‘Loving’: Joel Edgerton on Playing Real-Life Figure Richard Loving

In the biographical historical drama Loving, Joel Edgerton takes on the role of Richard Loving, a man whose case to marry a black woman went to the Supreme Court in 1967.

Check out the official synopsis for the film below:

From acclaimed writer/director Jeff Nichols, Loving celebrates the real-life courage and commitment of an interracial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving (Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga), who married and then spent the next nine years fighting for the right to live as a family in their hometown. Their civil rights case, Loving v. Virginia, went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1967 reaffirmed the very foundation of the right to marry – and their love story has become an inspiration to couples ever since.

“I was surprised that not many people knew about [Richard and Mildred Loving],” Edgerton remarked to BackstageOL’s Dave Morales. “But then…their life wasn’t really marked with a serious amount of like a flash of violence or bloodshed, so I understand why it wasn’t newsworthy.”

“I think what I was surprised by, or what I realized by watching the documentary, is that as much as Richard looked like the big, strong, you know, brick mason that he was, that the real strength of that relationship was his dignified, kind of rural princess of Mildred, and as quietly spoken and shy as she was, she was the one who was reaching out to kind of get themselves over the fence that Richard thought he had to walk within that the law had established for them,” he added. “So she was the voice of change. She was the one pushing things forward. And she actually was the one who helped made him feel like his masculinity was still intact. And I loved that about the dynamic.”

Loving is currently in theaters.

Watch our full interview with Edgerton below: