Director Barry Alexander Brown brings real-live activist Bob Zellner’s story to the screen in Son of The South, which will be out on February 5. In the biopic, the grandson of a Klansman finds himself on the opposite side fighting for civil rights alongside great figures of the time like Rosa Parks.
Brown and Cedric the Entertainer, who plays activism leader Reverend Abernathy, spoke to Screen Rant about embodying the history of the tale and bringing past themes into the present.
You've known Bob for a long time. What inspired you to tell his story now?
Barry Alexander Brown: Back when I first met Bob, in the 80s, he would tell me story after story after story about his time with SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and working in various places in the South and the Civil Rights movement. They were amazing stories; a really big story to me. It was epic, in of his own experience.
I knew that there was a movie in there somewhere, and it took me another 20 years to even figure out what that was. And then another 10 years to make the movie.
One of the cool things that I was able to kind of discover about this film is finding out who Reverend Abernathy was. Cedric, can you talk a little bit about him, for those that may not know?
Cedric the Entertainer: Yeah, he was one of the true leaders of the time, and a person who really fought against social injustice and for civil rights. Because he was the partner of Dr. Martin Luther King, who became this dominant figure, you would think that he was just a side man. But he was not; he was his own man.
And that's what was really important, and that I thought was great about this role - to show that he was his own guy, and that he was a person literally on the frontlines of the fight. Also he had the ability to know that Dr. King was this great orator that people gravitated to. You can play back; just go and play your role. That's kind of important in all cases, to know where you rock in your position. He did Scottie Pippen the civil rights, if you will, and he's still a legend.
Barry, we recently lost Brian Dennehy. Can you share any stories about what he brought to the role of Bob's grandfather?
Barry Alexander Brown: Brian was great. I was just so knocked out that he would play the role of Bob Zellner's grandfather.
But also, the very first scene we shot with him, which was one of the very first things we shot, was this bench scene in a park. He is saying just the worst stuff; awful, awful stuff. Brian was so good at making those words real, and making that character alive. I was sitting there, and I'm just thinking, "Who wrote this stuff? This is awful." Then I think, "Oh, my God. I wrote it."
Because he took it somewhere else, and he made it so real. Every line and every word just has truth to it. This is a real guy. This is what these guys really talked like; this is how they were.
At the end of the day, this film has a message of hope to me. One of the most important lines comes from Rosa Parks, where she says, "There's gonna come a time where something really bad happens in front of you, and you're gonna have to decide which side you're on. And not choosing is a choice." Cedric, and Barry, what would you like audiences to take away from that?
Barry Alexander Brown: It's the theme of the movie. You can't stand on the sidelines. There is no sidelines in life. There isn't. You think, "I don't have to have an opinion about this. I don't have to do anything. I don't have to ever say anything." But you are saying something, and you are on the wrong side.