beautiful, emotional, special project. It’s so necessary and needed right now. It’s so needed. I wish it could come out tomorrow.
Speak about what you admire about Gina’s writing.
Jill Hennessy
She gives so much humanity to everybody. She doesn’t create bad guys, good guys. There are no two-dimensional characters. Nothing’s obvious either, though. You have no idea where these characters are going, what their motives are, what their intentions may be, and with every script that I got that represented every hour of this series, I was shocked. I’m like, “You got to be kidding. Pastor Janae went there?” Or “I’m going here?” Represents reality so beautifully too. Just taking a breath, standing back. Let’s look at the whole situation here and let’s come together as a community. Let’s talk to each other. Let’s look each other in the face and connect. She and Reggie are just this powerhouse team. I think they’re two of the best at least I’ve ever worked with, and I’m so excited to see what they’re doing next.
Can you speak about what you enjoyed about the limited format, the 10 episodes?
Jill Hennessy
I guess you see a light at the end of the tunnel. To be honest, it was one of those few jobs where you’re at the end and I didn’t want it to end. I was praying for another 40, to be honest. Whatever they’re doing next, if they need somebody to do some craft service, bring them some coffee, I will be there. It really was just a tremendously special series.
We’re seeing a lot of diversity in Hollywood right now. Women are behind the camera now. Minorities are inside of the writing room. You’ve been on many successful shows. What do you see that is different on this particular show versus other shows you worked on?
Jill Hennessy
It was so wonderful that at points, to be surrounded by so many women, by so many women of color, and the vibe on set was so joyous. It was so passionate. Everybody was there because they were moved by the material and by the issues. I guess it just struck us all on a very deep, emotional level. We got to cry together. We got to embrace each other. We get to hug each other. I’m acting in a scene, but it did not feel like acting. There were so many moments like that, where I realize the camera’s going and Gina and Reggie then keep the environment very safe to play.
As an actor, for the first time, there are moments where I thought “I’m not even going to think about acting. I’m here and I’m enjoying this hug right now.” I’m honored to be with the community embracing us and sharing their pain with us, and they’re such a tremendous part of this project. Again, the community of Charlotte couldn’t have been more beautiful. Couldn’t have been more beautiful; and more relevant, yeah. It was so generous that they cried with us, they laughed with us. Working with them pretty consistently for 4 months. It was a beautiful thing.
It seems like you’re almost shocked and moved by the fact that art is imitating life and life is imitating art.
Jill Hennessy
It has been. In there, you get these scripts for these auditions where you are praying that you’re going to get the part. It’s just so rare when you audition for something that really has that kind of a moral center and touches upon issues that you want to see portrayed but you don’t see portrayed enough. I can’t think of any other projects that do this subject matter. To be in the hands of somebody like Gina, Reggie, that’s a rare gift. I got to say, it’s a rare gem. It’s not going to be like anything else you’ve seen. I will say that.
Interview with Aisha Hinds (actress, Pastor Janae in Shots Fired)
Can you tell us about your role in the film and how it links to the social issues going on today?
Aisha Hinds
I play the role of Pastor Janae and she is really sort of the voice of the community. She serves as the voice of those who would otherwise be deemed voiceless. She serves as the liaison between the people on the ground and the government, because, essentially, there are some places where the government won’t go into the inner cities and actually meet and greet and sit and talk to the people, and get to know them. She has. She has grown up in this town and Gate Station and so she’s speaking on behalf of them in this particular situation, but she also, you know, is hoping that on a global level she can be the voice of the voiceless all over because the message, honestly, sometimes is the same for many of these communities and for many of these people… She is guided by the compass of her faith and carries a tremendous burden for her community and for her people, and just wants to use the platform that she’s been giving to affect change.
Do you feel that as an actress, that’s what you possibly give in a time like this with everything going on?
