Exclusive: Letitia Wright Talks Small Axe’s Mangrove
Starting this week on Amazon Prime Video is Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology, which will start with Mangrove starring Letitia Wright and Shaun Parkes on Friday, November 20. A new film premiering each Friday as follows: Lovers Rock on 11/27 starring Micheal Ward & Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn, Red, White and Blue on 12/4 starring John Boyega, Alex Wheatle on 12/11 with newcomer Sheyi Cole, and the final film Education on 12/18 featuring Kenyah Sandy.
Small Axe is an anthology series comprised of five original films set from the late 1960s to the mid 1980s that tell personal stories from London's West Indian community, whose lives have been shaped by their own force of will despite rampant racism and discrimination. The title is derived from the African proverb, “If you are the big tree, we are the small axe.”
Mangrove centers on Frank Crichlow (Shaun Parkes), the owner of Notting Hill’s Caribbean restaurant, Mangrove, a lively community base for locals, intellectuals and activists. In a reign of racist terror, the local police raid Mangrove time after time, making Frank and the local community take to the streets in peaceful protest in 1970. When nine men and women, including Frank and leader of the British Black Panther Movement Altheia Jones-LeCointe (Letitia Wright), and activist Darcus Howe (Malachi Kirby), are wrongly arrested and charged with incitement to riot, a highly publicized trial ensues, leading to hard-fought win for those fighting against discrimination.
Letitia Wright (Black Panther), Shaun Parkes (Lost in Space), and Malachi Kirby (Curfew) star alongside Rochenda Sandall (Line of Duty), Jack Lowden (The Long Song), Sam Spruell (Snow White and the Huntsmen), Gershwyn Eustache (The Gentleman), Nathaniel Martello-White (Collateral), Richie Campbell (Liar), Jumayn Hunter (Les Miserables), and Gary Beadle (Summer of Rockets). Mangrove was co-written by Alastair Siddons and Steve McQueen.
BlackFilmandTV.com spoke with Wright about her role as Altheia Jones-LeCointe and working with Steve McQueen.
What made you say yes to this project?
Letitia Wright: Off the bat, Steve McQueen. That name is already respected and honored within our film industry. When a Steve McQueen project comes through on your email, through the post, however it gets to you, you are going to pay attention. Secondly, the fact that he was taking the time to do five films that would predominantly focus on the West Indian community, which I am so attached to, being someone who was born in Guyana and raised a little bit till I was seven. I still carry the culture here and still represent the country here in the UK. So the opportunity to represent our people in that sense, and another part was the diaspora we don't see a lot. We see African Americans, we see African stories all the time, and Brazilian movies and stuff, but just to be able to represent that in the UK has been brilliant. That added to my yes.
How much of the Mangrove story did you know?
Letitia Wright: From the time I received the script, that's my first knowledge of it. I'm surprised I didn't know it. It wasn't taught to me or it wasn't something that circulated within our community. So many hidden stories about the black experience here in the UK has been hidden. A few stories have been taken to the forefront. And we honor those stories, too. But yeah, I didn't know much about it, but very honored that we are taking the time now to look at these stories, not just from the Mangrove perspective, but also Red, White and Blue with John Boyega, and Lovers Rock with the vibe of love and celebration of music. Just on a wider spectrum. Just all these beautiful stories.
How much more can you say about your character? How would you relate to her?
Letitia Wright: Altheia Jones-LeCointe is one of those beautiful human beings who didn't set out to be a member of the Black Panther movement just because it was a choice or a random thought. She's someone who is very good and calculated in a decision. She's someone that came to the country, in the UK in the 60s, to study biochemistry. She was on an educational path. She still continued that throughout the years and throughout her life, and she's still alive and with us, thankfully. She is just someone who saw a problem an wanted to be a help towards the solution. She's someone that was very adamant about organization of our communities, organization of ourselves as people. She’s someone that was willing to fight for equality in a way that most people are a little bit afraid of, and she took that stand for us. She's a wife, she's a mother and she's the the everyday woman, but she was she was phenomenal. She still is phenomenal in all that she did to represent and to support us as black people by using her voice to bring change. That's a little bit of some extra information on Althea Jones-LeConte.
Did you do research about the Black Panther Party in England and if their philosophy was the same the party in America?
Letitia Wright: Of course. Again, not everything they adapted, meaning, not every aspect of the approach of the Black Panther Party in the US, was taken on board by the Black Panther movement in the UK. But it was definitely a family tree. You have a huge branch. You have the headquarters, and then you have the other aspects of that branch of people and different aspects of the world. I did a lot of research. They definitely had connections to the folks in Oakland, to the headquarters in Oakland, but they definitely wanted to focus in and hone in on what was happening within their community to bring change and inspiration.
We saw Angela Davis represent herself. Correct me if I'm wrong, I think Assata Shakur represented itself? We witnessed a lot of Black Panther members representing themselves and knowing the law and knowing their rights. That's something that was of inspiration to those back in the UK, because they saw the system firsthand. They saw what was happening firsthand when they did go into the courts and see the unfair treatments, and that the lawyers wasn't really representing the person that they're meant to be fighting for know, in a right way. So the Black Panther movement, including Altheia, just knew off the bat that it needed to educate themselves on the law, and how to fight for themselves and represent themselves and take that head on, so it mirrors each other.
How was working with Steve McQueen? What did you pick up from his directing skills that you can take on to your next project?
Letitia Wright: Steve McQueen is someone that everybody wants to work with. It was a beautiful thing to be able to cross that off my, list of favorite directors I really wanted to work with. Just working with him and watching him take my future to be an artist. He's done some of the biggest and most beautiful movies, and he's done them in a sense of craftsmanship and being a true filmmaker. He's been able to educate me and show me that once you have something of substance, you can still get the same level of promotion and praise and backing if you believe in yourself. He definitely taught me that and that's something I'm going to take with me as I continue to apply myself to be an artist and someone who loves and cherish his stories and my craft as best as I can.
What goes into saying yes to projects you take?
Letitia Wright: The story. What can I contribute to it? Is it going to help move society forward? Is it going to impact the audience members that is going to come and spend their money there? The story. That's the anchor of my decisions. Is it meaningful? Does it have purpose? And secondly, the crew, the people that want that you're going to spend a majority of your time making this film. Are they people that you can work with and you want to learn from? I always look for places where I can be challenged, and not only as a contributor, but also someone that can learn. I always look for the spaces in which I can learn something new.