TILLMAN JR.: How you doing? My name is George Tillman Jr.
I'm the director of this film The Hate U Give.
In the studio,
I have some really great friends
and great collaborators in the studio with me.
You guys can let everybody know who's all here.
STENBERG: My name is Amandla Stenberg. I play Starr Carter in The Hate U Give.
HORNSBY: My name is Russell Hornsby.
I played Maverick "Big Mav" Carter.
HAYES: My name is Craig Hayes
and I was one of two editors on the movie along with Alex Blatt.
TILLMAN JR.: And also from Jackson, Mississippi,
the one and only...
THOMAS: I'm Angie Thomas
and I'm the author of The Hate U Give.
TILLMAN JR.: Yes. Well, let's just talk about-- We're here at the Monroe Studio.
Let's just talk about the process, this first scene.
This is the scene that we actually rehearsed very little of,
but we did rehearse on the day.
I remember it was always a very emotional scene
for Russell to rehearse,
because I remember we first did it when he went half speed on it,
but it was still kind of connecting to you off the bat.
Answer their question.
HORNSBY: I mean, I've got two young boys now,
and that was definitely in my spirit when I was... during the scene,
but also what I did was his motivation.
I kind of approached it, the calmness of it,
as if I were talking to the police,
and I had to keep them calm.
And in keeping the police calm,
from the story and actual perspective, it would keep my kids calm, you know.
And that's how I approach it as an actor.
See me with my hands like this.
But it was very, very emotional.
Just thinking about it now is kind of causing me to well up a little bit.
TILLMAN JR.: Yeah, I mean, it was a scene that was in the book.
It was like-- I think it was midpoint. It wasn't early on.
There was something with our first writer,
who just decided we should start the movie with this scene,
because it actually set up the nuances later
when Starr actually put her hands on the dashboard later.
And also sets up the nuances of Khalil, you know, whose dad wasn't there for him.
You know, he had-- He's a single parent,
but Starr was able to take on these messages
that you gave her very early on,
and those are the kind of nuances that we want,
but I think it set the precedent early on what the movie was about,
and I believe, Angie, you had it... You always felt like
this was an important scene for you in the book,
but I always felt that you felt okay that we moved that early.
THOMAS: Absolutely. I feel like that was the perfect note
to start the movie with,
because in some ways, this is the moment in Starr's life
where she understands the danger that comes
with being a young black person in America.
This is our own Bill of Rights.
TILLMAN JR: Great. Here we had the 10-step program that we see later on.
But the fact is, early on, what we talked about was
everybody make themselves available for rehearsals.
I mean, we had about two weeks of rehearsal.
I know me and Amandla, we started very early
talking about the process, because you read the book early,
just like I did before it was published.
But I think that really helped connect everybody,
just having that time to really spend and get to know one another.
HORNSBY: Well, we are coming from the same sort of source material,
which is important.
You know, just having the book.
Starr. Two R's.
TILLMAN JR.: And here is where we first meet Amandla, right here in this process.
I always love that shot there, establishing who you are first.
Establishing your room, establishing how you live.
You know, love basketball, love tennis shoes.
We see that as the first shot in establishing the family.
That's one of the things that we talked about early on.
It was really trying to establish the different worlds
and being able to show the audience to really connect
with all these different worlds that we had.
With all these different worlds that we had.
STENBERG: Yeah. We were actually able to...
I was able to be a part of dressing the room
and ensuring that what we had in Starr's room
felt accurate to who she was and what she was about.
A lot of that is taken from the source material of the book,
which, you know, I had underneath my arm the entire time we were filming.
- HORNSBY: It was the Bible. - STENBERG: It was the Bible.
And everybody else wrong.
And in large part, that means making sure...
TILLMAN JR.: Early on right here was really just establishing the relationship.
I remember this dialogue right here. This is you and Regina by yourself.
This is you guys coming up with this dialogue.
HORNSBY: I think it was really important to show their love of each other.
You know what I mean, the love they have for one another
and, in turn, the love they have for their kids.
And you rarely, you know, you just rarely see this.
Two adults, this black love thing, you know.
One true pairing.
This amount of affection being shown,
-which I think is important. - TILLMAN JR.: Yeah.
- THOMAS: We don't always see that. - HORNSBY: Yeah.
TILLMAN JR.: Well, in this process here, we always call this,
like, the most important section of the first act.
Craig, I had two great editors.
I had Alex Blatt and I have Craig, who's sitting right here with us.
This sequence was always important to me.
We went back and forth for about four weeks
just to try to get the sequence working, because there's a lot of information.
HAYES: Yeah. And initially, we had it structured differently.
...where you get your milk, Newport shorts, Hot Cheetos...
HAYES: It was, like, in two sections. It was one as scripted.
It was meant to be one part setting the stage
right after the Ten Commandments.
And then we went to the breakfast and back to the rest of the montage,
and we just felt it was kind of disruptive.
And we had a hard time following it.
And we wound up having to write.
We just connected it so it was just one journey
from their house to the school, and we had all these plot points to hit,
but without making it feel crowded.
Remember, George?
It felt really like we're trying to put the kitchen sink in there.
But we had a lot of important...
Because this is where she makes the transition
from Starr one to Starr version two.
And we had to, kind of, set the stakes really early to see,
you know, what her life was and what she was dealing with.
TILLMAN JR.: Yeah, setting the stakes was very important.
I mean, I felt like the key to this movie was a lot of research,
and a lot of thought process because the book was so well layered.
And that process started early on with me sitting down with Angie
going through every single character.
What is the character's intent,
what are the character's sub-textual objectives,
what are the character's flaws.
Asking her questions about backstory.
I remember the first time you came out to L.A., we came out...
We set out at the Soho House.
I remember, too, 'cause you went to the bathroom.
And you told me you came back. You saw a guy in Beverly Hills
swimming in his Beverly Hills mansion swimming pool...
in the middle of the day.
(all laughing)
But I appreciate you making yourself available,
because all that was a wealth of information for me,
and that information was actually helpful in me and Amandla sitting down and talk.
We were able to start talking very early, almost like six months beforehand.
STENBERG: Way early.
And we formulated the different areas of self for Starr during that period,
so now you see her switching to Starr version two.
We had a scale of about, I think it was five different points
that would infer as to what area of self she was relying on
in order to fit into her environment.
So, in this one, you see her on the far end of the scale,
which is the Williamson end of the scale where she is acting a particular way,
speaking a particular way in order to fit into that environment.
I'll kick his ass.
TILLMAN JR.: And that was very easy for me
because what we were able to do was Garden Heights was one world,
Williamson was another.
That's part of the dialogue.
And we were able to very early on have, like, some key points.
We'll say Garden one was...
Just say the word, and I'm gonna do it.
Her behavior that sort of came from the father's behavior,
being in that environment, being around the gangs,
being around the neighborhood, being around family.
And if I ever wanted to dial it up,
you were like, just say Garden Heights two.
So we'll go Garden Heights one, Garden Heights two.
And that was the same case for Williamson.
You being able to... you going to a white, private school.
You know, like hear some of your dialogue and some of your approach to the dialogue.
You brought a lot of that to the table.
With George, I would do it this way or that way,
and that kind of gave us a different level
so the audience can be able to read a lot of those behaviors...
which is something with that little code word
that we were able to do very quickly.
And I believe in that behavior, too,
was how you walked and how you talked,
and the hoodie became part of that process.
STENBERG: Yeah, the hoodie became a symbol.
Taking off the hoodie when going to school
was kind of a symbol for Starr taking off
or hiding, absconding some of her actual self.
TILLMAN JR.: And that was able to help me with those two different worlds.
I will let all my departments know that.
I'll let the production design, I'll let the cinematography,
and that's really where we divided two different looks.
Everything got a run through Starr, her point of view.
So I felt like when she was in Garden Heights,
it's going to be a different look, a different style.
When she's in Williamson, I may have a different look.
I may use more Steadicam. I may use more whip pans like that.
And then when I'm in handheld and Garden Heights,
I would be more wider lens, more closer, more connected to the audience,
to the character, so I could see what she's really seeing.
Sometimes, the music style will change.
Like here we have a different music cue
than we would have at the party that's coming up.
All that was to let the audience feel what Starr is feeling
at that particular time.
So all that came in connection of being connected
to me and Amandla being connected to one another.
She would know exactly what I was doing, I'll know exactly what she was doing.
We know we had to dial in and dial out at any given time.
It just became instinctive after a while.
STENBERG: Yeah, it became natural.
Here you see Starr Beyonce-ing Chris.
We wanted to ensure that, like it says in the book,
that Chris is the one person Starr feels she doesn't have to change herself for.
And so I think you can kind of clock that through the way she interacts with him.
Well, it seems like everyone's busy, Starr.
TILLMAN JR. So right off the bat, we talked to Angie.
I had that conversation with Angie.
You know, me and Amandla, just off the level
came together about the braids.
You had braids in mind. I had braids in mind.
And I know I made that phone call to Angie
just to say, "How do you feel about that?"
You know, in terms of the braids,
which is a little bit different than what we had in the book.
They're slightly different, you know.
I don't know what else you want me to say.
THOMAS: Yeah. Honestly, in the book,
I don't talk about her hair a whole lot,
and that was kind of on purpose.
So for me, seeing braids, I was like,
"You know what, that's perfect."
That fits her because Starr is that kind of girl.
She gets up in the morning.
If she's going to basketball practice, that's it.
She's not worrying about her hair, so braids, low-maintenance.
That's perfect.
STENBERG: Yeah, and that was helpful for us on set, too.
I remembered saying her hair was pressed in the book,
and my hair is short,
and so the easiest way to go about just making... Yeah.
A hair choice that felt like it was in character was braids.
Accuse him of acting black, but this is just Chris.
TILLMAN JR.: So as we got into the school, I mean, here's an important fact.
We couldn't find a school for anything, the first school that we wanted.
They didn't want us there because of Angie.
They read the book or heard it.
They didn't even read the book.
They just heard about the book and didn't even want us in there.
So at the last minute, we start searching in this school,
Benjamin E. Mays High School.
The principal there, his name is Mr. Richard Fowler.
He was awesome. He let us have the school.
He was there, and actually the lockers and all that
really worked in our color scheme anyway.
But it just tells you how upset we... People could just look at the book,
and just because it deals with police brutality,
this other school didn't even want us there.
That was the most heartbreaking thing ever
because I feel like the film community is putting a lot of money into Atlanta,
into the city itself, but they didn't want us there, man.
I just want to put it out there, just to let them know.
I won't say the name of the school, but they didn't want us there.
- STENBERG: Keep holding them accountable. - TILLMAN JR.: Thank you for Benjamin Mays.
HORNSBY: Benjamin E. Mays came to the rescue, though.
TILLMAN JR.: And I love about it that it's a predominately African-American school.
I've never seen a school like this, Amandla.
I know you...
STENBERG: I had never. I was amazed.
We would roll up to set. We would see an all-black marching band,
kids and their different clubs. It was amazing.
I was like, I wish this had existed when I was a teenager.
So romantic.
TILLMAN JR.: Again, here's something that we always love, Craig, is playing.
We only played this in a two shot.
We didn't really do any cuts. I shot a lot of different angles of it.
I feel like playing it in real time makes you feel like you're actually there.
The touching, the kissing.
I just felt like this was the chemistry that we developed,
that you guys develop with one another, and it just feels sort of real.
HAYES: We just kept it insular and very subjective,
like this is her experience.
Until the weekend comes around.
TILLMAN JR.: And then we go into the Garden Heights world at this point.
And this is the introduction of the hoodie of what Starr puts away. It's so great.
I think, Starr, you had a couple...
- STENBERG: There's Dominique Fishback. - There's Dominique Fishback.
STENBERG: I mean, look at her.
- We love Dom. - TILLMAN JR.: Yeah, she was great.
STENBERG: There she goes.
TILLMAN JR: Amazing actress from New York City, a great writer herself.
...I hang out with in Garden Heights.
But you know what's so great is, I think the hoodies that we had,
a couple of color choice hoodies for you, you gravitated towards this color.
STENBERG: Yeah, the red felt right.
I don't know, it felt strong, and like it kind of could be a symbol
as you see what happens unfold throughout this night.
You're gonna be wishing you was wearing them tonight.
TILLMAN JR.: So with that hoodie, too, which was very closely, you know,
connected to Trayvon Martin that we felt that was a connection there.
Got folks thinking you're my girlfriend.
But here off the back is really trying to establish
the different worlds.
How now Starr completely shifts into Garden Heights.
I don't think we had even Garden Heights two at this point.
I believe you're just more in Garden Heights one.
And it's just her... Your comfortability at that point.
I believe, Angie, this scene is where your book starts.
- THOMAS: Yes. - TILLMAN JR.: In this scene.
THOMAS: Yes. This is the opening scene in the book.
And it was a way of establishing
Starr feeling like a fish out of water in her neighborhood.
There's hoes at my school, too. Trust me, hoedom is universal.
TILLMAN JR.: And so a lot of that was moved around was just like,
well, how do we know how her world is, that she's away from?
So that was a shift that we moved the school earlier
and moved the talk earlier, so we will know what she's hiding,
and then come back to that.
