Opening in the theaters on October 14, Till tells the powerful that shocked America. 67 years after the tragic death of Emmett Till, Till tells the story of Mamie Till-Mobley’s relentless pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son, who, in 1955, was lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi.
The film stars Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie Till-Mobley, Jalyn Hall as Emmett Till, Whoppi Goldberg as Alma Carthan, Haley Bennett as Carolyn Bryant, and Sean Patrick Thomas as Gene Mobley.
Danielle Deadwyler sat down with Dave Morales to talk about the importance of ‘Till’ and the weight of the role.
Dave Morales: What was your first reaction when you were cast, knowing the importance and significance of this real person that you were about to portray in this film?
“I think I started crying (No I laughed because there’s always this what the hell moment), and then it’s settling into the knowledge that you’re about to undergo something monumental. Then there’s the oncoming of the weight of what you have to do. I think I kind of feel that way in any role that I get, this momentary joy that I get to play and do this thing, and then there’s a feeling of oh I have to play do this thing because there’s a seriousness to it and a playfulness to it. The seriousness came on very quickly thereafter but I always knew about Mamie Till and Emmett Till’s story. I’ve known about it since I was in elementary school and it’s always kind of stayed with me and so to have the responsibility was just that overwhelming feeling that the coming together things, my personal experience as a person from Atlanta, to having a connection to the Civil Rights Movement by having worked as a teenager at the SCLC organization where Dr. King started. It was this Confluence of all this information and experiences that I’ve had and the knowledge base that I’ve undergone have all come together for this moment and this moment to be cared for deeply and rigorously the tools to do so.”
Dave Morales: How did you cool down from certain scenes because there are a couple of scenes that are riveting and so emotional?
“To be honest I don’t think that there’s a cooldown, it’s a thing that still lingers with me to this day as this is something that is still happening as an experience as a traumatic experience for black people and other people of color. However, for myself those things you can’t just turn them off, it’s not even a waiting of it, it is a still on. And a lot of the time as a result of the technical quality of the way we were shooting, you can’t switch off you have to remain. It’s the thing that I considered her experience of saying everyone else is going to have this experience with me, they’re going to learn about what happened to my child. This weight will not be my own because it wasn’t her own, it’s America’s weight. So that kind of thing was in the experience of saying, I have to hold this the whole time and so I had a beautiful crew and cast that were always with me and holding it with me at the same time. So that’s the way I had to deal with it, I did have moments of levity, from different scenes with Jalyn as Emmett or even with Whoopi on set. She got the jokes, those things enabled me to have a kind of balance that enabled me to keep going and be ok.”
Dave Morales: Have you seen the final film and what was your reaction?
“I’ve seen it, I think I seen the final version, and it’s a weird outer body kind of displacement thing that goes on for me because of what the experience was when you were on set or I am thinking of the experience that I had on set. Because I don’t look at playbacks, I don’t separate myself by looking at a monitor of what I’m experiencing so I just have the experience. It is literally the first time that I’m seeing the images and I’m kind of in shock and awe and engaging what was on screen or in the scene and outside of it. So it’s a confluence of everything kind of rushing on but I did feel an overwhelming sense of pride and what we had collaboratively done together, what everyone had come together to do. I hope that everyone sees that and is enraged, and do feel warm and do feel connected to do something greater.”
Till starring Danielle Deadwyler, Jalyn Hall, Whoopi Goldberg, Haley Bennett, and Sean Patrick Thomas releases in theaters on October 14, 2022.
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