Washington, September 14
Singer-songwriter and actor Andra Day, who was recently seen playing the role of Ebony Jackson, a demon-possessed mother in the supernatural horror film, 'The Deliverance', will be seen playing the character of a protective mom in an independent drama film, titled 'Exhibiting Forgiveness', written and directed by Titus Kaphar, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film will hit theatres on October 18.
The film draws inspiration from Kaphar's life experience. In the movie, Andra plays Aisha, a singer-songwriter and the wife of Tarrell Rodin, played by Andre Holland, a well-known painter and father. "Then his estranged father, La'Ron (John Earl Jelks), a recovering addict, unexpectedly reappears and attempts to repair their relationship at the urging of Rodin's mother Joyce (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), as per The Hollywood Reporter.
Recently, during the Los Angeles premiere of the film, Andra Day shared her working experience with co-star Andre Holland.
"I miss him so bad right now; I call him 'bestie,' that's my best friend," said Andra.
She added that working with him has always been her "bucket list". "I have to tell you, working with him was a bucket list [item] because he, I always tell people, he's your favourite actor's favourite actor. He's like the Jazmine Sullivan of acting where everybody's like, 'So that's actually the best singer.' He's actually the best actor. He's really incredible. Working with him was a great lesson in nuance and how to make something so loud while being subdued at the same time. He's a genius to work with," she shared.
The 'Moonlight' actor has spent three months studying along with Kaphar in his Connecticut studio. to get into the skin of his character, he learned how to paint as he is playing the role of a painter in the film.
Andra also gave her best and spent six days post-shoot working with composer Jherek Bischoff and writing the song 'Bricks'. Indeed, she also worked hard for playing the character perfectly on screen.
"The story of the song was that forgiveness is a hard-bought battle. And what I grabbed most from these characters was their ability to create a reality and create a future for themselves and their kids that they've not experienced," said Day, adding, "When you come from a history of abuse, for you to be able to create an environment of peace and of joy and prosperity, that's beautiful. That was where my mind was when it came to writing the lyrics."
Kaphar shared that he didn't have an ideal cast in mind for his debut feature, owing to the fact that he didn't set out to produce a film, but rather developed a series of paintings based on childhood recollections, which eventually lead him to try his hand at writing a script.
"I thought that I had worked through my ish. But on set, watching Andre go through what I went through, there was a compassion that I could have for him that I couldn't have for myself.
"When I saw him go through it, I just, I broke," Kaphar added. "I started crying. I was sobbing. And I'm not that dude to be sitting around sobbing and crying. But in that moment what I realized is there's a lot that I have to go through still. There's a lot of healing to be done," concluded Kaphar , as per The Hollywood Reporter.