So that's something me and Angie discussed very early on
that she was comfortable with.
And I felt like we're really getting the world
and the spirit of what the book had.
So that was something that we all agreed on the most.
- Girls from your school do not count. - Yo, Kenya!
What up?
Hey!
Craig, you cut the scene, man.
I remember you cut it once. I saw it.
- I never even touched it. - Yeah.
I only maybe did a few tweaks.
HAYES: Yeah, it was... It really...
You know, with their performances so organic,
you just kind of stayed out of the way, just put it together, go for the looks.
There's one area here where there's a little bit overlap
so we had to ADR it.
But otherwise, we just kind of went through the rhythm of the dialogue
and just played it out.
A lot of fun, and a little bit later on when Algee comes on screen.
Yup.
HORNSBY: It feels like everybody's having so much fun, though.
You know, it's just having so much fun with the actors,
just bantering, and it is just the looks.
- Yeah. - It seems so honest.
I'm not babysitting you all night.
- Yeah, everyone's great. - Yeah.
TILLMAN JR.: You're so funny about that, too.
Russell was like, "Everybody can always sort of remember
-a house party, right?" - Yeah, sure.
HORNSBY: Especially ones you weren't supposed to be at.
Yeah, exactly.
STENBERG: I think this is where we kind of focus on
Starr feeling like a fish out of water, for sure.
And we wanted to make it clear, she's not the type of girl
who, like, gets lit, like, that's not really...
That's not her lifestyle.
TILLMAN JR.: So, Algee Smith just felt like...
I remember his agent at the time kept calling about Algee Smith.
Algee Smith, and he wanted to have a meeting.
And I felt like, let them come in and audition.
I was familiar with him with New Edition,
and I thought he was exactly Ralph Travers in that movie.
You know, thought he was great. But I just want to see--
It's like, no matter how many times you meet someone,
you know, sometimes, you want to see them up on their feet.
He just came in and he read.
And I just thought he was the guy immediately.
I just felt like he has a pill
that you just immediately connect with him.
STENBERG: Yeah. You fall in love with him in about five seconds.
TILLMAN JR.: In about five seconds.
School. Basketball. Keeps me busy.
But I'm always up at Daddy's store.
HORNSBY: And there's still an innocence, you know, and a joy in him, in Algee,
that just comes, that transcends into the character like you said
that you immediately gravitate towards.
HAYES: Amandla, you know, it really felt like y'all had history.
Did you and Algee kind of discuss and develop that at all?
STENBERG: Yeah, definitely. I mean, we did a lot of work with George.
The doctor say she got cancer or some shit.
George made us do some very uncomfortable things
during rehearsal.
He made us do different exercises. He made us share secrets with each other.
HAYES: Oh, Wow!
STENBERG: Yeah, so we became really close really quick.
HAYES: Yeah, that was great.
TILLMAN JR.: Yeah, I remember those exercises, actually.
I never knew what's the secret.
I made sure they have this little moment,
and I never got to hear all those things.
But I loved that immediately, y'all just felt like y'all belonged together.
A lot of the times for those exercises, it is to establish chemistry,
forget about the words and just think about the behavior,
and try to become the characters without even thinking about the text.
A lot of these things what you guys brought to the movie
which I love is, you know, sometimes text is cool.
But you brought this other young, youthfulness, energy.
You know, me, a guy in my late 40s. You know what I mean?
It's like you guys brought, how do we say, how do we do, how do we connect?
STENBERG: Yeah.
We definitely were staying on the authenticity in that way.
We'd make sure that even though the script is obviously amazingly written,
if things didn't feel organic or it didn't feel, like, fresh
in terms of the linguistics of it, we would switch it up.
TILLMAN JR.: Yeah. So all this came
in just really rehearsing the moment before the scene in the car
what we never really rehearsed, ever.
We just didn't touch it
and I feel like I want to let it be.
It was the actual shooting itself.
We never... With the cop coming over,
we just didn't rehearse that.
I just feel like we really needed to do that, you know,
because those things happen at the moment, anyway.
- It's really about... - STENBERG: We wanted to keep it organic.
TILLMAN JR.: Yeah, it's about organic.
It's about these two individuals and their history.
HAYES: But this was so easy to cut because we knew it all felt real.
TILLMAN JR.: Yeah.
And again, this is a scene that you cut, too.
I never really touched it, only one time, never.
Let me say, as a filmmaker, sometimes, you go through many versions of a movie,
and you change things, and sometimes,
you could re-cut a scene about five or six times.
This is one of the first times, actually, in my career.
At least we had about nine or ten scenes that you and Alex presented,
and I just didn't touch.
I just may do some tweaks or change the dialogue here and there.
I think it's because the... One of the things
that we talked about Russell is just being authentic.
HORNSBY: Yeah.
- I guess that's what we were going for. - Yeah.
HORNSBY: I think that was the word that sort of permeated the set and cast.
And everybody felt that, again, the masterpiece that Angie wrote
is just that it is authentic,
and we're talking about that being the source material.
So all you have to do is bring your whole self to the work
and just give it... And, I mean, everybody was so honest at every moment
that it made... I felt it made it easy, you know, and fun.
You know, every scene that we were working on.
HAYES: Yeah.
And that's been the response, everyone feels like this.
The book and the movie is really authentic.
STENBERG: This is where you hear THUG for the first time.
TILLMAN JR; Yep.
Lofien".lgetasked those questions a lot.
Angie and I always say, "It comes back to you."
Your love for Tupac and...
and the full circle.
What is the genesis for you in the book and THUG in this conversation?
It comes back several times.
THOMAS: For me, I often say, Tupac was...
He helped me get woke for the first time.
I remember hearing that song Changes when I was, like, 12 years old,
and he has this line in there... No.
Keep Your Head Up, my bad. Keep Your Head Up.
"They got money for wars, but can't feed the poor."
And I remember because I barely had food that day.
I was like, "Dang, he's right," you know.
Here I am, this is around the Iraq war and all of that stuff,
and I'm like, they're putting all that money into that,
and here it is kids on my street starving.
So Pac was what really opened my eyes to so much
of the injustices around me.
So I wanted to bring him into the book, and it feels like, for me,
so many kids that I've come across,
they're like, Tupac has done the same thing for them.
HORNSBY: And, you know, the other thing, quickly, is just what I appreciate
is the infusion of passion from Pac that you get.
You know what I mean? That's evident in the book as well.
TILLMAN JR; Yep.
Not inherently, no.
- Not inherently. - What?
HORNSBY: If I may, you know, this scene, for me, George is like this.
This is one of my favorites in the whole film.
And I always said to you because
you see this love story unfold,
it's a love scene for me watching, you know what I mean?
These two young people sort of fall in love,
these star-crossed lovers, if you will.
So you stalking me now?
But the scene breathes so beautifully
and you know, oftentimes, in black film,
it gets truncated,
and we don't get to see all this essence unfold.
All these beats and these moments, you know, just happen
where he just looks and you stay on looks and everything like that.
And, you know, you guys cut it together beautifully.
But it stayed this way, you know.
And I fell in love with it the first time watching it
because of just that, watching these two people
fall in love onscreen together. It's beautiful.
STENBERG: And you get the depth of their friendship.
- That's it. Yeah. - Yeah.
TILLMAN JR.: I mean, I believe the scene was about...
four-and-a-half pages. You don't really get that a lot.
- HORNSBY: You don't. - STENBERG: No, you don't. It's so true.
TILLMAN JR.: And so funny too. It's like, you know, Fox has been very supportive,
Fox 2000 have been very supportive,
Elizabeth Gabler and Erin Siminoff, of the film.
But you know, they were always there and helpful.
You know, we did have a schedule. We had to meet the schedule.
I actually remember this day.
We actually shot the shooting,
the scene that we just saw, you know, one day,
and then we came back and finished the shooting,
and had to shoot this scene in about maybe four hours in the car.
And, you know, because of you guys' chemistry,
because of the rehearsals,
and you guys automatically just felt like you belong together,
it just made it easier
that we can get through those four hours very quickly.
STENBERG: Yeah.
It's hard to do that when you're actually shooting live.
We shot this in a real car, you know.
We shot it live and we did it very quickly.
So this is really where you have some really great actors
and everybody committed.
HORNSBY: I mean, just that right there.
Just that two shot, give me chills, man.
HAYES: Yeah.
And I stayed away from that shot for the whole scene.
I just saved it for that.
STENBERG: Yeah, you get to see them be tender.
- That's kind of refreshing. - TILLMAN JR.: Yes.
And here it is. That's the line he says,
"We always got... We got time."
HAYES: Yeah.
TILLMAN JR.: And you say, "Really?"
And he says, "You know, we got our whole life, Starr."
HAYES: Yeah.
TILLMAN JR.: And then you'd look, like, surprised and you get happy.
And then he says, "Okay."
He says "okay" to you right there, which is not scripted.
That's just there being part of the character.
HORNSBY: And her look in the moment of just allowing her
to just let that settle on her.
- HAYES: Yeah. - TILLMAN JR.: Lovely, lovely!
THOMAS: I wish I wrote it like that in the book, dang!
TILLMAN JR.: Now that had to be established, I knew, early on.
Actually, it was a conversation that I had with many people.
I remember, Craig, when I first talked to you and Alex,
I said I got to get this character to work very quickly on screen,
or the movie doesn't work.
You have to fall in love with Khalil
and have to fall in love with their relationship.
If their relationship doesn't feel authentic,
it doesn't feel real or true, or that you want them to be together,
it just doesn't work,
and Algee and Amandla, you guys brought that.
It made that really work.
And for the rest of the movie, he's only on screen
for about maybe ten minutes at the most, Craig?
- STENBERGI Yeah. - TILLMAN JR.: Yeah.
But you remember him throughout the movie.
HORNSBY: Yeah.
HAYES: It was really fortunate there were two of us editing.
That gave us both time to really explore their performances,
to make sure we got the best.
Like, on another schedule, we might have had a run and gun
and skipped over some gold. So that was lucky.
TILLMAN JR; Yeah.
I wanna know why you pulling me over.
STENBERG: I think the balance here was
trying to demonstrate the panic in the situation,
but not over-dramatize it because there's no way
these characters could anticipate what's about to happen.
HORNSBY: Yeah.
- I'm giving you a lawful order. - Khalil, listen to him.
TILLMAN JR.: And I feel like, you know, and the two major incidents for me
that really was the motivation for this.
When I read the book and talking to Angie and I just felt like
the Philando Castile and... going to Baltimore was my inspiration
in terms of how to emotionally attack the scene.
And I just felt like those were incidents where the person was just pulled.
They were just pulled over.
Had no knowledge of what was going to happen.
And then you see it on video, you see on YouTube,
you see it like it is in real time and then things get out of control.
I felt like this was the moment where I have to slow things down
and play it in real time like this moment Starr's looking...
This is from her point of view. Her POV.
And then, you know, she gonna look back. I stay on this shot for a while.
Craig, you did that, you know, just instinctively.
- HAYES: Yeah. - TILLMAN JR.: Then we go back
and she's looking for the phone.
Where's my phone?
And it was, "Where's my phone?" So we, in real time here,
let us feel the emotion. It almost becomes suspenseful...
Go back where he told you.
...but you're being honest, too, because this is exactly what will happen.
I'm not playing. Go back.
HAYES: I remember, George, you told us to stay in her point of view
for as much as possible. So you notice, we never go wide.
- TILLMAN JR.: We stay in the car. - HAYES: You stay in the car.
TILLMAN JR.: Right there. I just tilt, pan over.
If I get out of the car, I'm actually breaking the ground.
I'm becoming objective.
STENBERG: I ran around this car so fast that I ate shit.
- But we kept going. - TILLMAN JR.: Yeah.
Be quiet, ma'am.
- TILLMAN JR.: Very, very emotional. - STENBERG: It was challenging to watch.
No.
Officer needs help.
TILLMAN JR.: Yeah, we shot this over a span of one long night.
STENBERG: Yeah, one very long night.
- HORNSBY: Just this scene, this... - TILLMAN JR.: This shooting by itself.
- This shooting. Wow. - Yeah.
Help him!
TILLMAN JR.: I did a lot of takes. I mean, not a lot of different angles.
Just a lot of takes, just to vary the emotion.
Just to make sure we can have the emotion.
Amandla never...
You never once ever say, "Did we get it?"
You never once said that. You just kept it.
You kept the emotion. You kept...
- STENBERG.I I was in it. - HAYES: Yeah.
I felt like it was just most important just to maintain where we were at.
- Khalil! - Shit! Shit!
Khalil, look at me!
HORNSBY: I mean, you can just look and see the honesty on your face.
Look at me, come on!
Khalil, come on, look at me!
I'm right here. You're okay, all right? There's an ambulance coming.
TILLMAN JR.: Now, I have to say, this young actor who played the cop,
his name is Drew Starkey.
Don't be scared.
He previously played in another film that Fox did, Simon,
and he plays a completely different character.
We always felt like, you know,
he wanted to be a young, white guy with potential.
It was back and forth.
Should he be an older guy, should he be a rookie mistake?
