*Spike Lee assembled a stellar cast for “BlacKKKlansman.” Among them are Corey Hawkins (“Straight Outta Compton”) and Laura Harrier (“Spider-Man: Homecoming”), both of whom spoke about getting it right recently.
The last time I spoke to Hawkins was for his awesome performance in the riveting TV series “Legacy: 24,” and Harrier was for her groundbreaking role in Spidey’s most successful film in the franchise. They were in New York to promote the captivating and insightful “BlacKkKlansman” that depicts how the more things change, the more things remain the same.
Hawkins plays the charismatic Kwame Ture aka Stokely Carmichael and he told me how important it was to get it right. “I knew growing up in DC (Washington) how important Kwame was,” he recalled. “Plus, my grandfather was very heavily involved in politics and civil rights. He always kept me abreast of all of those things. So it was important for me to get it right. And it was important from Spike’s point of view as well for me to get it right.”
“I just hope people will see the film and realize it’s just so easy to get distracted with everything going on in Washington,” Hawkins went on to say. ‘This film is coming out just before the elections. As you know, we don’t vote, and not just black people, Americans, don’t vote. People don’t realize that these elections mean a lot…and it’s not just about the Presidential elections. The film is also coming out on the anniversary of the murder of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville.”
Harrier wanted to make sure women in the black power movement got their just due. “Spike talked a lot about just like doing justice and giving respect to the women of the [Black Power] movement,” she explained. “I don’t think we’ve seen a lot about them and they were so instrumental. I mean at the height of the Black Panthers, there were more women than men. So it’s just really important to us to honor them. I just felt like I needed to get this right for them.”
Facebook.com/TheFilmStripTM Twitter: @thefilmstrip Instagram.com/thefilmstriptm
