The story of Detroit is the one that needs to be told.
Kathryn Bigelow has always been known for being a socially conscious filmmaker. From the troubling tale of IED hunters in Hurt Locker to the torture-ridden black sites in Zero Dark Thirty, Bigelow has a penchant for making the unheard or swept aside jump right into the limelight. And the fact that she is, to date, the only female director to have won a Best Director Oscar is a testament to her bravado, her poise and her courage of exploring material that needs a voice.
Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Bigelow’s newest feature, Detroit, captures not only the continuously fraught relationship between police and African Americans but America’s relationship with racism on a whole, all with a precise filmmaking eye that is wholly missing from a great deal of Hollywood. The Detroit riots were, at the time of its occurrence, the most expensive and destructive riot any American city had seen, and yet many of the stars of the show admitted that they had seldom heard of it. It’s a tale that is long overdue and one that has thankfully been brazenly told by the socially conscious Bigelow. The Knockturnal’s Chasity Saunders had the opportunity to sit down with Detroit stars Ben O’Toole, Laz Alonso and Tyler James Williams to talk about the need for humanization, Hollywood’s goal of showing the world how it really is and working with the esteemed director. Check out what they had to say below.
The events in Detroit happened almost 50 years ago but it was at a time where the population was nearly 40% African American and the police force was 95% white. Unfortunately, a lot of events that happened with police brutality are still going on today, so can you just speak to why it’s important for us to uncover our truths and tell these kinds of stories from an artist’s perspective?
Laz: I’ll tell you the first thing that’s struck me was that I did not know of this particular incident when this film came about. And I think it says so much to how many of these incidents have not been told. How many people’s voices have not been heard. Healing doesn’t start until you are heard. And I think that one of the major things that this film is going to do is open up a dialogue so that everyone can see. Not only your side that you inherently are used to standing on when one of these incidents happen but also see the other side, “what are they talking about?” What goes on behind their closed doors. Because until we humanize each other—because racism isn’t a black problem—it’s everybody’s problem. We’re not just doing this on our own because it’s fun. You know, everybody is involved and until we have that mutual conversation, and that mutual understanding, and humanize each other, then we’re going to continue to see more and more Detroit’s.
We’ve seen you in Dear White People and you have been taking on these types of roles. We can see that there is a trend happening in Hollywood where we’re getting a chance to finally see these stories being told. But from a millennial’s standpoint, why do you continue to sign on to these types of projects, why do you think it’s important for young people to know about stories like Detroit?
Tyler: Well, I think one of the key components of understanding what is now Millennials feeling is the continuing of the civil rights movement is understanding the history. We didn’t know about these incidences. I went into it the same way Laz did, I had no idea this incident had even happened. But as you are doing all the research and figuring these things out, seeing the parallels between what’s happening now, there’s a weird sense of comfort of like “We’ve been here before, we can keep pushing” but then it’s also really frustrating of “Why are we still here?” So that’s why this generation needs to have these things. Because a lot of the times, they can quickly get brushed under the rug and I think that’s what our job is as artists, journalists, everything, to make sure that these don’t go by. People need to understand this and hear these stories, hear them screaming from the grave and address their voices.
There is a line in the film where one of the police officer says, “I’m just going to assume that you did something” and unfortunately, that’s just a truth that a lot of African Americans, especially African American men who have to deal with it as a reality. Can you just talk a little bit about creating your character and having to go to dark places to really go there?
Ben: A big theme that we tackled was in order to be able to do what these people did to the young men in that motel, was dehumanize them to the level that these police officers weren’t doing what they did to people. Which is a really shitty, ugly, dark, disgusting place to go but I guess that’s the central problem with racism. It’s like you said earlier, some of these police officers don’t see a young man walking down the street, they see a weapon. And I mean that’s dehumanization immediately. It’s like “There goes the threat” and that’s not a dude just walking the dog. I think that was probably the main thing and then jumping straight back out of that and hanging out with these guys afterwards.
Right, and you guys got a chance to work with Oscar award-winning Kathryn Bigelow, I mean what was that process like because she’s incredible. This is an incredible film and it was extremely hard and brutal to watch but it’s something that we need to see. What was that process like collaborating with her?
Ben: Phenomenal.
Laz: Yeah, I mean I think that the magic that she is able to achieve when she shoots the film—and not just ours but everything that we’ve seen of hers—is that she takes you in the audience and puts you in the film. And even having read the script and knowing what happened, when I saw the film for the first time, I was nervous, I was frustrated, I was sad, I was happy, I was angry, I felt all these emotions and it was almost as if I hadn’t, I didn’t know what was happening next because I was a part of the story. And I think that’s where her gift really lies.
Tyler: You’ll feel that you’ve watched the movie with this, you’ll feel like you were there.
Tyler: And that’s what people need for this, they need to feel like they were in these situations so that when you see these situations happen again, you relate to it. You relate to it as if I was there and I remember what that felt like.
Oh no, I felt like I was literally being beaten up.
Tyler: Exactly.
At the press screening I was at, there were journalists that actually got up and walked out and it was that intense. You know what I mean? You guys all did a phenomenal job.
Tyler: Thank you.
Laz: Thank you so much.
And I can’t wait for people to see it because they just need to.
Check Detroit out when it hits theaters August 4.