I've always said it's the guy who's just looked at...
skin, and he made a jump to it.
Drew really felt and really brought a really great emotion to it.
After this, what he realizes is that it's just a brush.
Part of that was just to humanize, because that felt like an actual incident.
When he shot, it was very quick, without any questions.
Just knowing the guy is in the car with black skin and he made a choice.
Then we see the racism, we see the bias in there.
But then we see that he recoils, you know.
It's just a little moment there, because I just felt like, again,
there's always a dynamic with everybody.
And I wanted to be able to show that, and Drew really brought that.
I always felt like I didn't want him to meet Khalil.
I didn't want him to meet Amandla.
There were a couple of times where you were in the building
in the pre-production office.
I tried to make sure you never saw him and tried to get around that.
I just didn't want you guys to see each other till that day, you know.
And I just felt like that was a very emotional night for everybody.
STENBERG: In this scene, we wanted to kind of see Starr struggling with
trying to whiten her voice in order to appeal to these detectives,
but also being underneath so much emotional turmoil
that it was really challenging.
Something that I used as a tool a lot for the scene was Kendrick Lamar.
I would reference him a lot.
I would listen to the songs "XXX" and "Fear."
And the themes of both of those songs are really relevant to this entire film,
and the way that the black community is terrorized.
So, I think, it was really helpful.
No, I don't know.
Because?
TILLMAN JR.: This was the scene that Alex cut there. Remember, Craig?
And you guys did something that I loved,
where you slow down the scene right here at this moment.
And Regina says, "Take your time, whenever you're ready."
And then we just stay on Starr.
And we let your transition...
Do you?
Sticking with your transition, I think, is the pivotal moment of the scene.
Take your time.
And we just stay there.
Again, like you're saying, we're also allowing space.
Allowing the real time to really happen.
And that's not really hard to do.
Sometimes you're jumping around and trying to out around actors.
- But you don't have to do that here. - HORNSBY: Yeah.
TILLMAN JR.: This is Starr being Starr and the performance is all there.
HAYES: That take of Amandla's was so brilliant,
the way she gets the whole transformation.
...one question about the cop.
STENBERG: Thank you.
I think it was mostly just about what does it feel like
when you have a well of emotion
that you're just trying to keep down as best as you can.
She's done here.
TILLMAN JR.: And this is our introduction of Uncle Carlos.
You know her?
Uncle Carlos is very pivotal in the book.
Trying to keep the hours, the time down to two hours,
we had to reduce some of Carlos in the book,
but I feel like his spirit is there.
He's a great character.
He was there for Starr in the early years when Mav was away,
when he was away in prison in the early years of Mav's life.
I think I remember, I made that call and told you, Angie,
that Common was going to play the role.
You were very happy about that.
And then we talked a little bit about keeping Carlos alive
as much as possible.
THOMAS: Yeah, for sure. I've always said, for me, Carlos was based on relatives
who were in law enforcement.
And I wanted to show the struggle so often that black cops have
that we don't talk about.
You know, so many of them say,
"Well, inside of the uniform, I'm seen as a sellout by some people.
Outside of the uniform, I'm still a suspect."
So with the character of Carlos, I wanted to address that nuance
of what it means to be a black cop.
It's okay, baby.
TILLMAN JR.: Can I ask-- I mean, we talked about this all the time,
the process of this book and how it came together for you there.
I mean, I love hearing that story, you know.
How did-- What was the actual year when you--
Was that a couple of years ago, Angie, or a few years?
THOMAS: That was my senior year of college, I first got the idea to write the story.
That was about in 2011.
I went to a mostly white, upper-class, private Christian school
in conservative Mississippi, and I lived in the hood,
so I had to be two different people in two different worlds.
I often say, I left my house playing Tupac.
By the time I got to my school, I was listening to the Jonas Brothers.
Don't judge me.
But it's just, I thought I had to do that to fit in.
But Oscar Grant lost his life in Oakland, California.
And Oscar is considered to be
the first really modern Black Lives Matter case.
I say "modern" because Emmett Till is a Black Lives Matter case.
And so many of my classmates didn't get why people were upset in Oakland.
In my neighborhood, Oscar was one of us.
He was an ex-con, but he was trying to turn his life around.
At my school, some of my classmates thought
that he deserved it because he was an ex-con.
He should've just done what he was told to do.
All of these different things.
And in my anger and frustration,
I felt like I could either burn that school campus down
or I could write, so I wrote.
I wrote a short story about a boy named Khalil
and a girl named Starr, who lived in those two different worlds,
like I did.
So that's essentially how The Hate U Give was born.
TILLMAN JR.: I don't know if you was here this day.
You know, Angie...
Were you here this day when we shot this scene?
THOMAS: I was, because there were roaches in the house.
(all laughing)
- HORNSBY: We all remember those. - STENBERG: Yes, and the smell.
We all remember the smell.
- HORNSBY: It felt real. - STENBERG: It felt very real.
TILLMAN JR.: I felt like this was really a tough day because it was supposed to be.
We were supposed to shoot this scene in four hours, five hours.
But this is a problem with some of the scheduling.
Not really a problem, but this is so much good stuff here
as we got several things going.
We've got the family coming in. We're actually introducing Ms. Rosalie.
At the same time, we got Carlos coming in.
And then we got Starr being afraid of who knows or who don't know.
All those things are actually happening.
It's five different things all happening in one scene.
It takes coverage to get all that stuff.
And it was hot and we just couldn't get all the scene.
HAYES: You had to move the camera around.
TILLMAN JR.: We had to move it around and you got to establish the atmosphere.
What it's like for a black family when somebody has passed away and died,
you know, and everybody comes over to the house.
HAYES: You can spend a day just doing that.
TILLMAN JR.: It's just the atmosphere. You don't see it on screen, authentically.
So I wanted to make sure I caught that feeling,
and it was just a lotto do.
We ended up shooting this thing instead of four hours,
it was, like, all day. It was, like, ten hours in here.
And we still had another scene outside...
- HORNSBY: Yes. -...which we did quickly.
STENBERG: And a lot of tricky dynamics.
And even this dynamic between Carlos and his community,
and how challenging it is for him as a black cop to navigate that existence.
Ms. Rosalie, I came by to tell you I'm sorry for your loss.
And Pam and I have been praying for you.
Thank you so much.
If there's anything I can do for you, know we are here for you.
TILLMAN JR.: So right there, playing Ms. Rosalie, is Rhonda Johnson Dents.
She did a great job. She feels very authentic,
and she really did a great job playing Miss Rosalie.
Again, this is something last-minute.
We decided to take music out of the scene. Remember, Craig?
We had music in the background coming from this place.
We had music over here. We had music over Ms. Rosalie coming in.
- It started to feel a little false. - HAYES: Yeah.
TILLMAN JR.: So we just took things out and played it in real time.
And it created actually more of a dynamic
that you didn't show up for Chris' date.
And it just became bigger.
- Place him on paid administrative leave. - That's it?
And sometimes, taking music out can really do that.
HAYES: Yeah.
This is the scene we shot in, what, 45 minutes?
TILLMAN JR.: 45 minutes.
I never forget your face, too, you and Regina.
I came up to you guys and I said, "I'm sorry.
We don't have a lot of time."
And then you guys looked like, "We got it, we go."
Because you say you're used to this all the time.
- You know, working on... - HORNSBY: On TV.
Well, not only that. You told me before you say, "Hey, bro. We got--
We ain't got a lot of time. We got a lot to do."
- You know, we're going to be moving. - TILLMAN JR.: Yeah.
HORNSBY: And so, you know, I was-- We were ready.
TILLMAN JR; Yeah.
HORNSBY: Again, that was our mission statement.
You know what I mean? Let's just be ready.
Let's do it, collaborate, and work together,
and do what we have to do.
- No need to complain about it. - TILLMAN JR.: Yeah.
STENBERG: I remember having a hard time trying to figure out
exactly how to play the emotion of the scene.
And Russell looked at me and he pointed at his stomach.
- And he said, "Let it come from here." - HAYES: Yeah. Oh, boy.
Grand jury.
STENBERG: And that changed everything, changed the game for me.
TILLMAN JR; Yeah.
Stuff like this ends up on the news.
HORNSBY: I think this was, like, my first day of shooting.
HAYES: This was your first day of shooting, really?
- HORNSBY: It was my first day of shooting. - HAYES: Oh, wow!
HORNSBY: I was nervous as a hoe in church.
(all laughing)
Will I suddenly be the poor girl from the hood?
TILLMAN JR.: Here's where those two worlds started converging,
you know, in our chart that we created.
STENBERG: This is something that I could bring some of my own experience to,
just because my experience in life was I went to a white private school,
but I grew up in a black neighborhood across town.
I remember that feeling of having to hide, especially if I was facing problems
that I knew would not be relatable in any way to my white privileged peers,
how I felt like I had to hide that in order to not exacerbate things.
TILLMAN JR.: And right here is sort of where,
in our chart that we had, where
Garden Heights is starting...
Williamson is starting to get challenged
at this point.
From this midpoint on,
things were starting to tilt towards Garden Heights
with you starting to stand up.
I think that's why you stand up on this line "Fried Chicken."
- What was that? - What?
STENBERG: We wanted to see some of Maw 'm Starr there as we“.
THOMAS: I was just thinking that like...
The way she stepped forward.
(laughter)
HORNSBY: Wow, that's deep, now that you say that, it's interesting.
TILLMAN JR.: It's so funny how as a black man, you know, growing up,
you always get these as a black... as an individual being black.
- You get these things, man. - HORNSBY: Yeah.
TILLMAN JR.: Like just now, watching this, I remember coming out of my house, man.
And I was living in Chicago, Ashland Boulevard.
For some reason, there were some white guys
working on construction.
This was around '93, right.
While I was coming out of my house, going to my car
he looks at me and says, "Hammer!"
HAYES: I know, I know.
TILLMAN JR.: I guess 'cause I was black,
he thought I was, like, M.C. Hammer or something?
HORNSBY: Yeah.
TILLMAN JR.: So, I mean, people say these things, they don't understand how.
Man, it's brutal, you know.
STENBERG: That pound cake was good, I ate one of those.
TILLMAN JR.: It was?
This place is a real place.
TNT Baby Back Ribs is the name of this place.
Dashcam footage, where the officer thought he was going for a weapon.
STENBERG: I think this is where it gets really wild.
I don't know that the crossover between, obviously,
this fictional narrative, but it's not.
Here you see a depiction of TV,
the way the media skews how these events happen.
Why would they put Miss Brenda on TV?
I don't know. I think it's so powerful, the exploration of that
and how the media manipulates events,
and we become desensitized to them because we see them on TV in this way.
TILLMAN JR.: Yeah.
- What? - I saw you leave with Khalil.
TILLMAN JR.: Sometimes you become hyper as a director.
You feel like, man, every night you go back home, you know...
It's you, Starr.
...and you think about what you could have done better.
I remember, Craig. I called you guys, you and Alex.
I said, "I don't know if I got this scene."
I actually told you guys, you and...
- STENBERG: Yeah, you told me and Dom. - Yeah.
I told you guys the next day, "We're going back to do this scene."
Because I think we just got it wrong. I don't know why, you know.
STENBERG: Yes.
You're gonna stand up for Khalil?
TILLMAN JR.: And it was like something you just keep thinking,
like, how can I keep getting better and be better?
STENBERG: Right.
TILLMAN JR.: I think, what it was, it was more about the relationship,
where would Kenya be at this particular time.
STENBERG: Right.
TILLMAN JR.: But it's a really easy fix.
All these guys did was just cut right down to the immediate what we need.
And it came out that sometimes the script, as good as it is, is a blueprint,
because I didn't really need all that other information
-that was actually there. - STENBERG: Right.
And I love how Dom holds, or Kenya holds Starr accountable.
Because this is, I think, Starr's in a weaker place at this point.
She doesn't know what her intention is. She doesn't know what she needs to do.
She's just trying to, kind of, skate by and keep undercover.
TILLMAN JR.: So here we have the introduction of King, Anthony Mackie.
Got himself killed.
King is a character that was very huge in the book.
Hard shit.
And we just wanted to keep him alive because he actually gave us the...
It's hard to forget.
It keeps the plot going.
If she speaks, it's going to hurt my business.
So she shouldn't speak.
And that's a threat that's going to come back on the family,
which he has with the conversation with Mav.
But this gave us our plot and he kept the story sort of moving,
because we had so much characterization.
So really, at this point,
Alex would always say in the editing room to Craig,
that this is where the movie kicks off, actually, in terms of story.
HORNSBY: You know, starting to create the tension.
ALL: Yeah.
TILLMAN JR.: Soto make that happen, if the story don't kick off
until 40 minutes into the movie,
I'd say, "Alex, we're 40 minutes into the movie
and you're telling me the story don't kick off until then?"
What it is, is the characterizations and the relationships
is what is able to sustain that long.
HAYES: Yeah.
HORNSBY: Which really happens for us, and we get a chance to let things build.
- Yeah. - You know.
Hey, Kenya.
How's that domestic life treatin' you?
TILLMAN JR.: Everybody's waiting for the scene to happen.
HORNSBY: We had a good time.
