NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Just the idea of playing Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till, was enough to make Danielle Deadwyler pause to consider the toll such a role might take.
鈥淵ou go: What鈥檚 going to happen to me?鈥� Deadwyler says. 鈥淲hat are the steps that you need to take to make sure you can do this to the best of your ability and come out on the other side where you still got all your ABCs and your chemical dynamics together?鈥�
Playing Till-Mobley meant immersing herself in one of the ugliest chapters of American history, when the 14-year-old Till was lynched in 1955 Mississippi. Just the scene Deadwyler would audition with 鈥� when Mamie first sees her son鈥檚 brutalized corpse 鈥� was wrenching. On Deadwyler鈥檚 shoulders would lie the responsibility of history, of honoring Till-Mobley and of . Deadwyler gathered her resolve.
鈥淚 wanted to be the person to bear the weight,鈥� Deadwyler says.
In Deadwyler gives one of the most powerful and intensely expressive performances of the year, charting Till-Mobley's profound metamorphosis into civil-rights leader. Deadwyler, herself, is undergoing a transformation. In her first lead role in a film, the 40-year-old Deadwyler has come through the other side of playing Mamie with her equilibrium intact but some changes to those internal 鈥渄ynamics." For her, there will be before, and after, 鈥淭ill.鈥�
鈥淟ife is just different," says Deadwyler. "It鈥檚 learning a new selfhood. Art is self-revelation.鈥�
Deadwyler has been making her mark for several years in series like 鈥淪tation Eleven鈥� and 鈥淎tlanta,鈥� and in the Western 鈥淭he Harder They Fall.鈥� But her performance as Mamie 鈥� a portrait of private grief and public awakening 鈥� has catapulted her fame. It鈥檚 made Deadwyler a top contender for best actress at the Academy Awards, and an easy choice to be among
Deadwyler, who until recently was filming the Jaume Collet-Serra thiller 鈥淐arry On鈥� in Atlanta, has been too busy to soak it up much. When she won for best lead performance , Chukwu accepted the prize for her. But with a string of nominations, there are other award shows looming for Deadwyler.
鈥淲hatever happens, happens,鈥� Deadwyler says. 鈥淚鈥檒l show up and try to look cute.鈥�
Chukwu had spent months searching for an actor to play Mamie before Deadwyler鈥檚 self-taped audition blew her away.
鈥淚 feel like a lot of us have been sleeping on her incredible talent,鈥� says Chukwu. 鈥淚 hope that this film can help a hell of a lot more people see the brilliance that鈥檚 always existed.鈥�
Deadwyler, who grew up in Atlanta, immediately recognized in Till-Mobley's story things to identify with, as a mother and as, she says, 鈥渁 child of the civil rights legacy.鈥� She was raised in the Cascade United Methodist Church and was a student volunteer with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organization co-founded by Martin Luther King Jr. 鈥淚鈥檝e known this story my whole life,鈥� she says.
But getting into the interior of Till-Mobley was a learning process, even if some aspects of the character were painfully familiar. The film begins with Till-Mobley's apparent trepidation at sending her son 鈥� a sunny, confident young man 鈥� into the '50s South.
鈥淚 have a son who鈥檚 soon to be 13 years old. I鈥檝e had to have the same conversations that Mamie has had to have, not wanting to take away the lightness or the light of who they are," says Deadwyler. 鈥淪o many Black mothers are having that conversation. Black parents in general are reckoning with how to empower our children and admonish them, keep them buoyant and free and yet deeply aware.鈥�
While shooting 鈥淭ill,鈥� Chukwu found that so much of the drama could be told in Deadwyler' eyes and face. So she would strip down scenes. When Till-Mobley memorably takes the stand in her son's Mississippi trial, the camera stays rooted to Deadwyler.
鈥淎fter one take, my cinematographer and I looked at each other and we were like, 鈥楧amn. We might not need everything else because Danielle is so captivating in communicating all the beats, all of the emotional tension,'鈥� says Chukwu. 鈥淚t can be its own act of resistance in who you decide to put the camera in front of and who you decide not to put the camera in front of.鈥�
After shooting 鈥淭ill,鈥� Deadwyler needed a month of rest, therapy and acupuncture to rehabilitate. 鈥淚 had to rebuild,鈥� she says. 鈥淢ake new choices.鈥�
But she's found that discussing the film, heavy as its issues are, has also been healing. One of Till-Mobley's most important decisions was to allow Till's maimed body to be photographed in an open casket, and stoked the civil-rights movement. "They had to see what I had seen,鈥� Till-Mobley wrote in her 2003 memoir. 鈥淭he whole nation had to bear witness.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 a joy to talk about it because then I get a release. That鈥檚 what Mamie said. She said talking about Emmett, talking about her experience was healing for her,鈥� says Deadwyler. 鈥淪o she did it as much as she could. She did it until the day she died. She wanted to be not the only person talking about it.鈥�
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Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
