Last month, a movie about race, marriage and Virginia law premiered at the film festival in Charlottesville. Sandy Hausman spoke with producer Colin Firth and director Jeff Nichols before crafting this behind-the-scene account of Loving.
Loving tells the story of Richard Loving - a bricklayer from Bowling Green, 80 miles southwest of Washington, D.C. and Mildred Jeter, who became his wife. He was white - she descendent from African and native Americans.
“By the power vested in me by the District of Columbia, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
The two went to Washington, because in 1958 interracial marriage in Virginia and 23 other states was illegal. Soon after they returned, Sheriff Garnett Brooks and two of his deputies staged an early morning raid on their bedroom.
“In here! What are you doing in bed with that woman? I’m his wife. That’s no good here!”
The story had been eloquently told in a documentary seen by English actor Colin Firth. At the time, he was longing to work more on projects he really cared about.
“I realized that increasingly there was a split between what I was making and the things that interested me.”
So he started a film production company with former SONY-UK Chairman Ged Doherty.
“When Colin first told me about the story I was in an inter-racial relationship, so I was intrigued by the story, and the more research I did on Richard and Mildred, I discovered that they were married the week I was born, in 1958.”
They chose a rising directorial star to work on the script and direct the film. Jeff Nichols is best known for the movie Mud, shot in his home state of Arkansas with Matthew McConaughey, Sam Shepherd and Reese Witherspoon. For this film he was determined to shoot on location in Virginia.
“The first courtroom that you see in the film is the courtroom that they were tried in in Bowling Green. The exterior of the jail - we would have shot in the interior of the jail where she was really held, but to be honest it was too small to fit her and our cameras in. The field where he proposes is about a three-minute walk from the home that they were really living in in hiding. We tried as best we could to be around the places that they really were.”
He was relieved to discover that race relations in the town had improved.
“The woman that was kind of our chaperone in the town said, ‘You’re going to have to get permission from the historical society. One of the main members is coming down to speak with you, and - by the way - he’s a relative of Sheriff Brooks. My heart sank, but he showed up, and he was so gracious, and he said, ‘This is such an important story to tell. We’re so glad that you’re here.’”
Nichols cast Ethiopian actress Ruth Negga and Australian actor Joel Edgerton in the leads, then worked with a couple of local casting directors --- Erica Arvold of Charlottesville and Anne Chapman of Richmond - to find people who looked right for the smaller roles.
“You know that there’s been racial mingling down there for decades before ’58, between the white community, the black community and the Native American community, and so it’s a very specific look, because I loathe exposition in my films. We had to tell that story visually.”
He adds that those with speaking parts had to master an accent unique to the region. Negga and Edgerton studied the documentary, listening carefully to how their characters actually spoke, and Negga listened to a recording of Mildred each night before bed. In the end, they nailed it. Here’s Negga summing up their legal fight to overturn Virginia law and raise their children here.
“I know we have some enemies, but we have some friends too.”
And Edgerton talking with his ACLU attorney.
“Is there anything you’d like me to say to the Supreme Court justices of the United States? Yeah. Tell the judge I love my wife.”
The film is in theaters now, and Governor McAuliffe has proclaimed June 12th Loving Day. Next year the state will mark the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Virginia’s laws against inter-racial marriage.