HAYES: This wasn't in the original script, right? Y'all added this on.
I should've bought this store for me.
TILLMAN JR.: What were you about to say, Russell?
HORNSBY: Again, just letting air remaining in between them.
Just letting them behave on screen.
I heard about Starr's homeboy.
Man, you know how they do.
HAYES: Did you and Anthony, kind of, discuss that dynamic?
HORNSBY: We didn't. I mean, that was a beautiful thing.
I think, you know, we both come from the theater.
You know what I mean?
We just kind of said, "Let it live."
But again, George allowing us to just behave,
allows the air to come in and just play off of each other, you know,
which was a lot of fun.
- It's like that? - It's exactly like that.
I remember, I said I had to add that line from the book.
"It's exactly like that."
STENBERG: We were definitely adding lines in from the book on the regular.
Hey, Starr.
Remember what I told you, all right?
TILLMAN JR.: You're gonna see that cutaway that you guys did and jump back.
Even though there's a conversation with Mav and King,
-we jump back to Starr. - Yeah.
What it is, is a subconscious thing of just keeping it in her appeal POV,
even though she's not even in the car.
So that really worked out.
He ain't gonna hurt her.
He Will.
If he thinks that Starr is gonna tell the police.
STENBERG: This was one of the last days of shooting.
TILLMAN JR.: Yes, it was.
- Was it the last day? - The last day.
- It was the last day of shooting. - This scene? Oh, wow!
HAYES: Man, I don't remember.
Ain't no roping back in.
He let me out. That was our deal.
TILLMAN JR.: So, Angie...
So this Lisa and Mav relationship,
this scene was a lot longer.
We cut it down. But you...
We always talked about making sure we maintained the complications,
the love, and the sexuality between these two.
Moved me and Carlos out of Garden Heights.
You felt pretty good with everything at the end of the day with Lisa there?
THOMAS: You know what I love about you, George, is you always ask me,
"Was I good with something?"
And a lot of times, you know, that doesn't happen with the author.
So I really appreciate that.
I'm good with it, like it's too late now if I wasn't.
TILLMAN JR.: You see I asked you afterwards, you know.
THOMAS: Yeah, but no, that dynamic was spot on.
It was always important for me to have her have two parents,
who not only they love each other, but they can disagree with each other.
But they work through it because the fact of the matter is,
they're trying to do what's best for their family.
And this is such a complicated situation.
So I didn't want their...
I didn't want it to be simple between them.
I wanted it to be complicated and complex, but they still figure it out in the end.
TILLMAN JR.: I don't know if you guys noticed though, too,
there's something that me and Starr talked about.
When Starr developed, certain times, the level of your vocals would drop.
STENBERG: Yeah, that was something that was done intentionally.
And we wanted to see that happen throughout the film as well,
which was sometimes challenging as you know we shoot out of sequence.
But just keeping Starr's vocal levels as she experiences more and more,
they get deeper as she is grounded by these events,
and she's challenged by them.
- Gumble Ghosts. - I think I'm good, Daddy.
HORNSBY: You know, this was the scene where I had the audition,
that really pulled me into the script and into the story.
You know, I mean this father and son--
I mean father and daughter relationship. You know what I mean?
It was beautiful.
You know I'm right.
TILLMAN JR.: Yeah, this is...
Again, this is a scene that had music at one point, correct?
HAYES: Yeah, took it out.
TILLMAN JR.: But only put it in at the end.
It never even needed it
and just played it as it was a pivotal scene
because it goes back to...
It just goes back to... It hits race right in the middle.
It's "THUG LIFE."
It talks about... Racism to me is all part of capitalism.
- It's about money. - HORNSBY: Money.
- TILLMAN JR.: It goes back to slavery. - HORNSBY: That's right.
TILLMAN JR.: It goes all the way back.
In capitalism, you talk about here with THUG.
You talk about you being in prison with your dad,
which is capitalism and drugs.
Why do we sell drugs?
Why all that I felt hasn't really been said on screen,
in such a three-minute scene, in just dialogue?
HORNSBY: Yeah.
TILLMAN JR.: So this was a pivotal scene for the story.
Why else you think so many people in our neighborhood deal?
HORNSBY: And just the effect of the father communicating to his children,
you know what I mean,
and being basically brutally honest,
which is based on the relationship they had.
This for me, man...
Brothers like me and Khalil get caught up.
I didn't realize how deep it was until we were shooting it.
My mother taught me how to tie my tie. You know what I mean?
And this was just so powerful.
Just ain't teaching it, but he's able to tie...
A man is able to tie a tie for his son.
You know the symbolism there?
And we end up in prison, another billion-dollar hustle.
And they got us riding through there, like we on a conveyor belt.
That's how I end up in prison with my daddy.
You went to jail with your own daddy?
YUP-
HAYES: You're right, George.
We got just the right piece of music that made room.
It wasn't leading the scene. It just supported the scene.
It took us a while to discover it.
TILLMAN JR.: Yeah. Dustin O'Hall0ran just nailed the piece for us there.
HORNSBY: How long did it take you to realize that it didn't need the music?
I mean, when you first saw it or...
HAYES: Well, the first music we had in was so dynamic and so engaging
that we fell in love with it.
- But after a while, it's not working. - HORNSBY: Okay.
HAYES: Yeah, and then we said like no-no.
It wasn't the temp that we had. And then we kind of gave it to Dustin,
and he's like he got a nice gentle nuance that really...
TILLMAN JR.: It took about, maybe,
two pass... three passes.
We actually screen it for a test screening in Baldwin Hills with music in.
- HORNSBY: Oh, really? - It didn't affect it.
Still, everybody loved the scene. It just wasn't as honest.
It felt like I was telling 'em how to feel when you guys already had it.
- STENBERGI Right. - HORNSBY: Yeah.
And he doesn't have his dimples.
TILLMAN JR.: A little shout out to T.J. Wright.
HORNSBY: Yeah.
T.J. Wright, little man.
STENBERG: Tee“!
Man, Teej really is my little brother.
Mama.
- This always kills me. - HORNSBY: This kills me.
- Especially then. - STENBERG: Yeah, with the score.
HORNSBY: Yeah, that was right on it.
TILLMAN JR.: Again, it's a...
This was another tough day here.
I remember you were here this day, Angie, I remember that.
I think you were there. I think so, right? You were here this day?
THOMAS: I came like later when y'all were filming outside.
TILLMAN JR.: Oh, okay.
THOMAS: Yeah, because I walked up on set and I saw that...
And all those extras were out and everything.
And you would've thought that's what got me.
But no, it was seeing this sign on the church
that said Christ Temple Church
because that's just something I came up with.
And I just burst out crying and my mom was right there.
She was like, "Girl, if you don't get yourself together..."
But I think it was surreal.
So yeah, that was my first day on set.
TILLMAN JR.: This was a tough day, again. Again, just like the Ms. Rosalie scene.
It's five different things going on in the scene.
Introducing Ayesha, King, King's threat to Starr,
Starr with Khalil,
actually, you know, with Seven relationships with his morn.
And then surprising audience that lssa, April Ofrah, is there.
STENBERG: It's really an ensemble scene.
TILLMAN JR.: And it just wasn't enough days to...
This should be three days. We shot it in a day and a half.
It was pretty hot that day.
But thank God that everybody knew where they needed to go.
Everybody was committed.
And at the end of the day,
it was about just getting what we need.
- I shot a lot of film for this. - HAYES: A lot of film.
TILLMAN JR.: We just needed to get what we needed.
Like that shot right there, we had three of those at one time.
It was three closeups of Mav and King.
And I think Elizabeth was like, "Okay, we get key."
(laughter)
Hallelujah!
HORNSBY: But I also think though, George,
that's like the importance of you stressing like rehearsal,
and people coming together and bringing us down early,
so that we can talk about a lot of the script and relationships
and stuff like that. So that when moments like these come up,
people just... We just know exactly what we need to do.
ALL: Yeah.
HORNSBY: We didn't necessarily rehearse this at all.
But it's like we had done so much other prep work together
that we're like okay, we know the relationships and the dynamics.
STENBERG: Yes.
And it was, kind of, we didn't have to think about it
because all the foundational work was there.
HORNSBY: Right.
That gets everybody on the same page, too.
Because everybody does their individual homework.
But like... We were able to collaborate and say okay,
this is the story we need to tell together.
ALL: Yeah.
That the police have no intentions of arresting the officer,
who murdered this young man,
despite having a credible eyewitness.
TILLMAN JR.: I met lssa in Culver City.
Actually, I gave her the script and we had a conversation.
I knew that she was really busy because of the show
and other things that she had.
Here we are again.
But always felt like she was a young person, you know,
who went to Stanford, graduated from Stanford,
from Los... from California herself.
She had a spirit
that I felt like... that could really play April.
And I just felt like a lot of young...
A lot of people,
not even just young, just look up to her.
And I felt like I wanted somebody,
who people can inspire and look up to,
and April seems to be that kind of character.
So lssa, she loved the script immediately and she came in and did the job.
And I love that people, at least at this point in her career,
this is different from what she plays on the show.
And I really love that.
Or as weakness.
- Yeah! - Yeah! That's right!
That is why the Harris family and I ask you to join us after the service
for a peaceful march past the police station.
Division is how they win.
- Unity is how they crumble. - Yeah!
See you outside after the service. Thank you.
Amen! Thank you.
Thank you, Sister Ofrah, for such powerful and encouraging words.
Did you see that? How does she even know?
Gotta be Miss Rosalie.
TILLMAN JR.: And this is where our plot is starting to converge together.
People starting to find out
who's Starr and Starr is the witness.
We have Djavan Johnson here, playing the minister
of Chicago, Illinois. Now, I believe, living in the South.
He did a great job playing a minister.
All that stuff is all him, freestyling and improvising,
and really bringing in more material forth.
- What do we want? - Justice for Khalil!
- When do we want it? - Now!
STENBERG: When we're doing the prep work for this,
we talked about this moment being the moment
where Starr walks through a gateway and everything changes.
- What do we want? - Justice for Khalil!
- When do we want it? - Now!
TILLMAN JR.: And that gateway is your looks. I just put the key.
Just your looks, right there to lssa, right there to the kids.
How big the crowd is.
And even you step back
from all these things happening was we just tried to make you the center
and just moving back towards the family
because you guys are a unit.
- So, Craig, you cut this piece. - HAYES: Yeah.
And the biggest thing was just trying to use the music to cut.
We never changed, really, the editorial.
We changed the little things, we added stuff.
HAYES: But what we really discovered was that--
Peaceful protest!
We're thinking about the music and how big to play the music.
And I think, Alex and I talked about it.
We were spitballing and I think we decided what would happen
if we just kind of took a lot of the audio down--
We gotta leave.
...and just played it, just subjective from her point of view,
just music. And it felt like it really came together at that point--
Come on.
...with a little bit of the audio poking out here and there.
TILLMAN JR.: Yeah.
Yup, again, it's really early on, just really establishing Starr's lens,
what is Starr's closeup, and a lot of our tests.
And we just felt like when I go handheld
and put a 5O or 75 millimeter right in front of Starr,
it became very powerful. I was like connected with her.
So a lot of those closeups in the scene
is just putting the lens right in front of her, straight ahead,
being right with her at all times.
The rest of that, I have four cameras out there this day,
shooting all this footage,
so we had quite a few footage to go through.
But the key was just be right there with Starr and her point of view
and what she is seeing through that gateway.
And every time you felt that way, we made sure we hit
and kept in everything of all your moments in that scene.
STENBERG: Right. Yeah, that scene is a huge catalyst for Starr's journey.
I'm here with the protesters on the way to the police station.
That cop shot that boy in cold blood for no damn reason.
TILLMAN JR.: This is actual footage that we shot, all this is taken from research,
so we re-shot, you know, a lot of this stuff.
And some of this stuff is footage that we actually used.
I believe, this is actually from a footage that we used
from Baltimore Ferguson as well.
That's our footage right there, turning over the car.
Stuff that was left over from the riot that we didn't even really use,
that we were able to put inside the television.
Bullets don't know where they're supposed to go.
Hey, Mama, are they mad 'cause Khalil died?
Yeah, baby.
HAYES: Remember we picked up this George to build more of a moment for Sekani.
So we discovered we kind of want to make sure everybody feels Sekani...
...as it pays off later on.
TILLMAN JR.: Just really want to thank,
you know, Sandra Bland and Eric Garner's family
for allowing us to use the picture, Emmett Till as well.
Those guys got on the phone with me
and allowed me to really use the pictures.
Sometimes, actually, with Garner, you know,
the unflattering picture of what actually happened.
But I explained to her why it was important to actually show that
and she was very supportive.
And that's the reason why we made this film...
...to have awakening and be able to wake people up,
but also to inspire. They were very helpful
and I want to thank them for allowing us to use their picture in the film.
- Hi. - Hello.
Can I come in?
As police are investigating the routine traffic stop that turned...
Khalil can't speak for himself. He needs a voice.
HORNSBY: It's a nice reveal.
Lisa, just hear her on out.
Starr, do you understand what a grand jury is?
STENBERG: I remember what it felt like to be during the first
Black Lives Matter protests
that went and got out of hand
and there was looting happening in my neighborhood.
I remember what it felt like to buckle down inside my house
and watch the events on TV and lock all of our doors.
And so, I was able to bring
a lot of that feeling... and that experience to this.
When Khalil was shot, where were you exactly?
TILLMAN JR.: This is actually like...
There's so many scenes that I love in the movie.
And this is something... I just love this moment.
I don't know. I think it's because of...
I think I was...
I've been thinking about it the last, actually, couple of weeks,
because people always ask me, "What's your favorite scene?"
I always point back to this scene.
I think maybe it's because you finally reveal a secret.
STENBERG: Right, Starr is vulnerable.
- Yeah. - TILLMAN JR.: You know, with Natasha,
you brings up... That's the first time you're actually speaking about Natasha.
STENBERG: Right.
And when we were doing the work, before we talked about how
in order for her to move forward on herjourney
and find her power and her voice,
she has to almost throw up all this trauma
and these secrets before she can do that.
TILLMAN JR; Yeah.
My other best friend was murdered when we were both ten.
We were playing basketball on the sidewalk.
TILLMAN JR.: Yeah, it's a great transition there.
I think you guys, Craig and, you know,
and Alex, because you guys told me to shoot this.
"It may be good to shoot the actual shooting."
And I was just like, "Yeah, it's not scripted.
I don't know if we got time to do it."
And it was like, "Just, you know, if you can."
But we had the kids out one day.
They were there and I just quickly ran
across the street, down the street, shot it really quickly.
And shot it 48, shot in slow mo,
in case it was a little sloppy with the camera or something,
but it actually helped us feel...
Because I feel like, in the book, you know, Natasha is very prominent.
In the script, we just hear her name.
So how do you make a connection if you don't see her?
Starr, you never told us that.
It was a King Lord.
Look, you just look right at Mav.
That just something you just did instinctively.
STENBERG: I think it's about, you know, Starr and Mav's
almost parallel journey
with finding themselves and what they believe in,
in the midst of all these systems.
And I think Starr has fear, has been afraid to speak up about this
because she hasn't wanted to hurt her dad.
TILLMAN JR.: Yeah.
HORNSBY: And they're afraid their attempts to right wrongs,
whatever those wrongs are.
You were young. You are young.
TILLMAN JR.: It's a real quiet scene. I think when me and Mihai...
Mihai Malaimare... my DP.
I loved him, cause I loved what he did with The Master with P.T. Anderson,
and his work with Francis Coppola.
I don't know about all that.
He's one of the few DPs who actually operate their own camera.
I wanted this scene lookin' like The Godfather or something.
Top lights, have it dark because you know the lights is off
cause Lisa turned off the light,
but I like the contrast.
They just add to these reveals of Starr
and the potential of moving forward and what can we do for it.
I thought... I really like the music
and what Dustin did as well.
I just felt like it's a really good collaboration of everybody
in terms of performance and the technical side as well.
Really quiet scene, but it, sort of, really works.
HeY-
HORNSBY: And the quiet allows the audience to kind of really lean in.
You know what I mean?
And take time to, like, listen.
You know and what's happening.
- TILLMAN JR.: Yeah. - Take all that in.
Where have you been? Everyone's ditching. Girl, come on, let's go.
In a lot of these conversations I'd let Angie know what was going on,
but, just our situation... Like, I always tell the story...
Like, I remember seeing you in a short film,
like, eight years ago that was amazing, man.
I'd always see your work all over the years.
From the get go, from day one, you was Maw.
- Right on, Yeah. - You know, I just...
I just felt like, sometimes you just know instinctively.
And, like, with Amandla, it was just more like...
She was reading the book at the same time I was reading.
So it became like a partnership, you know.
Different... As directors, you know, you get your choices who you want,
and then you get choice... Like, Algee came in and he read.
But I always just felt like you was Mav.
I just felt like you was the guy.
And you became the father on the set, you know, almost,
you know, to the family and everybody.
But it was interesting how we ended up
seeing each other at a Four Seasons buffet.
And then we came together for this one you know.
What's wrong?
This isn't right.
HORNSBY: Yeah. You know, I remember when we had our first meeting or whatever.
I was like trying... you were, like, kind of, "Yeah, you got it."
I was tryin' to convince you that I'm Mav,
and you're like, "Yeah, I know. It's cool with you man."
TILLMAN JR.: Yeah. I remember you did...
You did a monologue for me as well, right on the spot.
HORNSBY: Yeah, from King Henry the Second. And that's where I got August Wilson.
HAYES: August. Yeah, sure.
HORNSBY: And that's where I got a lot of, you know,
Mav's characterizations, his influence, and his reasoning of, you know,
the mark that Mav walks with that everybody can see.
- TILLMAN JR.: Yeah. - You know what I mean?
And that he has to carry it and he has to find his way to remove that mark.
TILLMAN JR.: Yeah. Yeah.
Because I know you came in at Fox and that was a lot of the process too
as far as introduction to the studio. You know what I mean?
But one of the things I loved about that, you came in with the braids...
on day one.
And I was like, "What? Wow!"
And I love that because it surprises. You know I mean?
That tells me as a director, you're going to get surprised by an actor.
You ain't gonna get one thing all the time.
But the braids that hit me.
You know I mean? I thought that was a great addition, you know.
HORNSBY: Yeah, I mean, you know, in the book he was bald,
but, you know, I was working with a lot of hair
and I said braids was like... Well, first off, I wanted to show
that, you know, there was... Braids always add another layer,
you know, of texture, I guess to... you know.
And then, also we had to go back.
So we had to go back to, you know, '05 or whatever it was, to be younger.
That was a great device.
I was like, I need to use whatever I can.
(laughter)
But you know, that process for everybody...
I mean, so, when Amandla is like,
"I'm reading this book," I was just shocked.
At the time when I met you, were you 18 or 19 at that time?
STENBERG: I think I was 17.
TILLMAN JR.: Seventeen. And you were reading the book, like, unpublished.
And you going for the book at the same time that I was going for it.
I mean, I don't find too many 17-year-olds, like,
chasing a book or reading. You know what I mean? Like, you know...
And I remember you came to my office
and I was just blown away by your spirit and your energy
in terms of... And what you've been through.
You know, living in Inglewood and going to a private school.
And, one of the things I learned a long time ago on Men Of Honor
and stuff, where I think... I was telling you,
when I worked Robert De Niro... Really, your actors are your partners.
They're not somebody that work for you.
Who else going to bring out what you're trying to say,
or even going to do it better.
So we early on became a partnership.
- Full partnership. - Full partnership.
To this point where I still don't... I can't... You still Starr.
I know you still see me as Starr.
STENBERG: No, I mean, and having that collaborative nature in our relationship
made me feel so comfortable to try things out and you know...
- Yeah. -...bring ideas to the table.
TILLMAN JR.: Yeah. So I think it starts to becoming... You become in sync.
I think that what happened with Regina Hall...
Like I always felt like... Regina and I always tell this story.
She actually auditioned for Notorious. She auditioned for Lil' Kim.
And I always tell her she wasn't right for Lil' Kim,
but her audition was amazing.
I still got the audition on DVD for Lil' Kim.
Because she's from Brooklyn.
And I just felt like... You're torn because, like,
how can somebody be so better and so great at it,
but is not right for the role
So I always kept her in mind that I had to work with her.
And when the book came out, I told her that she's Lisa
and I gave the book to her assistant.
I just think she's a person that can do do it all.
Comedy, drama...
And she brings a spirit... to the set
that just keeps everybody upbeat all the way through.
And that was my process with Gina and Anthony Mackie
I worked with Mackie...
This is my third film working with him.
He's always busy, but he always give me a few days
when he can do something.
He was doing a Marvel movie down in Atlanta.
So he gave us some days.
They'd love just the respect of knowing that the material is great.
Knowing that Russell was great. Knowing that the cast is great.
It was like, "Hey let me just...
I just want to be involved with the project."
That's how it came to be with Common and with Anthony Mackie as well.
If Officer Macintosh were sitting here now,
what would you say to him?
I'd ask him if he wished that he shot me too?
STENBERG: I like some of this ad-lib between me and Lamar Johnson.
I think we got everything we need right here.
I think it made it in the scene.
Let's see.
Y'all really got to be booed up like that?
How else you think I pulled her?
- I know how. - Mama!
That's funny.
...All of that.
I'm scarred for life.
STENBERG: That was Teej just-- just freestylin' it.
All right.
HORNSBY: This was a byproduct of that rehearsal time, you know.
Going to go go-carts and video games and air hockey, you know.
- Family time. - STENBERG: Family time.
And thank you for allowing Starr to shine today.
Yes, Lord, and please help her stay focused on her studies.
HORNSBY: Telling Amandla to change her music in the car.
Thank you for my family.
That's what I was gonna say.
Me too.
Amen!
- Amen. - Amen.
- Eat the greens first, man. - Need that hot sauce.
STENBERG: That food was good.
TILLMAN JR.: K&K Soul Food, name of the place,
and they serve buffet food actually there.
But we made it-- We turned it a little bit into a diner
and just-- I loved that moment of just freestylin'
and establishing the family.
And again, just that look... Just Starr.
This ain't hot enough right here.
Just those looks at one another,
that was the pivotal start point of the scene.
- I remember, Alex was telling me... - I think Alex cut this, right?
- Yeah, Alex. - He said he started with that look
and worked his way backward, or something like that.
- Starr did some real stupid shit today. - Keep my kids out your mouth, King.
Your hard head makes for a soft ass whoopin'.
- You 00min' close to gettin' your own. - Well, why don't you try--
TILLMAN JR.: As I remember, Angie... this book...
This scene originally was just Mav and Starr.
It wasn't the whole family.
We decided to put the whole family together at the diner
so they all can experience this,
so we can keep our story moving forward
and also helped us with Sekani later seeing this information.
So that's why that change was there.
But we caught the spirit of what was there,
but it's little... slightly different from the book there.
THOMAS: Right, right. I think it's executed better.
Until you came out to score.
All right, come on. Let's go.
Lean against the wall.
It's okay, Sekani.
Starr, you breathe. Just breathe, okay, baby?
- All right, he's clean. - Take out your ID.
- My wife has my wallet. - Where is she?
Get my wallet!
- Stop_ - Daddy?
It's okay.
All right, I got it right here, Officer.
Damn.
STENBERG: T.J.'s face always kills me. Teej kills me in this scene.
Yeah.
-...Until you release my husband. - I said go back inside.
No, sir. My father didn't do anything wrong.
- Show me your ID. - He is a child!
HORNSBY: The kids responses shows, like, they've learned.
Do you know what I mean?
The parents have made them internalize the lessons.
- Yeah. - You know.
- Why don't you talk to him? - No! No! Sekani, go inside!
TILLMAN JR.: I think we did that a lot of times there, man.
HORNSBY: I think We did.
But I remember a moment. You told me...
You just said, you know, I was being an actor
and, you know, honey baked ham.
And you said, just, you know, simplify it a little bit.
You know what I mean?
And I appreciated that, you know.
STENBERG: This scene is so powerful in terms of speaking to
how social media has changed our culture of accountability.
Consider this a warning.
TILLMAN JR.: Yeah, I thought that worked out. I was a little concerned, like,
"Okay, 3O people got cameras out?"
But the way you shot it, it's not over the top.
- Yeah. - It just feels tangential.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
HAYES: They're not in critical focus.
Come on. Let's get Sekani.
TILLMAN JR.: That's not scripted. That's not in the script.
- HAYES: Yeah. - TILLMAN JR.: Him cryin'.
He did that himself.
STENBERG: This is a doozy.
I'm so sorry, Daddy.
This is my fault.
I never should have gone on TV. I should've stayed quiet.
Everybody, get up out the car.
Get out the car and line up on the grass.
TILLMAN JR.: Scene never changed. The only thing we changed was
the close up of the shoulder.
Of the shoulder, yeah. The tattoos.
We didn't know what that close up was, so I just trimmed that down.
Everything else stayed the same.
HAYES: Just great performances all the way around.
"We want an immediate end to police brutality."
Finish it.
"And the murder of Black people and people of color and oppressed people."
- By what means? - By any means necessary.
So why you gonna be quiet?
What does that say?
"Reasons to live give reasons to die."
Yeah.
You, your brothers,
and your mother are my reasons to live and die.
I gave each of you power in your names.
Seven: perfection. Starr: light. Sekani: joy.
Use it.
So when you ready to talk,
you talk.
Don't ever let nobody make you be quiet.
TILLMAN JR.: The visual perspective of this scene was just don't get in the way.
Just stay with the actors.
Stay with them.
And never really... We even did this wide shot
we shot the performance in this wide shot. We never used it.
We just stay with you guys the whole time.
Are you kidding me?
No, no, no! Wait, wait, wait! Three-pointer!
Oh, my gosh.
Here we looking at... a very pivotal scene.
You know, like, Amandla, you're talking about, like,
what media plays when introducing,
you know... the neighborhood,
you showed they show the worst.
They show the shootings,
they show the percentage, the statistics.
Sometimes those statistics are blown up,
or sometimes it can be old statistics.
But usually, they use these statistics
right before they introduce the person who was killed.
And when the cop or when there's a shooter,
they usually talk about, you know, how it was great in this neighborhood.
All of this is filtering down to, you know, to Hailey.
STENBERG: Yeah. This is where you see Starr no longer has the ability to
make herself smaller or not stand up for what she believes in,
in in order to fit in to this world of Williamson and her friends there.
Brian is a good boy.
People, they're making him out to be a monster.
He's afraid to go out in public, even for a gallon of milk.
There's been threats against his life.
Our family's lives.
TILLMAN JR.: So, Sabrina Carpenter.
It took us a long time to find the right Hailey.
She came in at... One of the last few people that we'd seen.
And she just really played it very natural,
not like a villain. She just played it as a person who just didn't understand.
And I just think that was the best way.
Playing it very simply and playing it very honest.
We spent a lot of time just talking and breaking down.
First, before you can play,
you have to have the understanding of what is going on with the media.
What is going on and how the treatment, through so many years of people of color.
And we spent a lot of time talking about that and doing research,
so she can have an understanding.
A lot of that was things that she understood.
Other stuff, many of it, lot of things, she just never thought about.
And just being open to that. And then once you get into that,
you can be able to start to have
a very human performance.
You guys spent a lot of time with Megan, who plays...
You know, who plays the other character
-with us in the scene. - Maya.
But you guys spent a lot of time just hanging out
and really establish a relationship there,
which I think is really good as well.
You know what?
STENBERG: That line, I really love.
I didn't call you a racist, I just asked you a question.
I think it's really illuminating.
- TILLMAN JR.: Defensive right off the bat. - Yeah.
TILLMAN JR.: By the way, this lady who owns this house,
her name is Kim Hollyfield.
She was really cool. She let us come back twice to shoot this scene.
I mean, this house is humongous.
It was so great, she got another one down the street.
STENBERG: She was really sweet.
You can never go wrong with black.
This was our first day of filming.
HAYES: Yeah, sure was. Yeah.
You are gonna look so beautiful for prom.
What's wrong, munch?
TILLMAN JR.: This was an interesting scene.
I was worried about the time and the...
how long the movie was going to be.
And I felt like, maybe they're going to have me try to come under two hours.
So I was trying to figure out what to cut because everything was so connected.
For one version, this scene wasn't in the movie
before I showed Elizabeth. And then, some executives found out,
he's like, "No, you've got to have this scene in."
'Cause this scene is what Elizabeth can...
It's kind of like, her daughter and herself having a conversation.
So this scene wasn't in. The reason why we cut it,
because it's actually exposition. It's talking about backstory,
but it's very important backstory.
And I know we were back and forth. I wanted to keep it.
I think Craig you wanted to keep it.
Alex wanted to lose it. It was back and forth.
But it tends to be a favorite amongst audience who see it.
HAYES: But I agree that, like, this part of the movie,
it was starting to slow down a little bit.
And we were just kind a-- a lot of--
It's not proactive, but, man, it's-- People love this scene.
HORNSBY: It's so well played, so, yeah.
Is that what you did with Daddy?
HAYES: And it was original-- The original cut was much longer.
There's a Regina's speech.
She talks a little bit more about Lamar and...
There's a lot... It was much longer, so it's pretty short the way it is now.
Yeah. Yeah, I did.
HORNSBY: You know, it's in the intimacy of it.
You know, it's really, really beautiful.
TILLMAN JR.: And actually, I think without this information,
this scene, we probably would never explain the dynamics of what happened.
- Yeah. - Right.
TILLMAN JR.: That you were broken up when it happened.
The love that I share with your dad?
HORNSBY: Well, again, this... The love I share with... The love...
And then, Starr speaks to that, right at the top of the movie.
And so, we understand where that love comes from,
and how it was established, and how it came about.
Through trial and error and tribu-- You know what I mean?
TILLMAN JR: Yeah, yeah.
HORNSBY: And that's what family... That's what happened in the family.
- Yeah. - Exactly.
- And it feels real. - It feels very real.
TILLMAN JR.: Again, we're back at Williamson.
This is a very interesting situation here.
You know, right... It was about two, three days before my director's cut,
and I was feeling really good about the cut.
And I think we were actually at two-ten, two-nine,
and it was pretty, you know, feeling pretty strong.
We actually played it to some young... teenage high school girls.
I played them very quietly, let them see the cut.
They loved the cut. They gave me some little small thoughts.
So I felt really good going in.
I think it was around my birthday time actually, January 26th...
I was going to bed and my wife, Esley said, "Wake up."
And I said, "What's happening?"
and the last year, last 6 months,
she'd been trying to get me to embrace social media.
Because I don't ever... I didn't have a Twitter or lnstagram account.
I'm old school. So I finally got a young man
who actually started up a account for me.
This guy's out of Atlanta. He was working for free for me.
Just a young brother. And he tells my wife,
you know, that one of my actors actually said something on YouTube
about six years ago about race.
I didn't really think anything about it, because I thought, you know,
Keane Lolly, actually he's a YouTuber,
so he's obviously, probably doin' some performance,
or he's probably rapping or something.
Probably said some things, so I didn't really address it.
Didn't look at the YouTube for like a day later,
and when I did I was just like, "This is a problem," when I saw it.
And at the time, I didn't know what to do, how to respond.
So, Monday morning, I just went to Fox and went to the publicity department
and said, "You guys should take a look at this," you know.
I don't know what to think of it.
And then, immediately, it just wasn't sitting right with me,
you know, the whole time.
And right off the bat, I just felt like with Fox and myself...
And it's, like, early on
and something has to be done.
And at that time, Amandla, you know...
at that time you were finishing up two, three movies
and you were in Japan finally for a little vacation that you had.
So we had to wait until you came back.
And when you came back, that's where that conversation started
that Keane Lolly, you know, cannot be in this movie.
First person they actually talked to
and that I wanted them to was to talk to you about it.
STENBERG: Yeah. There are quite a lot of... It's hard when you go.
When you go hard in the paint, you put your whole heart into something
and you have to do re-do it.
And that was really challenging,
but I mean, it was very obvious. It was very apparent to me and to everyone
that the most important thing
was the credibility and the authenticity.
We keep returning to that, the authenticity of the film.
And that applies to every single level,
and in terms of the ethos and mentality of every single person involved.
And so, it was critical that we ensure that every single part was right
and everyone was supportive of the film the right way.
...Is to be black? It doesn't.
Starr, I just told you, I don't see color.
I see people for who they are. The exact same way I see you.
If you don't see my blackness, you don't see me.
TILLMAN JR.: Yeah. Once that shock came...
Because here's a guy you shooting a movie with
a particular... The whole entire time.
And, you know, I felt like, when you're doing rehearsals,
you sense and you connect with people.
And you-- I can, you know... We didn't have a lot of rehearse--
Actually, compared to everybody else,
Chris and Starr had the least amount of rehearsals,
because the focus was on the family
and focus was on other things and Khalil.
It was a lot of people. You were always available.
And every rehearsal I had, you had to be in it,
because this is Starr's movie with everybody.
So I didn't want to run you down with everything,
but we did have some rehearsals, and it was like,
okay, this is sort of working. This is working where I need to be.
But when... Two days before I showed the movie,
it just became a shock and when Fox saw the movie they loved it
and they just felt like this is going to be a distraction.
I felt like it's gonna be a distraction.
After having the conversation with him
and figuring out why would you say something like that.
And that's what the movie's about actually.
What you said is what we dealing with.
So once we make that decision, it's like, how do we move forward?
And that moving forward was where we had to do a reshoot.
Which is, come on, I mean,
we got to go back in and back into this emotional space again.
And once you get past that,
it became about who's going to play the part.
One of the things we did was,
we was able to narrow it down to four individuals very early on.
K.J. Apa was a person who was supposed to be upfront in that process
in the first time around,
but he wasn't available because of a TV show.
Now he was available and he just came back in.
And this time we had all the time for rehearsals.
And developed the chemistry.
And he was available for us and was a trooper.
I didn't show him...
showed him a couple of scenes of the family,
because I wanted him to see what the movie was.
Craig, you was there present and I showed him one scene
-of the other character. - HAYES: Right, with the face blurred out.
TILLMAN JR.: I had the face blurred out. I just wanted him to see where we're at.
STENBERG: This is one of my favorite scenes.
TILLMAN JR.: And that was that and that's where he came in
and made himself available for us.
STENBERG: And he pulled through and he's such a fantastic person.
- Yeah, sweet guy. - From the bottom of his heart
just so real. So we're very lucky for him.
- Okay. - That's my baby right there.
- Okay. Hold up. - He knows what's up.
HORNSBY: This is lovely.
TILLMAN JR.: This is one shot.
So, if we messed up, we had to go do it again from the beginning.
- One shot. - No cutaways.
STENBERG: And fun fact, it was freezing,
so we had to eat ice before we got out of the car
so that are our breath didn't fog up the air.
HAYES: That's what y'all did?
STENBERG: It was freezing.
TILLMAN JR.: It was really cold. It was cold that night.
Hell no. No. That ain't gonna cut it.
Y'all both dead. Excuse me.
(laughter)
TILLMAN JR.: So what this does though, Mav, it shows bias on the other side.
- You know. - Absolutely.
Daddy, he doesn't need a tip.
What? You gotta tip the chauffeur.
HORNSBY: We all have biases and certain prejudices, you know.
Hey! Come in, come in.
- Hey, baby. - Hi.
Chris! It's so nice to finally meet you.
STENBERG: That look of recognition of what's going on.
Who's this?
Daddy, this is Chris.
Who's Chris?
Chris is my boyfriend.
You got a boyfriend?
TILLMAN JR.: See, all this is all two different performances.
I think the close-up of Mav...
HAYES: We did one split-screen where we kept Regina, old performance,
with the new footage, just that one take.
TILLMAN JR.: And then we actually using, right there, it's the original shoot.
HAYES: It's the original shoot. Yeah.
HORNSBY: Wow. Before, I was very...
Matter of fact. "Come on, George. Save it. Save it."
TILLMAN JR.: I think you were telling me, you were saying it's really...
It was just like, you were concerned about getting back to that place.
It was so nuanced that you did.
HORNSBY: Well, just like Amandla said, it's hard to get back.
I didn't realize how much...
How in depth we were in these characters,
how tied into these characters we were until you try to come back and do it.
And we were in a whole different world at that time.
- STENBERG: We were in a zone. - We were in a zone. Thank you.
TILLMAN JR.: It took me a little while, too, with the new scene
even with K.J., as great as it was, like the limo scene.
It took me about two weeks, correct, to say, "The new scene is better."
HAYES: Yes. Exactly.
TILLMAN JR.: I was so in tune to the old scene because I'd seen it so many times
and it was really...
STENBERG: I think a lot of the work we did was a lot better.
TILLMAN JR.: Yeah, it really was a lot better. It was just completely different.
More nuanced,
and it's really another version.
I don't think anybody will ever see that other version.
But it was this interesting nuance that...
HAYES: One version played fragility and next version, political awareness.
And the audience really responded to the political awareness big time.
Guess I ain't set a good example of a black man for you.
TILLMAN JR.: I think this goes with the idea that... Shine your light.
I think this is Starr shining her light on everybody.
On Hailey, on Chris, even here Mav, led him to understand.
And I had that conversation with you early.
Angie, I was saying, here's a young woman, she's dating a white guy.
Her past experience been with...
Her first love was a black, young kid.
And I said, "Where did she choose, where did she go?
How do you feel about that?"
I remember, Angie, you said,
"She could be a little bit of both," you told me.
Long as you be true to yourself.
Get down!
Wait! No, no, no! Maverick!
Tell Starr to keep her mouth shut! Damn bitch!
TILLMAN JR.: You sure you guys didn't speed that car up, Craig?
HAYES: No.
We did a lot of speedups, but not there.
- Okay. - Not on the cars.
TILLMAN JR.: I asked that same question
when Mav drive up to the fire at the end.
- You know, when the fire was... - Yeah.
Yeah. You're coming in fast in the car.
- Yeah. - And I asked Craig,
"Did you guys under crank it to speed it up?"
And I keep asking these guys that--
HAYES: I know. Every time laying it on the mix stage.
TILLMAN JR.: I said, "That's how Mav's comin' in, that quick like that?
HORNSBY: Well, remember when Marty was like, "Hey, hey, hey, you got..."
HAYES: That's right, that's right. "Slow down."
HORNSBY: Cars backing out like...
What are you doing? Come in.
I'm goin' back.
What?
Nobody messes with my family. Especially not King's boys.
Your family is here! And this family is moving.
I don't wanna hear another word about it.
We're moving!
- I'm going with Daddy. - Seven, get back in the house!
Maverick, I am begging you. Don't go back.
What if King comes back?
- I hope he does. - Maverick!
Maverick, you promised!
Daddy!
TILLMAN JR.: In this Blu-ray deleted scenes,
you guys would be able to see the long version of this scene.
- HAYES: Right. - Yep.
Where King boys approach.
So, that's one of our nice deleted scenes that you guys be able to see.
That dab...
STENBERG: Yeah, that dab.
HAYES: That was it, you came up with that dab on the day right?
HORNSBY: I think the way you just truncated it made it strong.
Made it stronger, yeah.
TILLMAN JR.: So Angie, I'd love for you to, you know, this scene with Carlos
such a pivotal moment in the scene, in the book.
Where's that... The whole idea,
was it just to explore more originally in the book?
Was it just to explore what cops of African-American descent go through?
THOMAS: Yeah, absolutely. It was inspired by conversations I had with relatives
who are in law enforcement.
When things like this would happen,
you know, sometimes I'd look to them for answers,
and from their perspective.
So, it was the whole idea of, well, this is what I go through
when I have this situation happen.
And while it gave me a perspective, it still...
Like Starr, I had a similar reaction, like, no, this still is not okay.
So, it's important for me as a writer when I'm writing about something like this
to explore as many sides as possible.
Because when I was writing the book, I was thinking,
well, somebody is gonna say, "Well, what about black on black crime?
"That's why you got the stuff with King.
Well, what about black cops? That's why you got the stuff with Carlos."
So, I wanted to show as many perspectives on this as possible,
so we can say no, it is not a simple issue.
It's beyond black and white.
But as long as we don't talk about it, we won't get anywhere with it.
This was a point for Carlos as well to have this dialogue with Starr,
and be open and honest about it. And admit his faults even
And in the book, he even makes it clear to her though
that it doesn't justify it.
And he makes it clear to her that there should be accountability.
Because you think you see a gun?
You don't say something first? Like, "Put your hands up"?
It depends. Is it night? Can I see?
Am I on duty alone?
And it was also... As I was writing it, I had to think about the fact that
my cousin who was a cop, for me he was a hero,
but I had to reconcile with the fact that for somebody he was their villain.
And that's a hard pill to swallow.
Reach into the window...
So, I think this is Starr's moment of realizing her uncle is her hero,
but he could very well be somebody else's villain.
I'd say, "Put your hands up."
Do you hear what you just said?
HAYES: I like that he's honest with her and doesn't try to sugarcoat it.
STENBERG: I like that too.
No. No, it doesn't seem that complicated to me.
HORNSBY: The part the kids don't get.
It is complicated.
- It ain't fair, but... - Yeah.
- It's not black and white. - Not black and white. It's complicated.
STENBERG: That walk, Russell.
(laughter)
And if you need to ask me anything, that's your right.
And your parents will be here waiting.
Okay-
- I love you so much. - I love you.
TILLMAN JR.: So we have Dustin O'Halloran, again, his music score,
we loved his work and what he'd done in the past with Lion
You know, nominated for an Oscar for that film.
And he just really brought a nice texture of work.
The music don't get in the way,
but it's a big moment for Starr, standing up.
And it's inspirational. But he doesn't go into cliche?,
or doesn't go into being a little over the top
So we stayed kind of subtle here.
The biggest moment here is really,
my camera push in on Starr.
And as we push in, it's just that little smile just starts to creep in.
Just that look right there.
Khalil never cried.
And then you can hear at that point,
you know, the instrumentation slightly changing,
because she's changing. She sees him,
she feels him, and she feels like she's doing the right thing.
Khalil didn't own a gun.
Khalil owned a hairbrush.
Khalil died holding his hairbrush.
And if Khalil was still alive...
...he would be graduating high school.
TILLMAN JR.: And we saw the first scene in which she entered the school,
where she took, you know, the hoodie went off.
But now those two worlds are converging
and the hoodie is coming on, now embracing...
Garden one, William one is coming together as one.
Shady.
Get over it?
Yes. Get over it.
TILLMAN JR.: In the book Angie, she just knocks her out.
STENBERG: No, see, that's why I tried to maintain as much of that energy
as we could in the scene.
Yeah.
THOMAS: Yeah, I think it was just me writing
what I really wanted to do to my real life Hailey.
Right.
This line kills me right here.
What, I'm the non-threatening black girl?
HORNSBY: That's what I love about that. It was like hella real.
STENBERG: "I'm the nonthreatening black girl.
"Right, right, right, right, right. For sure."
HORN BY: So honest.
Yes. The officer did see a weapon.
- He saw a hairbrush. - That looked like a weapon.
What's this in my hand right now?
HAYES: A lot of people listed this as their favorite scene.
What about in my hand?
TILLMAN JR.: Yeah, it's about time.
It's about time for her to stand up, you know.
Does it look like a weapon now? Get on the ground! Now!
Down on the ground before I shoot you!
Don't move! Don't move before I shoot you with it!
What the hell did I just say?
Don't move! Hailey.
Look at me and stop crying.
That was some wrestling.
Yeah.
Stop crying wasn't written in there
but I thought about, you know, Mav's scenes.
THOMAS: 'Cause, didn't Mav say that in the car scene?
After the... Yeah, he says "Stop crying."
Yeah.
Starr. Hey.
- TILLMAN JR; Right there. - STENBERG: That walk.
- What do you want? - Hold on!
TILLMAN JR.: All that right back there that's in the background,
behind K.G. is all fake trees, thanks to Crafty Apes.
They created trees back there,
cause when we did the reshoot, those trees were all gone.
- Yeah. - Man. yeah.
TILLMAN JR.: You want to talk about your hand.
STENBERG: Yeah. I messed up my hand pretty bad during that scene.
Everyone tried to prevent it.
They're like, "Don't go too hard."
But I was in it.
It was fine though.
HORNSBY: Was this in the original?
TILLMAN JR.: In the original, we did it without a pad.
And I kept telling the guys. I said,
"Me working with Amandla for the last four weeks,
she do things real.
You know, she likes to do things real as much as I tell her to fake it,
like, with the hand, she's going to punch it for real."
But they didn't believe me.
I actually remember I got in the car seat
and I said, "This is what I think she's going to do."
And I did it... But nobody did anything,
which is my fault. I just got to tell them to do it.
So, there wasn't a pad there.
STENBERG: Yeah, there was no pad on the dash. I was really punching it.
But then, we got a pad up there.
Because, their concern is, "We can't put a pad on there,
because it'll be in shot."
And then, halfway through, I was like, "My hand really hurts.
I think I'm bruising it.
Are you sure that the pads going to be in shot."
And they're like, "No, it hasn't been this whole time."
HAYES: Oh, boy!
STENBERG: And that really fueled my punches for the next one.
TILLMAN JR.: So, there was a fear that you broke your hand.
And that night, everybody... It was calls all night. They thought--
- Really, they thought I broke my hand? - They thought you broke your hand.
And... But thank God, everything was fine.
So we had to go back and re-shoot it again with the new actor, with K.J.
This time we made sure there was a pad.
Lesha, what happened?
"What happened?"
You snitched and earned an ass whoopin'.
My baby took it for you.
Bleedin' all on my floor and shit. Get him outta here.
Take Kenya and Lyric with...
HAYES: And that's when we mix matched too
some of the lesha shots are from the original shoot
and the other shots are from the re-shoot. So the cross-cut.
Go!
TILLMAN JR.: lesha, played by Karen Kendrick.
She's awesome actress, man. She's great.
Shit, he came back.
Come on, go out the back door.
Right there that shift, you know,
they're thinking she's, you know, all this was her plan,
sub textually is to protect her kids
and that's the way she had to do it and the way that she know how,
but we see it in that little moment,
and right here we see that shift.
Hey, baby-.
We gotta get him to a hospital.
Make a left up here.
TILLMAN JR.: All this is shot on the West End...
...in Atlanta.
Right down the street is Mav's store.
But all of this again was to establish
sometimes no matter what you say what you want to do
sometimes things go the opposite.
And we see it right here with this information
and the crucial part of the scene is...
is that Chris knows right there.
This little thing that right there KJ did that that's him.
It was just his understanding
of now seeing things from a different side.
I'm sorry, Starr.
Let's go.
I wanna go. Now.
STENBERG: This was kind of tricky.
Just because we wanted to show how hurt Seven was,
but at the same time this plot point was really important
so we were always trying to figure out ways to take care of Seven,
make sure that there was enough concern for him.
Starr!
Now at the same time Starr's on her shit.
TILLMAN JR.: This whole uprising here Angie provided for us in the book.
But all this with the research and the different individuals.
We shot this in a matter of four nights.
Just kind of kept it moving so we could take the most out of it.
I think we had about 350 background for each of the riots.
A lot of them was very supportive of the film
and braved through the cold cause we were shooting late at night.
And my whole experience of actually, you know,
just being in the business since 1997,
I've never seen a group of background actors giving it their all.
Yeah.
- They were very supportive. - Yes.
And they were very respectful of your process and my process.
- So respectful. - They never bother,
they talked at the right times or asked things at the right time.
STENBERG: Yeah.
HAYES: And a lot of them came back for the re-shoots too.
- STENBERG: Yeah, they were dedicated. - Yeah.
...make sure they're safe, okay?
Starr, I'm not leaving you here.
- They were so supportive even of me... - Yeah.
Just coming up to me saying, "Good job, you got this, we're behind you."
Okay-
Thank you.
TILLMAN JR.: So what we actually did was
was be able to really break up...
these different layers and characters who were involved inside this uprising...
and then there's the councilmen.
There's people on bikes. There's people in wheelchairs.
These are all the things I saw in my research...
and always also we created this web site
where the background can go and look up what their characters were doing
whether as a community leader or National Guard or police
or protest or protesters, they had this Web site so they can see.
So they were actors with agendas in this scene as well.
Everyone had a different intention and a different emotion backstory.
And I think that's what make it feels kind of multi-dimensional and nuance.
Nobody just out there holding a sign.
Everybody had an intention, so I would know where they were.
Okay, Councilman, I'd come over there and I would just say these kind of words
cause I know the background already did that.
So that's almost like, it's almost, I had 350 actors in the scene.
They weren't just extras, they were actors background.
And they made a very, very important and they gave it a nuance for the scene.
They're just doing their job. Hold back.
This street is right across the street.
This is the building across the street, right there's Georgia State...
and other street was on Peach Street downtown.
So we had the holding room inside the university.
And they're given different wardrobes
and based on the characters they were playing
they were there to warm up and be there.
And also I'd go in there just to kind of talk to them
and let them know how things are going, how things are looking.
So all here is all three cameras just moving.
Sometimes we had a fourth.
We had A camera, B camera, C camera shooting all different things
just really getting this material for me.
But all this got to have a different point of view.
I always feel like what I try to do,
and I always had this conversation with my editors,
with Craig and Alex, I was storyboards.
I would shot list everything before even I get down to the location of the shoot,
before I even get down here and prep for the preproduction
I have a shot list in my head.
Before I even start doing the movie, when I have the shot list
then I start looking for locations and then I shot list again.
So that's the second time.
STENBERG: Aye, shout out to Angie.
TILLMAN JR.: Look at Angie right there. Angie.
We had to make sure we got a good spot there, right?
THOMAS: Yeah, that felt right too. yeah.
TILLMAN JR.: I didn't tell you, you know,
you felt that was one of the first time you saw you.
- Are you okay with that? - Yeah.
- Okay. - Yeah.
I'm okay with that.
Now we need to reshoot it, George.
STENBERG: That shirt was a whole... there's a whole story about that.
TILLMAN JR.: Whole other story there with Khalil.
STENBERG: We just, we felt that the hoodie that I was wearing
didn't feel tonally right for this moment.
And I wanted to be wearing something else
but then we already shot the entire sequence up to that point in it.
So what we did is we came up with the idea of Angie giving me that shirt
because we thought it would be more powerful to see her wearing a shirt
that's paying homage to Khalil.
My name is Starr!
TILLMAN JR.: Because we had the shirt from Williamson on
and I remember you were like...
and then you made me realize like,
yeah, you can't be on there with a Williamson.
STENBERG: It's not a Williamson moment, you know. She's fully herself here.
HAYES: A white hoodie.
TILLMAN JR.: So like, all this again is all shot list early.
But then when I get on set..
I would change anyway because the actors are going to do different things
but it gives me a... my head is...
it creates extra work but it allows me to improvise
and be able to move around very quickly
because I'm able to signal in to this moment
the whole movie is gearing to this moment of Starr on this truck here.
We will not stop protesting!
HAYES: A few of the shots we had to add more crowd enhancement.
This ain't about how Khalil died.
Make it really feel big.
...how he lived!
Khalil lived!
His life mattered!
TILLMAN JR.: And then right there we bring in the music.
- Music is there low. - Yeah.
But it's not leading... Starr's leading the way
and we just wanted the performance to be able to keep things moving.
Khalil lived!
HAYES: Just beautiful music, really beautiful.
Khalil lived!
Move.
No matter what we say...
no matter how loud we shout...
they refused to hear us.
TILLMAN JR.: So all this here... was re-shot...
just a little bit, a couple shots there with Starr with Seven.
Originally, Chris was here the entire time when we did the scene
and it sort of really worked at the time,
but after we did the reshoot
we just felt like it wasn't really necessary to have him there.
Even though he was there in the book,
my discussion just early on with Fox and then with Angie,
we just felt like it focused more on Starr,
and actually bringing Starr and Seven together.
Very early on when we were shooting it originally,
I remember when Chris was there,
I remember a moment where I went up to Amandla
and I was like, "How you feel,"
and she was like, "I just feel like you said something to me.
You said, 'I just feel like Chris here's a little bit...
feels like a distraction a little bit."'
STENBERG: Yeah we just didn't really know what to...
we were trying to figure out what the intention was,
where the energy was with him being there, what his purpose was.
And it's hard to find.
TILLMAN JR.: And he was just really just there.
So once we had the recast we just felt like
maybe we should just lose him in this little section here.
And the moment where he asks, "What should I do?"
and you tell him, "Take Kenya," you know, and "Take them away."
And it just focused in you and Lamar and just foc--
A lot of it was just to focus on Starr
and that really made it really work for us.
Wait.
Hey, can we get in?
Yeah, come on, let's go.
My eyes are on fire.
TILLMAN JR.: And also just want to be able to say too
if you check out the deleted scenes,
you'll see that we have the full 15-minute version of the entire uprising,
everything in the kitchen sink is in there,
because there's so much great stuff we just couldn't use.
What we found that is the more I show the looting, the other things,
-the longer I was away from Starr. - Yeah.
Because those other people are doing it and in a way you're...
the longer you're away from Starr the story begins to get wobbly.
So, we just didn't need as much as I wanted to.
It was me as a director to make it feel as honest and true as you may see it.
And then you have the issue of trying to just tell a story,
you're not doing a documentary.
Come help me get this milk.
Hurry UP-
Pour it on his face.
TILLMAN JR.: All these guys are great.
We've got James Jones here playing Goon.
He always had energy to the set right there.
Kind of reminds me of somebody like Mav.
One of Mav guys we see him early on at the store.
Yo, let's roll.
- Garden Disciples. - Yeah.
- King Lord. - THOMAS: Yeah, he's a King Lord.
A reformed King Lord.
HORNSBY: Reform, right, yeah, here go.
Mamma called.
What's she say?
Starr, baby, call me as soon...
STENBERG: I love that this is the most fear you see in their faces in the movie.
Black moms have that power.
...and throw tear gas on TV,
I swear, I'm gonna snatch the life out of you, if you don't call me.
About time to move to Mexico.
You know damn well Mexico ain't far enough for our Mamma.
- Shit! - Whoa.
HAYES: It's crazy to think that Chris was in all these scenes here.
- STENBERG: Yeah. - It's like we sure didn't need him.
HORNSBY: Also, I was like, you know, like, Mexico is not far enough for our mama.
ALL: Yeah.
Shit! Shit!
Oh, my God.
Lewis!
The store's on fire!
It's hot!
- Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Look! - Oh, Lord!
The kids are stuck in there!
Help!
I wonder if there's another way in.
Back there! It's around the back!
Over here!
TILLMAN JR.: We got Mr. Lewis and Mr. Rubin
played by Al Mitchell and Tony Vaughn.
And these guys were great.
Help! Help!
- Help, over here! - Over here!
Hey, hey, come on, y'all. Watch out! Watch out!
Got a key? Got a key?
Breathe!
Turn around. It's okay. It's okay, breathe.
Breathe, come on. It's okay.
- Starr! - All right, come on.
- Seven! - Let's get out of here.
Are you okay? Are you okay?
I warned you, Mav.
King!
TILLMAN JR.: Again, we got a scene
where there's multiple actors in one scene.
Shit, you knew she had it coming!
- This ends tonight! - Come get some, Mav!
Come on!
Leave my daddy alone!
Sekanf!
Sekani, drop the gun.
Sekani! Just put the gun down.
STENBERG: Teeg put his whole little body and heart into that.
It was amazing to watch.
Stand down! I'm a cop!
T-H-U-G L-I-F-E
This is it.
The Hate U Give Little infants F's Everybody
TILLMAN JR.: So here's all the nuance, the connection
with Khalil with Tupac
that information to Starr...
And he's about to fuck everybody.
...and Khalil knowing about Tupac
from spending a lot of time with Mav at the store
from the back, background back story from the book
and how this all relate all back full circle...
It's the hate we give.
...and how it relates to Sekani.
My main thing is being in Starr head
always loved how we kept her breathing there. Right there.
Just keeping her breathing just makes us feel that we are part of, with her.
No!
How many of us have to die before y'all get it?
No more.
TILLMAN JR.: And just like we had at the church there,
you know, just like we had with Ms. Rosalie, you know,
you got King perspective.
You got the police officers standing there.
You've got the family dynamic and Starr and Mav,
and Starr and Maw 'm the center,
so you got all these different looks, different coverage to do
and a little time to do it.
Everybody was just in sync. It was cold that night when we did it.
- We knocked it out. Yes. - We did, yeah.
HORNSBY: It was cold.
HAYES: You guys did a lot in one day, right. One night.
That was another scene that seems like it could've used more time,
but it turned out great.
And I knew we would.
Especially with King going down for setting the fire.
Everybody spoke up about what happened.
Mr. Reuben, Mr. Lewis,
TILLMAN JR.: So Angie, you know, this whole thing about snitching, you know,
I think your book is one of, for me, is one of the first times I really see
an author really addressing it in a community, you know what I mean,
and how that really works.
I really love how that kind of sums up the story a little bit.
Did you think about that a lot when you write the book or...?
THOMAS: I did. I did.
I think about it a lot now even as I go to schools and talk to kids.
Like, I was recently at a youth detention center
and we had a whole big discussion about snitching.
And they were like, you know, this one boy he was like, I never snitch on anybody.
I was like, so you cool with Starr snitching on the cop in the book.
He said "Yeah". I said "So what's the difference?"
He had to think about it for a second.
And so snitching, it's,
it's more complicated than people give it credit for being
because so often it's the issue of safety
and that's really what it is.
So, and it's the whole feelings of loyalty
is when I'm snitching on someone in my own community,
I'm pulling back a shade over my community and saying this is bad.
And yeah, it is bad but it is one thing for me to say my neighborhood is bad,
it's another for somebody else to say it.
And I think snitching plays into that whole mindset
of I'm not going to throw another person under the bus
to make things easier for the system.
But when we're talking about it in this sense
and what Starr does in the movie and in the book,
I've had so many young people say "You know what,
I'm starting to think that, maybe, snitching is all right.
- Wow. - You know like they won't admit it,
like this one boy came up to me, he was like "You know what?
Damn, you had a point Ma."
I'm like "All right bruh. Think about it."
TILLMAN JR.: So, I love this little addition that we did there Craig.
- Hayes: Oh boy. - TILLMAN JR.: We moved Tupac over.
Tupac was on the other side where, you know, Kendrick was
thanks to craft, Crafty H, we moved that around.
That's where that smile comes from.
We felt like just connecting back to Tupac.
This was important, too.
I felt like the wand you know.
Before, I held back on the wand. I didn't show it.
- We made a last edition, - That's right.
Just added that Khalil, he said he didn't have the wand,
and that's where that smile came in again.
So I felt like why hold the audience away from that,
so we added that insert just to connect that a little bit more.
Oh, so there's no wand at all in the end?
Yeah it's there. I just save it for, I saved it for when she was in.
- Oh gotcha. - Yeah.
HORNSBY: Is this an original song?
HAYES: It is an original song, yeah, we wrote for that movie.
Khalil.
I found out that name means something, too.
Ff lend.
I'll never forget.
I'll never be quiet.
I can't change where I come from
or what I've been through...
so why be ashamed of what makes me me?
And I'm gonna keep on being Starr.
No Version Two.
Just Starr.
Daddy says my name gives me my own superpower.
To use it.
And that's what I'm gonna do.
TILLMAN JR.: So I always had those flares on Starr. It's the shining of Starr,
and I have to say, though, looking back at the process, you know,
it was an interesting process because we got the-- the book.
I read the book in February 2016, and then Amandla's reading it at the same time.
And then, like, a few weeks later after having a conversation with Angie
and I felt like these are themes, this what the story is.
I felt like we were in sync.
And you know just to get her to see the passion to trust me,
to earn trust, to earn to see the passion was more important than anything.
And then once we sold it to Fox,
it was a process of a year of just developing it
and that whole process, you know, with Amandla
and having a partnership with her and the collaboration.
Everybody just, it's one of the movies where I felt like
from the beginning to the end, it was just true passion,
and it was really just authentic.
It was one of the first times I felt like I got the chance to make a movie
the way that I wanted to make it.
And I had the right collaborations
to adjust, or be involved,
or take it to another level, or bring their passion.
It takes a lot to make a movie. Not one person can do it.
And even right now, like doing the commentary,
I appreciate you guys being here
because we did it together, like,
and it was just, it's just a great time when you in sync.
And I think it goes with the material--
material, Angie, just you writing this beautiful book
that I still feel, like, connected to from the beginning.
So I just want to thank you, Angie, for writing some beautiful characters,
enough where I cannot separate the characters from real life,
like I feel like they're living.
You know I feel like they're here and I feel like Starr's here.
So I just want to thank you for that.
And I want to, you know,
I want to thank you guys for all the work everybody put in.
Not one person ever said no or said, "George you're doing too many takes."
Or George-- You know I just felt like it was just
everybody was in sync because the story was there and...
STENBERG: And we knew how important it was.
TILLMAN JR.: Yeah.
STENBERG: This didn't just feel like we were just making a piece of fiction.
Because it's not fiction you know.
We had, all of us had our whole hearts in it because we knew the weight of it,
and we knew what amazing source material we had.
So it was exhilarating. It was an exhilarating privilege to be able
to give life to this story and these characters
HORNSBY: This is the first time I've ever had an opportunity really
to collaborate on a film, you know what I mean,
and just be part of it from what I felt like was its inception,
you know what I mean.
For me, you just come aboard and go
bring your ideas to the forward and to the table,
let's see how we can execute together, you know.
Like Amandla said, we all brought our hearts and passion to it.
It was a an honor and a joy.
- STENBERG: It was an honor and a joy. - HORNSBY: Yeah.
THOMAS: Well, I thank you all because it's so obvious
that everybody put their all into this.
And I'm almost crying over here now, trying to...
These are THUG tears. That's what I call them.
But no, it's, it's, it's obvious that everybody put their all into it.
I remember being on set and the extras had copies of the book.
So, from the bottom of my heart, you guys, thank you.
Like, I do feel like I owe you my first born,
but I'm going to count it as this first book born.
(laughter)
Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you
TILLMAN JR.: So what's the, are you going to do a prequel to Mav
or something, in the future or something?
THOMAS: Nothing, nothing, nothing is set in stone
but that may possibly be my third book,
because we have a young man, who by the time he was 18 had two kids.
How does he go from being
a shoot first, ask questions later kind of guy
to the character we see now.
So, it will most likely be my third book,
The Maverick prequel,
and it's set in the nine months leading up to Starr's birth.
- HORNSBY: Nice. - STENBERG: Wow.
- It's great. - Okay.
Okay. So when we make the movie version of that.
- I play Mav's father. - Oh, man.
- TILLMAN JR.: He already figured it out. - Yeah, yeah.
- I'm excited. I'm excited. - I love it.
TILLMAN JR; Love it.
Well, that's awesome.
It was just like, I just, you know, again.
We had a great cast and a great crew,
and I hope you guys enjoyed the commentary on the process.
We are about, maybe a month and a half away from the movie coming out,
so I'm excited for people to see it
and for people to take it and to have conversations
You always say the best things about having the conversation
and that's what I hope the film is able to do.
So can I still call you Starr, is that okay? Or I gotta stop.
No.
- You know I'll still respond to it though. - I do.
- You know what, though. - I'll still respond.
THOMAS: I hope you're prepared because let's be honest, black folks,
we have this thing where we always will associate an actor with a character.
I said just be prepared,
black people going to call you Hailey going forward.
I'm sorry in advance.
You know they gonna to be like "Why did you do Starr like that?
Fried chicken, huh?" You know.
- Very true. - Yeah.
She says she's prepared though.
- Yes, that is great. - That is so true.
Amandla Stenberg's basketball coach, Poncho Hodges.
- There it is. - Shout out to Poncho.
Poncho what's up.
Putting in the sessions with me just so we could get that one shot.
- But it looked pretty believable. - Yeah, yeah. It worked out great.
STENBERG: I'm so happy DNA is in it.
HAYES: Yeah.
STENBERG: Left hand, right hand. I can't listen to that song any more.
You can't, you can't what?
- We heard it so many times that one night. - Yeah. Yeah.
So, was this THE HATE U GIVE song right now playing.
TILLMAN JR.: Yep.
- Written by Bobby D Sessions Jr. - STENBERG: Shout out to Def Jam.
- Oh, this is "The Hate U Give". - Yeah, yeah.
We gotta soundtrack coming up, we got a soundtrack?
- Yeah, they working on it right now. - I think they working on it, yeah.
TILLMAN JR.: And shout out to Shamel Bell being there always.
STENBERG: I have a song that I wrote for the soundtrack.
- HORNSBY: Movie gotta have soundtrack. - STENBERG: Gonna show you guys...
Yeah.
HAYES: Def Jam on the real, man.
TILLMAN JR.: Thank you, guys.
ALL: Thank you.
STENBERG". The Hate U Give.