*The depths of a mother’s love is on full display in the new movie “Miss Virginia,” based on the true-life story of Virginia Walden Ford who successfully fought the system to create a private school voucher program for low-income children in Washington, D.C.
Orange is the New Black’s Uzo Aduba, who plays Virginia in the film and delivers a passionate performance, says this is what drew her to the role – the unrelenting love a mother has for her child. In an interview with EURweb’s Lee Bailey, Aduba said she saw examples of this type of love with her own mom and knew this was the role she wanted to play.
“It felt to me like such a love story in a sense when I was reading it,” Aduba explained. “The mother went pretty far for the love of her child and gave everything she had for the love of her child and that’s a story I’m familiar with. I’m a product of immigrants and I had a front row seat to my own mother doing the same for myself and my siblings, pouring all of her love and hope into us so that we could have as many different exposures as we possibly could.”
“I could connect to that idea and that story,” Aduba added.
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Virginia Walden Ford was a single mom in D.C. in 2003 when her 15-year-old son, James, played by Niles Fitch, who also plays young Randall on This is Us, was being bullied and on the verge of being expelled from a public school because of an incident. She withdrew him from the school and enrolled him in private school, but then lobbied legislators when she struggled to afford the tuition and James began selling drugs. Virginia started a petition obtaining signatures from other parents eager to also remove their children from failing public schools, becoming the voice for parents and lobbying legislators to create a federally-funded voucher program.
In Miss Virginia, Matthew Modine, who is known for his roles in Full Metal Jacket and Stranger Things, plays a congressman who helps Virginia secure congressional approval for the Opportunity Scholarship Program, which has since helped thousands of low-income students in D.C. afford private school.
Uzo said she received the script more than a year before she started filming, and studied photographs of Virginia, including how she carried herself. She got the chance to meet her and hear her story firsthand, and she also met some of the people from the community that helped Virginia’s movement.
One important aspect of the film, according to Aduba, is that Virginia never set out to be a hero. Her love for her son and her passion to save him was what fueled her movement.
“She is, I would say, a quiet leader, a quiet hero. At least that’s who she is today,” Aduba told EURweb. “She doesn’t talk a lot about herself in a loud way, but also has a lot of passion and love and she’s more of a listener, but when she’s really passionate about something, she has no problem whatsoever piping up.”
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And this very spirit lies within all of us, Aduba believes.
“No one is really born an activist or hero, you just become one,” she explained. “Every one of us, regardless of your point of view and opinion, has the power to effect change. Each of us has the voice, and we can use it for good or bad. In this case, she wanted to use it for the love of her son. We all have the power to effect change and make a difference.”
Virginia grew up making history. She helped to integrate public schools in Little Rock, Arkansas as part of the early years of integration. Her memoir, School Choice: A Legacy To Keep, details what it was like to grow up in the South during segregation and later become a key figure in bringing about education reform in D.C. The book will be released on Nov. 21.
Aduba said Virginia’s story is one of an everyday person who became extraordinary and unrelenting about her son’s wellbeing and education when public schools failed him and he began to go astray.
“I thought of her as someone who, she herself, was getting an education along the way and the more she learned of what was possible to save her son, the more passionate she became,” Aduba said. “It felt like a story of someone growing into themselves, and that’s what I tapped into. I was interested in examining this question of how far would you go for love.”
The film, directed by R. J. Daniel Hanna and written by Erin O’Connor, also stars Aunjanue Ellis and Vanessa Williams. It’s in select theaters across the country now and is also on streaming services, including Amazon Prime.
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