Aisha Hinds
I identify with Pastor Janae in that way and I believe that every role in some way sort calls out a piece of you and so I think that I’m incredibly steeped in my own personal faith. That’s the only thing that guides me through in the world that we live in right now. When you’re dealing with a hopeless situation all you can do is grasp for hope, and sometimes only in your faith. Yes, do I identify with Pastor Janae in that way? Absolutely. Do I understand that I’ve been afforded a platform to sort of be a voice for those who otherwise wouldn’t be heard? I do understand that and I do seize that opportunity.
Tell us about the experience so far with your role as Harriet Tubman in the next season of Underground.
Aisha Hinds
You know, I’ve been trying to fill her shoes and if there’s anything that I would want to be trying to do is to get out of her way, is to just afford her the opportunity to just use that faculties, use my hands, my arms and just allow her spirit to speak to today’s generation and in her own voice. It’s been an incredible honor to have this position and to join the cast. It was a cast that I was a fan of. I was a fan of the show in its first season so it was sort of a dream come true to realize that I’m the person that’s going to fill that cliffhanger that everybody tuned in for at the end of the first season. The joy for me doing the role has been so overwhelming. I’m humbled and grateful so much. As for the fans of Underground, they are unlike any other fans that I’ve met.
In what way?
Aisha Hinds
They are supremely invested in the show. In the story. In all of the characters, and so when I joined, I felt like I was joining a family. They were so welcoming. They reached out to me on every single platform that they could find to make me feel welcome. That’s huge. Because Harry Tubman is huge and so I know that they are super protective of this warrior. For them to welcome me into that position was so rewarding.
Interview with Gina Prince-Bythewood (director of Shots Fired)
Can you expand on your decision in going into and deciding to work on this film; and how it was related to what was going on currently?
Gina Prince-Bythewood
Yeah, the fact that we wrote the script a year ago and it continues to be so timely is disheartening but it’s why we wrote it. We really wanted to say something about what was going on and the fact that we can use our art as a weapon is important to us. We realize it’s so easy for people to watch the news and then turn it off and think that’s them. But when you can watch the television show and start to empathize with the characters, then you start to feel for them and see them as people that have humanity. That’s what our hope is. That we can spark that and spark change.
What are some of the next steps that you think can be taken to maybe start that change?
Gina Prince-Bythewood
Absolutely. What’s important for us at the show is not just to reflect reality but what reality should be. That’s why we’re excited. There’s a 10 hour special event series so it can have a beginning, middle and end. We think of it as a 10 hour film and our hope is that people can watch it and see solutions on our belief on what needs to happen to change.
Why now?
Reggie Rock Bythewood (executive producer)
Honestly it just felt like why not like 10 years ago. Everything that we’re seeing playing out in the media right now, it’s nothing new. It’s been happening since I was a kid. My oldest boy, he’s 15 years old right now, and we had kind of started to call in the community to talk. Me and my oldest boy had the talk when he was about 10-year-old. A cop pulled me over he was asking if I had drugs in the car. It was really insane, I was just picking my boy up from basketball practice.
I really feel like this is something that’s been reverberating for a long time within our household, but we didn’t know. When the George Zimmerman verdict came in, my son, who was 12 at the time and I watched the verdict come in with him. He bawled. He broke down and couldn’t get it together. It wasn’t in my instincts to hug him or to say it was okay. I pulled up a documentary on YouTube of Emmett Till, and that’s when he started learning about Emmett Till. He actually wrote an amazing short story after that, where Trayvon Martin goes to heaven to meet Emmett Till. Which we ended up stealing from him and putting in one of our episodes.
Shots Fired is a 10 hour film the way we think about it. What’s great about having 10 hours to do it is that we don’t just have 90 minutes or 2 hours to do it. It’s sort of a feature film, we’ve been really been able to give a view from every seat in the house. Really challenge perspectives.
What’s great as filmmakers we want to entertain, but really it’s an opportunity to bring art and activism together. It’s so surreal to watch the news to see everything straight out of Charlotte, where we shot. It’s just time. We just really hope it leads to conversation and necessary changes that are required. We put out some suggestions in terms of what we think could help and maybe those suggestions could be embraced, but maybe it’ll lead to other ones as well.
Continue the conversation and make sure to tune in for the premiere on FOX in 2017.
