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we can actually miss and pass over if we don’t stop and take the time to appreciate it. Jeff has this knack about teasing out the grace and extraordinary in the ordinary. We were all in it together with the goal to do the best possible film and to honor this couple.” She summed up the experience, “I really felt like that it was a very special project. Joel and I were so happy to come to work and happy to spend time with this couple who we both adored. Towards the end of shooting, I remember feeling, ‘Oh no, we have to leave so soon.’ I was bereft to leave.” Nichols’ response when asked about how he approached writing the screenplay and the creative process in general was as follows. “I am going to paraphrase Flannery O’Conner. She says that creative writing at its best, reaches beyond the writer’s intention. Which of course is impossible to do—well it’s not impossible—I’ll just say that it’s impossible to plan to do or calculate. The way that I attempt it, is to work on universal ideas and themes.” Filling in more on his ideology, “But, the way you get there, is to work on specifics. You pay attention to the details and those details somehow connect people. Any film that I make, I try to look at the details that make people and stories human, because that’s what is going to make them relatable. That’s when the dialogue with the audience can really start to happen. People start to see themselves on screen and attach themselves to the logic and the behavior of the characters.” Edgerton spoke of what it was like to get to
know Richard and Mildred as characters, how they experienced their world and in turn, how they approached the case against them. “Richard said in archival footage, ‘We all looked out and helped each other.’ Meaning black, white and the Rap- pahannock indigenous people, their commonality was about the day-to-day grind of putting food on the table. There was a sense of ‘otherness,’ but there wasn’t a value judgement placed on it. It was the people coming in from the outside who said, ‘You can’t do that. You can’t be together and you certainly can’t marry each other.’” “They were very different people when it came
to their response to the situation,” he continues. “Richard’s silence was sort of about his impotence around the power of the law. He felt emasculated, the power to take care of and provide was stripped from him. The law set up a fence around them that said they couldn’t go to Virginia anymore and I think Richard didn’t see a way around it, so he just sort of walked around inside that fence.” Filling in the
ruth negga (2nd from right) as mildred and joel edgerton (right) as richard in jeff nichols loving, a focus features release. credit: ben rothstein/focus features
picture around Mildred’s path, Edgerton continued, “She was the one who was standing on her tiptoes looking over the fence. (Laughs) She understood it was naïve to look back, so how do we go forward? What do we do next and what’s the help we can get? In many ways, I feel like she was the spine and that he just looked strong. He was big and sturdy, but she was the one who really kept them together and kept thinking of strategies on how to move forward.” Ruth Negga echoed her admiration for the couple
and especially Mildred. “She had this tenacity, a perseverance and self-belief that her desires were as valid as the next persons. I was so impressed by that, especially for the time and especially for a woman of color in that time. People tried to silence and cow them, to invalidate their feelings and opinions, but she stood up to them. She was a really impressive woman.” When reflecting on Richard, she shared this observation, “There was this sense that he was tripped up by the idea of what masculinity should be. The way the sheriff silences him when he says, ‘It’s not right.’ I think that Joel translates it so well, how emasculating it all was for him to not be able to protect his family and his wife.” Nichols spoke of the message and inspiration
that fed him for the project, “For this film, it was the social relevance. In 2012, when I started writing, they were taking the idea of gay marriage state by state, winning their victories and not sure of navigating it all the way to the Supreme Court. That seemed to be the clearest, social parallel to this case, even knowing all of the racial implications. Now today, we are talking more about race than we are about marriage equality—simply because of Obergefell v. Hodges—even though we still need to be talking about marriage equality.” Laughing, then continuing on a more serious note, “But, what we are really talking about, is equality as a concept in
24 RAGE monthly | NOVEMBER 2016
general…You could be talking about socioeconom- ic inequality as much as anything. The universal concept, is the idea that equality is not something we achieve, it’s something we constantly redefine for ourselves as a society. We hold this thing that we know as equality up and say, ‘How are we going to define this today? In ten years? In 20 or 30? How are we going to define that for ourselves?’” Summing up so beautifully the significance of
this film, Nichols opined, “Richard and Mildred don’t give us the answer for those kind of questions, they weren’t that kind of people. But, they show us how to have the conversation. That when having a conversation about equality, about political and religious convictions, remember that those things aren’t just about you. They are about other people trying to live their lives and that’s a healthy reminder in this whole debate.” I’ll finish with a beautiful quote penned from Mildred Loving, 40 years after the Supreme Court’s decision on their case. “I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry... I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard’s and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight, seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about.”
LOVINGis in theaters now. Please check local listings for locations and showtimes.
For more of my conversation with Jeff Nichols, Ruth Negga, Joel Edgerton and a bonus conversation with Terri Abney, who plays Mildred’s sister, go
toragemonthly.com.
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