A personal favorite thing to see in the film and television industry is when a well-known artist uses their platform and power to ensure emerging filmmakers are put in a position to deliver their best work and have a great experience doing so. That’s whatJeffrey Wrightstrove to do forCord Jeffersonon his feature directorial debut,American Fiction. Wright was Jefferson’s “lead blocker.”
Based onPercival Everett’s novelErasure,American Fictionstars Wright as Monk, an author who’s had enough of seeing people profit off of “Black” entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes. In an effort to make his point, Monk uses a pen name to write his own outlandish “Black” book. The trouble is, the opposite winds up happening. The book is a hit.
Jefferson isan Emmy winning writerfor his work onWatchmen, but givenAmerican Fictionmarks his first foray into the feature filmmaking realm, it’s of the utmost importance that he’s surrounded by heavyweights passionate about protecting his craft and vision. Check out the video at the top of this article or the interview transcript below to hear all about how Wright went about supporting Jefferson on set, why Monk is a character he knows especially intimately, which actor who worked on the film for a single day made a big impression on him, and loads more.
American Fiction
A novelist who’s fed up with the establishment profiting from “Black” entertainment uses a pen name to write a book that propels him to the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain.
PERRI NEMIROFF: I’ve heard Cord talk a lot about how when he readErasure, it felt like he was being spoken to, like the book was made for him, and I think this movie is going to do that for a lot of people out there. What’s an example of a movie that did that for you where maybe it felt like a character was talking directly to you?
JEFFREY WRIGHT: This one.
Fair enough!
WRIGHT: When I read the script, I felt that as well. In fact, Cord adapted this script from a novel calledErasureby Percival Everett, which is set in Washington DC, which is my hometown. All the familiar haunts I knew in reading the book, but Cord also reshaped a lot of the story in his own image. There are events that he completely reworked for our film. But the elements for me that really, in the book and in the script, resonated were the relationship to family, particularly to the mother in that here’s a man who’s asked to be the caretaker of she who was his caretaker. I reached that phase in my life, so that was very moving for me. Also, the ways in which that affected personal life and creative and professional life in terms of the sacrifices that are required when the greater responsibility is at home. So I knew this guy intimately. Intimately.
That might answer the first half of this question, but given that the story evolved a little from book to screen, when you first accepted the role of Monk, what quality of his or part of his experience were you most looking forward to tapping into, but then also, is there something that emerged along the way that wound up being more creatively fulfilling to play than you ever could have imagined at the start?
WRIGHT: II liked the tone. I could get a sense of the tone from the script quite clearly. I liked the irony and the kind of biting wit and sarcasm, and there were elements, obviously, with the satire and the social commentary that were full of those notes. But what I found really, again, to be super fulfilling to play was the relationship with the family, that stuff, because I’ve never been asked to play that before. It was so rich and so much fun and it just felt so right from the first moment that we were all together in the space. There’s a woman named Myra Lucretia Taylor who plays Lorraine who has been caretaker of the household since we were children. The first sound out of her mouth just brought me home, and we were all from there. We all got on really well. We all obviously really love this material and were looking forward to playing it and to playing it together, and it just was so organic. And when I saw the film a couple of days ago, I saw it for the first time in front of an audience in Brooklyn, and I just said to myself, “Wow. That’s a beautiful group of people up there.”
It really is.
WRIGHT: And it’s a group of people, this family, this mad family, that happens to be Black, but is just like anybody else’s family. I think audiences will find themselves in that in surprising ways, and that’s pretty exciting, particularly now where there’s so much us/them, this/that division madness in our country. I think, at least in this film, we can all sit down at the same table and agree, “Yeah, we’re all in it together.”
I brought it home to my family for the holiday and everyone loved it. When I can share my favorites and it winds up being their favorites, too — it doesn’thaveto be that way — but it always fills my heart when that does happen.
WRIGHT: Oh, that’s awesome.
This Actor Worked on ‘American Fiction’ for One Day But Made a Big Impression
To build on the incredible ensemble you get to work with here, can you name a specific scene when a scene partner gave you just what you needed and it helped you access something in Monk that you might not have been able to without them?
WRIGHT: Our cast is so good. I mean, across the board. There’s a young guy who plays Ned, [Ryan Richard Doyle], who’s in the bookshop. He was there for one day. He was fantastic. As soon as I walked on set and saw him, I said, “That’s Ned.”
Every character in this film and every actor just came to play. Sterling K. Brown, he’s the younger brother, he’s the menace, he’s kind of a foil to Monk, and Sterling was just having a ball with it. He’s fantastic in this film. He’s wild, unpredictable, super funny, but then he has these moments which are really tender, and we found just a surprising fraternal love that might be unexpected. The film is rich, it’s emotionally rich. I know people have seen the trailer and they’re gonna come for the laughs, but I think they’re gonna stay for a richer meal, even.
100%. I also think people are gonna stick around for Cord to see what he does next as a director. Given the fact that this is his first feature, what is something you appreciated about his approach to directing actors that you’re excited for more actors to get to experience in the future?
WRIGHT: Cord’s just got a clarity about him and he’s got an ease, and he enjoys what he’s doing. I think the humor that we see in this film and that we find in the script comes from him. He’s got a nice tone to him and he brought that to set, too. He’s a good leader. That’s what a good director is – a good communicator, good leader, get everybody on the same page, and away we go. Yeah, I’m so proud of what he has done and I’m proud of the film that we made together.
I wanted to sneak in oneRustinquestion because I didn’t get the opportunity to talk to you about that one. Another exceptional film you have this year. I love many things about that movie, but one of the first ideas it puts forth is the idea of owning your power, so I wanted to turn that towards your career. Do you remember the first time you felt the power of your voice on set where you were able to own your power and use it to change a film or maybe this industry for the better?
WRIGHT: With this film, Cord wrote a brilliant script. It was clear that he has an understanding of story and the architecture of story, but he was a first-time director. I wanted to ensure that I was a good lead blocker for him. So that meant, we get on set and we drive it. We make sure that we’re working efficiently, we’re working hard, and we’re working well to make his first experience that much more successful. So, perhaps this one. Why not love the one you’re with? It was a fantastic experience. I think for him, yes, it was a baptism of fire, but it was gentle because we all got a sense, too, that we were doing something that could be pretty special. You sense that on a set sometimes when the crew works witha little bitmore pride in the details of their tasks, and when the silence on set gets a little deeper. We sense that. We all kind of pushed this thing along understanding that it was Cord’s first time, and I think he came out doing alright.
American Fictionis now playing in select theaters in the U.S. Click below for showtimes.
