"I don't think we're seeing the last of a Harriet Tubman story, and I hope the floodgates are open now that we'll see more Harriet stories and more William stories," Odom Jr., who portrays William Still, told In Studio.
00:03And you're in studio with The Hollywood Reporter.
00:09Well, first of all, thank you guys for being here.
00:12I've admired you guys for so many years as performers,
00:16the magnitude of your talent,
00:18and now to see it in Harriet, I just had chills.
00:22So, 2016 was a big year for you both,
00:26winning Best Actor and Actress at the Tonys
00:29for Hamilton and The Color Purple.
00:31And now you're being able to share another big year together
00:35with Harriet.
00:36What is it like to be able to be a part of this film together?
00:40That's pretty awesome.
00:42This is my good, good friend, who I love daily,
00:45and just being able to share big moments like this
00:49is always really special.
00:51It means, you know, you're on your own
00:53and you get to share some wonderful things with each other,
00:57I'm having a good time with them.
01:00Yeah.
01:01And everybody, I mean, everybody should be lucky enough
01:03to have a friend like Cynthia Erivo.
01:05Yeah.
01:06She's just fiercely loyal, protective, supportive,
01:10and, you know, also like a talented, wonderful scene partner too.
01:14It's like, it's a dream.
01:16Now this film is such an incredible and also important piece of storytelling.
01:23Did you face any challenges when it came to playing these roles?
01:29Because I imagine there's a sense of pressure
01:32when it comes to playing someone like Harriet Tubman and William Still.
01:35For me, it's more a responsibility.
01:41That's really the thing that I was feeling,
01:44to be able to try to tell her story as fully and as truthfully as I possibly could.
01:50And I take the responsibility quite very, very seriously
01:53and I wanted to do as much as I could to make sure that I could do that,
01:57to make sure that I don't let anyone down.
02:00There is the want to make sure that people are happy with what they see,
02:05learn something from it, that I do her justice, that she is happy
02:09because I do believe that she has some agency in this, Harriet.
02:13So yes, I guess the challenge is, there are many of them.
02:19For me, we had long, long days in the middle of the forest.
02:24At night, when it was freezing cold,
02:26one of those days was in the water at 37 degrees
02:30and you're trying to figure out how to make that work
02:33and get rid of any fear you might have
02:36to be able to do the story, do the job fully.
02:41I had made the decision to do as many of the stunts as I possibly could,
02:47to be a part of as much as I possibly could
02:50because I wanted to be able to tell the story fully
02:52and I felt like that was what was going to encourage that.
02:56As a follow-up, what was it like to be able to play the father of the Underground Railroad?
03:01Because not many people have been able to see his story come to life in this way.
03:06Oh, I mean, I think, I imagine there'll be, you know, William's story will be more fully told at some point.
03:16You know, I've said before too, I, you know, I don't think we're seeing the last of Harriet either.
03:25You know, maybe the first, but I don't think we're seeing the last of a Harriet Tubman story, you know.
03:29I hope that the floodgates are open now and that we'll see more Harriet stories, that we'll see a William story.
03:37Because it, I mean, there's, you know, you delve a little bit into those narratives that he compiled.
03:43You know, the Underground Railroad was a book also, you know, of escaped slaves, you know, that when they would find themselves on William's doorstep,
03:56he risked his life to record their stories of courage and bravery and, you know, cunning and, you know, to make it to freedom.
04:10So, I mean, I think there's, there's lots of movies. I think there's lots of movies in there.
04:14A big, big part of this film was music and faith. So how vital was that in telling the story and specifically telling Harriet's story?
04:23Very vital. And both, both factors are recorded about her. She, she is known to have said that God would give her messages and she would follow them.
04:35One of which, which is in the film, is when she's, she was told that there was, that she needed to go left because she could, there was danger somewhere else and she needed to go left.
04:45So she went left. And it turns out that there was like a siege happening. So she, they had been infiltrated and someone had, they would have been cut off if they had gone in the other direction.
04:54And she would speak about it often. And most of her friends that, who knew her would say that they didn't know if that was the case, but she believed it.
05:05So they were inclined to believe it too. As for music, it's just a big part of the history in general.
05:13It was used as a way to communicate and a way to stay safe when you needed to tell something to someone that might get you killed in some cases, if, if it was heard, spoken.
05:26And singing is the way in which she communicated to let people know she was there or when she was leaving. I just happened to be lucky enough to be a part of being able to do that.
05:36Yeah. And, and I think you had mentioned that, that Harriet, finding Harriet's voice was, was different than, than your own singing voice.
05:45So how were you able to kind of zero in on what Harriet's voice was?
05:51For me, music is like a second language. And it's probably his second language too, or first, maybe.
05:58And I guess knowing my voice well enough, I know where the facets of my voice are and what I have in it.
06:06And it was about looking at her, trying to see into her, figuring out where she might place her voice, where she might speak.
06:15I knew, I know I'm a soprano, but I didn't feel like that's what she was. I didn't feel like that's where her voice lived.
06:22It felt like just because of the work she was doing and the work that I was doing for her to bring her to life,
06:29felt like it was deeper, more grounded. So both Casey and I sort of set about trying to find out what that might sound like.
06:41And we sort of found a place in my chest, sort of like an alto sound to tell her story.
