Last week,ย new film “Loving” held its NYC premiere.
The film written and directed by Jeff Nichols, starring Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga, tells the story of the couple behind the famous Supreme Court case, Loving v. Virginia. The film follows Mildred Jeter and her husband Richard Loving on a roller coaster ride where they face many battles to legalize interracial marriage.
We gotย the chance to catch up with some of the premiere goers and cast including Will Dalton, Sharon Blackwood, Chris Greene, Jon Bass and Christopher Mann as they talk about working with director Jeff Nichols, their experience while filming and more.
Don’t forget to Loving comes out November 4!
| Tell me a little about the role you play.
Will Dalton: I play Virgil. Virgil is in his own mind. He is very honest and whether he is right or wrong, but in his mind he is always right. He is a very loyal friend to Richard and that’s what he is, he’s the wise-cracking one out of the group. |
| What do you hope people take away from it?
Will Dalton:ย I want people to take away from this movie that it doesn’t matter what background, what race, what culture, whatever, where ever you’re from that we can all love each other unconditionally. We just strip everything down to us basically being human beings first. That’s what we are, from day one.ย We are human beings, and we’re all a fraternity of human beings, that’s it. Right, so if we stop putting each other in boxes, and we stop labeling and we just start loving, then that’s when we’ll solve a lot of problems. |
| Speak about working with Joel, and how that was like.
Sharon Blackwood: Well, I had just seen The Gift when I got on set. I was in awe, I’d been in awe of all of his work. I was a huge fan, and so the idea of getting to work with him and play his mother was just a thrill. |
| Your character lives in a town where race isn’t an issue. Everyone is just interacting, it’s regular, whereas outside of the town, it’s a problem. Can you speak a little bit about that?
Sharon Blackwood:ย I think if we can all get to where they were 50, 60, 70 years ago, we’ll all be better off. It’s just a beautiful, beautiful story. |
| Can you speak about working with Ruth?
Sharon Blackwood:ย Oh, yes. It was just wonderful. She’s just so sensitive and the scenes that I did with her, especially the first one, are so vulnerable. It was really wonderful. She and Joel were just grand, and Joel was just, he’s amazing. Ruth, I have seen her TV work now, and it’s just unbelievable. What do you hope people take away from the movie? Sharon Blackwood:ย They’ll just take a breath and think about being nice to people. |
| Tell me a little bit about the role you play in the movie.
Chris Greene: Sure. I play Percy Fortune who’s a good friend of the Lovings, in particular, Richard. He helps Richard put together his race team and deal with the race team, and you know, that they had, the little race group. They’re just good friends. They’re guys just hanging out, being guys, having fun.ย Unfortunately, when this happens to where the Lovings have to be separated or split up, he basically steps in with the rest of the fellows and, “Hey, how do we fix this? How do we get this happening to where they can stay together?” Because it’s just not right. What I liked about the movie is how authentic it is. When you were filming, did you feel that? Chris Greene:ย Absolutely. Everything from our costumes to the dialogue that Jeff had written to the way the locations were. We filmed, actually, in Richmond, not far from where everything took place, so as soon as you got into wardrobe, you got into character. It was just beautiful. |
| Tell me about how it was working with Jeff.
Jon Bass: Working with Jeff was absolutely amazing.ย I think he’s the best director working right now. |
| How was it to collaborate with Nick because most of your scenes are with him?
Jon Bass:ย It was terrible. He’s a horrible person who treated me like garbage. I’m kidding. No, he’s incredible and so talented, and so beautiful in this movie, which everyone sees his comedic side but it was so nice to see him just play a straight up good guy. |
| Tell me a little bit about your research into the legal part of it.
Jon Bass:ย I actually talked to Phil Hirschkop, who I play, and got to learn a little bit about how he felt about the case. It was extremely helpful in figuring out how I was going to portray him. |
| What most surprised you about this story?
Jon Bass:ย What most surprised me about this story is how simple Jeff told it. I think it’s an absolutely gorgeous telling of the story that’s very important. |
| What’s coming up next for you?
Jon Bass:ย Baywatch. |
| Are you excited about that?
Jon Bass:ย Yeah. Baywatch is coming this summer, it’s going to be a lot of fun. |
| Speak about collaborating with Ruth, and what you admire about her?
Christopher Mann: You know what? She captured this character so well! We had time to spend together, just to get the feel of the aura of each other, who she was, and I think she fit this thing so wonderfully. After seeing the film, because when you’re working, you can’t really see you’re just in the moment, but watching it unfold, and watching her work, she’s terrific. She’s fabulous in this movie. |
| How was collaborating with Jeff?
Christopher Mann: Jeff is awesome, man! He’s one of the guys, you know what I mean? He’s so down to earth, and easy to get along with. It actually helped in the process of doing this film, because there was really a sense of love around the whole production, because the two leads were so warm and welcoming. |
