EXCLUSIVE: Director Chinonye Chukwu & Danielle Deadwyler Shed Light on Their Powerful New Film, TILL
Director Chinonye Chukwu returns to the big screen with her new emotionally powerful story, TILL. Based on the true events surrounding the murder of Emmett Till, Danielle Deadwyler leads the film as Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley and gives an award winning performance.
To celebrate the release of their new film, we sat down with the ladies to discuss how they kept their physical and mental health in check while filming, shooting the story from Mamie’s point of view, and so much more. Check out what they had to say below.
My first question for both of you is, how did you both keep your physical and mental health in check while you were creating the story?
Deadwyler: “I’ll start. I have a lovely therapist who I’ve been with for a really long time. I did a lot for that before we even got there. A lot of somatic practices to decompress, to relieve the stress in the body and the mind. But it’s not one of those things that you can completely shake off, right? It’s a thing that you know you’re going to hurt. You’re going to hurt emotionally, you’re going to hurt physically, you’re going to hurt in the spiritual manner as well. It’s a matter of saying, ‘Okay, I release my body into this thing, into this experience’.
We also had a fantastic community and we had therapists on set to support the community. There’s one scene where when Mamie sees in Emmett’s body for the first time, I will not forget how the camera crew wore button down shirts and they had on ties in support. We were all in this together and if one needed to cry, they cried. It’s just an affirmation of having an honest, authentic, genuine, raw experience throughout. I think that’s what the film is asking you to come into and doing this together is a way to learn how to move through that.”
Chukwu: “All the things Danielle said, I also have a great therapist. Sounds like a given. I was like, ‘So who’s your therapist then? Yeah, I got one.’ She got me through some things, she was great. When it comes to myself, I’m really intentional about my own self-care and creating systems of support for me. And so I definitely lean on friends and family and my therapist. Also, just give myself space to feel all the different feelings that I have. When it comes to production, I am very protective of the actors that I work with and the crew that I work with, and particularly when there are children involved, it was a non-negotiable for me. The producers to have a therapist on set. I tried to make myself as available as possible with crew and with cast to talk and to share. If we needed to stop what we were shooting so someone could cry or there was a scene where Jalyn just wanted a hug from his mom. Stop everything we’re doing, he needs a hug, period.”
Did you prep the crew at all for the more intense scenes?
Chukwu: “There are certain scenes where I let the crew know, we got to get this in two takes no matter what we have, which just what it is because I’m not going to put an actor through this over and over and over again. Everybody I felt was very present and respectful and honored what we were doing and the story we were telling. They were like, all right, if we only have one take or two takes, we’re going to get it together and we’re going to get it right. Those are the ways and just constantly checking in and decompressing for me, just decompressing. I mean, when I’m shooting a film, my mind is always on so that’s a bit hard. But Barbara [Broccoli], our producer, made herself available to me, especially whenever I just needed to you know, yeah.”
Was there a scene that you were filming and/or performing that impacted you harder than you originally thought?
Deadwyler: “Oh, I’d say the courtroom scene.”
Chukwu: “Oh really, your testimony?”
Deadwyler: “Yeah. Because it’s a level of restraint, which is different from a release. Holding the body, holding an emotional truth in. That’s why when we finished and everybody was having a reaction, and then I was off to the side like, ‘Okay, I can’t take it’”.
Chukwu: “Danielle, it was a full body experience and that was also what I was very mindful of. She gave every part of her being and to ask her to do that over and over. I mean, I was just very, very mindful of that, it took a toll. I’m pretty good at compartmentalizing because there’s so much that has to be in my head and I feel like I have to steer the ship and so I got to get it together. I feel what I need to feel privately in my trailer, but when we shot this scene where Mamie is looking at Emmett’s body… I don’t remember at what point, but there was definitely a point where I cried. I had to go into a room in the corner and just release.”
Deadwyler: “I didn’t know.”
Chukwu: “Oh yeah, it was just release. Then you’re like, all right, let’s get back into it, but that same thing happened to my cinematographer. Everyone just had to take time. It wasn’t even just about that scene, but it was an accumulation of everything.”
Deadwyler: “It wasn’t always that, right. Bobby [Bukowski] had a reaction when we were with Dr. Howard. Out in the swimming pool. It didn’t have to be the most dramatic thing. It was the fact that you just know the challenges of moving through this kind of an experience.”
Chukwu: “Exactly. There are times when the scenes where we shot with the boys, where I got choked up and it was just them playing around. Just seeing their innocence and their youth, it just makes me think, oh God…”
What I really liked about the storytelling was it was the focus was never on the white men that committed the murder. It was always a glimpse. When in the story process, did you know that?
Chukwu: “It became very clear to me while we were shooting, while in prep. I’m very meticulous in prep, so I definitely had a visual language that prioritized the gaze of Mamie and also the other black people involved. I was not interested in centering the white gaze at all in this film. I knew that from the very beginning and then as we were shooting it, that perspective became clearer and clearer and then especially in post. I think that also helps make the story unique in a way in its perspective, but just really grounded in humanity, really, really grounded in humanity. I think it’s a very empowering point of view as well.”
Danielle did you know prior to filming that they were never going to be the focus, that it was always going to be Mamie’s story and Mamie’s focus.
Deadwyler: “Well, I don’t know what she was doing visually. I don’t worry about that. But having read the script, I knew that this was Mamie’s POV. Mamie’s story is central and this is what we’re telling. I knew that off top and I lived with that, period. I knew in the writing of it that this is not only Mamie’s point of view, but this was going to be the visual point of view of the black people who are part of this story and part of this world.”
There was one particular scene where you did give a glimpse of the white gaze and that was the court room scene with Carolyn Bryant (Haley Bennett) Danielle can you tell me a little about how you prepped for that scene?
Deadwyler: “To theorize is one thing, and to dig into the beats and every crevice of what the script had, we did that beforehand. We knew hell of stuff before we got into the rooms and into the scenes. But it’s a different thing to have an experience of it in your mind, in your body, and in the moment, right. It just crystallizes in a completely different way, but I was deeply, deeply prepared. To know you’ll come and remind me of certain things and then stress roils and roils, right.”
As we wrap, what are you hoping fans get from seeing the film?
Deadwyler: “It’s never a desire to tell someone what to walk away with. I have a certain experience that I remember in making it with the community that we made it with. I’ve seen it once and I know what it’s supposed to do. It’s supposed to charge you in the way the experience of it charged her, for the rest of her life. If she can make that kind of monumental shift and give over unto herself and to the world, to the community of humanity, then what can you do.
What are the possibilities that can come from you that you didn’t presume, that you didn’t even necessarily want to do? That’s what she was, was someone who just wanted to live her life and presume that she would do that in this quiet way, but something greater was called, so what’s the greater calling you?”
Chukwu: “That’s it, right there. What’s the greater calling you?”
TILL is in theaters now! I highly recommend checking it out!
*This interview has been