The critically acclaimed actress spoke to EW about taking on the role of civil-rights activist Mamie Till-Mobley.
Danielle Deadwyler, 40, has known Mamie Till-Mobley’s story for most of her life.
“It was a little bit of fear.
Danielle Deadwyler and Jalyn Hall in ‘Till’.Orion Pictures
It was a little bit of anxiety and nervousness about going there in general, right?
And so I had to slow-step into taking all of it in.”
I came into it with a personal legacy."
Unique Nicole/Getty Images
“The responsibility is in telling the story right, and in sharing the story appropriately.
There’s a loss that is not ever returning.
That is a visceral experience.”
“This is something that persists.
It was happening before I even got the movie, happening during the movie, happening after the movie.
You want to get all of it right.”
The actor admits that her pathway to the character went through the toughest stretch first.
“I did immediately go to the mourning because that’s all we know, right?”
“We know this very black-and-white binary understanding of her experience.
We know that she made a significant choice that was the catalyst for the civil-rights movement.
“This story focuses on Mamie’s POV.
You have the possibility to come out of that darkness and become something greater, to do something greater.
There is power even there, in the darkness.”
Tillis now playing in theaters.
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