06:48And what was it like working with Casey Lemons?
06:51Janine.
06:52Yeah.
06:53She's incredible. This woman is a genius and she's extremely kind.
06:58And did the work that, because I think she understands what it is to be an actor,
07:05because she is one and has been one and now has put that experience into her work as a director.
07:12I think she did the research that we would both do, if not more.
07:17I think she spent like 17 weeks, seven weeks something, researching, reading everything.
07:25I think it was longer.
07:27Yeah.
07:28She had a year and then, and then, and had met every kind of her.
07:32Yeah, she just did pure research.
07:34Just pure reading and research.
07:36She put everything into this. And that first day on set, she and I, we sort of locked eyes.
07:43We just knew what we were here for. And I knew every day why she was here and what she wanted to do with this.
07:50And I knew that it was, she was pure of heart. I knew that she was using Harriet as her, her guiding light, her guiding force.
07:57And she, there was just a fire in her to be able to tell this story.
08:01And you had mentioned that you had a spiritual experience when you filmed the freedom scene.
08:08Do you mind talking a little bit about that?
08:10So, the day was terrible. It was rainy and grey. The sun did not really come out at all. It was dark the whole time.
08:21We had a lot to shoot. We had been going for a really long time. And I had about five different changes throughout the day.
08:30And we had gotten to maybe the second to last one. And I got a message that Casey wanted to shoot the freedom scene, the crossing over into freedom.
08:40And I was just like, there's no way we're going to get this done. We're not going to get it done.
08:45Because I'm stubborn, I do the opposite to what most people would do. Instead of slowing down, saying we're not going to get it done.
08:52I was like, right, I'm going to get ready on time because I know we're not going to get it done.
08:54So I'm going to be ready before everybody else. And I'm going to be right there and I'm going to be ready to shoot this.
08:59It just, everyone was under the impression that this would not happen.
09:05So we get to the, we're on like this hill and I have to pull up in a horse and carriage, like a buggy almost.
09:16And I get there and get out of the carriage and the sky starts to go. So we're like, okay, that's great.
09:23And then we get to the point where I jump over into freedom and the sky literally parts. The sun comes out.
09:33It's this bright orange, yellow, red ball in the sky. The sky is like stripes of purple and it's just mad.
09:44And then to my right is a double rainbow. And I was like, no one is going to believe that this is real.
09:52Everyone is going to think that this is CGI. And I'm looking around, everyone is in tears.
09:59We all just like, okay. And I think for me, I was like, all right, good one. It's really great.
10:08Because we all just knew that it was not of us. It wasn't a normal occurrence.
10:12It felt like it was a spiritual moment. It felt like it had come from God and from her.
10:17And I think we were all willing to admit it. Even the hardest of hearts couldn't have escaped that.
10:26And even seeing that scene, it was picture perfect.
10:30And we shot it maybe once. Wow.
10:33It was crazy.
10:36Now also in this film, you have Clark Peters, Janelle Monae, Jennifer Nettles, Joe Alwyn, who is also so incredible in this film.
10:46What was it like to be able to work with such a talented cast and also many of them fellow musicians?
10:52Yeah.
10:53You know, whenever these things happen, you know, sometimes they take a long time to happen.
11:00I know they've been talking about making the Harriet Tubman movie for a really long time.
11:04And, you know, whenever they happen, I just, whenever I'm lucky enough to land into these moments,
11:11I just feel, you know, blessed and lucky that, for whatever reason, it waited around until I could be a part of it.
11:23You know, because certainly if it had been made five minutes ago, I wouldn't have been a part of it.
11:29So, yeah, it was, you know, for such a time as this, you know, it felt like those people had gathered together in front of the camera, behind the camera.
11:39I think, you know, everybody just felt lucky to be there.
11:44Yeah.
11:45Between all these musicians, did you ever have any jam sessions on set?
11:49I mean, you have to take that opportunity.
11:51I don't think we did.
11:52No, we didn't.
11:53We didn't.
11:54I did, because I remember I was, like, devouring Janelle's album, like, during that time.
12:00So I did take the, you know, I tried not to annoy her too much, but I did take the opportunity to, like, talk her ear off a little bit about that record.
12:08We went to see her.
12:09We did.
12:10We went to see her and got her, like, whilst we were doing it, yeah.
12:13We did.
12:14It was like she hadn't even started.
12:17It was her first date.
12:18It was, like, her first or second date.
12:19She played in Canada.
12:20Yeah.
12:21And we went.
12:22Yeah.
12:23She was awesome.
12:24But, yeah.
12:25It was just before we started.
12:26Yeah.
12:27So what do you guys hope that people take away from this film?
12:31I hope that people see this film and understand that they have the power to change the world.
12:44That if a person who has very little means can find the strength and power and will and determination within themselves, even though nobody else believes that they have that in them, could risk their lives to save many people and achieve that.
13:05We don't really have any excuses.
13:07So I want people to know that they, if they put their minds to it, if they want to change things, they can.
13:16And I want to make sure that people look at this and see that we come from a past that is bitter, but the sweetness is that someone took the responsibility to move us forward.
13:33But we should look through that as a warning that we shouldn't go backwards.
13:36And we should keep trying to find the sweet people in this world that will keep changing it.
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