Exclusive: Frankie Faison talks The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
Now playing in select theaters and on demand from Gravitas Ventures is the socially conscious drama thriller, The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain, written and directed by David Midell and starring Frankie Faison.
The film tells the true story of the final hours of the life of Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. (Frankie Faison), an elderly African American veteran with bipolar disorder, who was killed in 2011, during a conflict with police officers who were sent to his home to check on him, when his medical alert device was mistakenly activated. Despite Chamberlain informing the officers there was a mistake and he did not have an emergency, they were recorded taunting him, ridiculing his military service, howling racial epithets at him, and finally, the officers broke his door down and shot him twice in the chest, and no charges were brought against the police in a 2012 jury trial.
Best known for his roles in HBO’s The Wire, Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing and Hannibal Lecter franchise, and countless other projects, Faison has a career that spans 50 years in the TV, film, and theater world. He was last seen in the Amazon feature I’m Your Woman and Netflix’s Fatherhood, opposite Kevin Hart. BlackFilmandTV.com’s Wilson Morales spoke with Faison about playing this individual and what inspires him to say yes to the projects he takes.