Ruth Negga - From Addis Ababa To The Hollywood A-List, Part 2
The Irish-Ethiopian actress on how a major disappointment early in her career led to the role of a lifetime.
“Was I disappointed?” she guffaws [when asked about being cut out of 12 Years A Slave]. “I was gutted! But Steve McQueen let me down gently. And if it wasn’t for 12 Years A Slave, I’d never have met [casting director] Francine Maisler. And if it wasn’t for Francine, I mightn’t have been casting in Loving.”
Ah, Loving - the film one might all a game-changer had that phrase not been robbed of all meaning thanks to its overuse. Written and directed by Jeff Nichols - whose five films to date belong on any list of the best movies of the 21st century - Loving tells the story of Richard and Mildred Loving who commit the terrible sin of getting married and having a child. Because in Virginia in the 1950s, a union between a white man and a black woman was a criminal offence punishable by jail time or banishment from the Mother of States.
As horrific as it is extraordinary, the Lovings’ case prompted a landmark Supreme Court decision. But as Negga explains, Richard and Mildred’s tale is one that American history has overlooked.
“Richard and Mildred changed the constitution. For that alone, they should be respected and recognised as important civil rights pioneers. So why is it that most of the people I know had never heard of them? I might have known more than most as I’d read Mildred Loving’s obituary in 2008, after which I tracked down every article
I could find about her and Richard. And then, when I auditioned for Jeff, he sent me Nancy Buirski’s [2008 HBO documentary] The Loving Story.”
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