JEROME The hardest part of playing Korey was finding his happy moments and finding his moments where he’s flirting with Lisa, chilling with the homies or hanging out, smiling. You stay here, you don’t go with him,” I wouldn’t have went. I had him out with me, riding him around, went to a barber shop, little haircut, little touch up. We were just baby boys, we were just trying to be entrepreneurs, having fun being kids. That’s my little childhood brother there. I’d still be working for my little pennies, for commissaries. Because what if I hadn’t met Reyes, I’d just be doing 15, wondering. We were like, “Wow, that’s us, the childhood that we lost is being displayed right in front of us.” Korey Wise and Jharrel Jerome He’s like, “Come on, Ray, man!” You see the brotherhood. SANTANA I told Marquis just today: We watch them, the way they interact with each other - we really sit there and go, “That’s us.” And Antron, when I said it, he started to tear up. We absolutely formed a brotherhood between us, and I think I’m so grateful for it. RODRIGUEZ we were vulnerable with each other, we wept with each other and talked about the work with each other. I don’t call him and say, “I got this problem, how do I solve it?” And I think that might be the only issue that we still have. And then here I was, I come back and now I’m a man who doesn’t want to take orders. And he never got that chance to give me that I grew up in the system. Our relationship is good, but it’s a little different because, as a parent, when you have a child, you want to instill these values and morals on how to navigate through life. SANTANA still probably blames himself, but he doesn’t speak about it. That should not be their burden, to have to disentangle themselves from adult lies. In that scene, you’re literally watching four boys have to work through really adult issues and they decide to tell the truth from there on out. There’s nothing more terrifying than telling your truth and telling it over and over and over again, but having people refuse to honor it as the truth. One of my biggest fears as a person of color in this city, in this country is what happened to these men. Knowing where the story goes, how can I capture, at least for a moment, the levity of his childhood, when it was allowed to be a childhood? That was one of the most important things for me. RODRIGUEZ That first day at the table read, I was immediately struck by how much of a light you are in a room, how engaged he is when he speaks to people, how bright and smiling and happy. You want to change the culture, you’ve got to be engaged. I was ready and I was willing to relive, to go through that pain again, to cry - because it’s necessary. brings back the pain it brings back the memories. And it told me that she had no fear of telling the truth. By showing that, it showed the human side of this man who was put on a pedestal. I never met the woman, I didn’t even know who she was, but I’d watched “Selma” - there’s a part where is confronted by Coretta with recordings, and I felt like that was bold to put in the film. SANTANA Ava was always my choice to do this series. In 2015, he tweeted the idea of a Central Park Five drama to DuVernay, who messaged him back with interest. Santana was 14 when he was arrested in 1989 and was incarcerated for close to seven years for the jogger case. They were convicted based partly on police-coerced confessions, and each spent between six and 13-plus years in prison for charges including attempted murder, rape and assault. In 1989 the men - then teenagers - were arrested in connection with the rape and assault of a white female jogger, and eventually convicted in a case that came to symbolize the stark injustices black and brown people experience within the legal system and in media coverage. Their stories are being retold in “When They See Us,” a new Netflix mini-series created and directed by Ava DuVernay. The occasion for this gathering was bittersweet: Five of the subjects were Korey Wise, 46 Kevin Richardson, 44 Raymond Santana, 44 Antron McCray, 45 and Yusef Salaam, 45, known collectively as the Central Park Five. The overall mood was chill as the music of Nipsey Hussle, 50 Cent and Wale filled the room, they chatted amiably in between shots, laughing, joking and moving along to the beats. One morning earlier this month, a group of 10 men and teenage boys gathered for a photo shoot in a small studio on the Lower East Side.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |