Exclusive: Evan Ross & Garrett Hedlund On Working With Andra Day In The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Coming out this week as a Hulu Original film on Hulu on February 26, 2021 is Oscar nominated directorLee Daniels’ THE UNITED STATES vs. BILLIE HOLIDAY, introducing Grammy® nominated singer-songwriter Andra Day as Holiday.
The legendary Billie Holiday, one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time, spent much of her career being adored by fans across the globe. Beginning in the 1940’s in New York City, the federal government targeted Holiday in a growing effort to escalate and racialize the war on drugs, ultimately aiming to stop her from singing her controversial and heart-wrenching ballad, “Strange Fruit.”
THE UNITED STATES vs. BILLIE HOLIDAY unapologetically presents the icon’s complicated, irrepressible life. Screenplay Writer Suzan-Lori Parks, the first African American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, pens this intimate tale of a fierce trailblazer whose defiance through music helped usher in the civil rights movement.
Also featured in the film are NAACP Image Award® Nominee Trevante Rhodes and Emmy® Nominee Natasha Lyonne co-star along with Garrett Hedlund, Miss Lawrence, Rob Morgan, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Evan Ross, Tyler James Williams, Tone Bell, and Erik LaRay Harvey.
For Hedlund, who plays government official Harry J. Anslinger, the Minnesota native has a knack of playing opposite singers. He starred opposite R & B singers Tyrese Gibson in John Singleton’s Four Brothers, opposite country singer Tim McGraw in Country Strong, opposite Oscar nominated singer and actress Mary J. Blige in Dee Ree’s Mudbound and now Holiday.
As federal agent Sam Williams, one of the African American agents hired by Harry Anslinger, Ross grew up knowing the music of Holiday. His mother Diana Ross famously played Holiday in 1972’s Lady Sings the Blues, where the film was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Actress in a Leading Role. BlackFilmandTV.com’s Wilson Morales talks to Ross and Hedlund regarding their roles and experience working with Andra Day.
