The story behind Greg Kwedar’s Sing Sing, which opens this Friday at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, is nearly as inspiring as that of the film itself. The great Colman Domingo plays John “Divine G” Whitfield, a soulful writer and actor incarcerated in the titular prison who finds artistic release and community in a robust and vibrant theater program. More than simply based on a true story, the film’s very existence is a testament to the healing power of the arts: apart from Domingo and a small handful of others, nearly the entire cast is made up of actual alumni of Rehabilitation Through the Arts, playing semi-fictionalized versions of themselves and making their voices heard. The film is a labor of love for Kwedar, who co-wrote the screenplay with the real Divine G, along with fellow alum Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin (who also serves as co-lead opposite Domingo). I sat down with Kwedar shortly before the film’s local premiere at IFFBoston earlier this year to discuss the film’s origins, the power of artistic expression, and the challenges of mounting a time-travel comedy involving Prince Hamlet and Freddy Krueger.
BOSTON HASSLE: I’m curious to know how this movie came about. What drew you to the project?
GREG KWEDAR: I’ve been working on this for over eight years. I first discovered this story when I was producing a short documentary inside of a maximum security prison in Kansas. It was my first time ever behind the walls. We were doing a doc about something else, but on the tour of the facility I passed by a cell, and there was a young man raising a rescue dog inside. Immediately, all of my expectations about prison and incarcerated people were flipped on [their] head, because I saw the healing that was happening in both directions between this man and this animal. I was just desperate to know more of who was doing things differently out there. That night in my hotel room I literally got on Google and typed in, “Who is doing things differently in prison?” And this program, Rehabilitation Through the Arts in New York, was at the top of the search field. They’ve been covered in all the major press, and they’ve done all the classic plays from Shakespeare to On the Waterfront, but this Esquire piece that I read that night about a time-traveling musical comedy called Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code just captured my imagination. There’s something in the tone of it, of the playfulness, of the work against such a dark backdrop, [that] felt like life to me. It felt like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest meets a Michel Gondry film.
BH: How did you get into this world? Was Divine G your contact, or did you reach out to someone else?
GK: It was actually first Brent Buell, the writer of Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code and a tenured volunteer. Brent [said] “If you want to know about this story, you need to meet the real guys who lived it,” and he organized a breakfast. Literally the first man to walk through the door was Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin. You know, [some] performers have that essence, that aura, it’s just like a magnetism– when he walked through the door, I was just like, “Whoa, that’s a movie star!” And then Divine G was the next man through the door, and his presence was a different kind of energy. It was his passion, his conviction, his poetry. And those seeds were planted, really, in that first breakfast.
BH: Divine G, obviously, is the main character in the film, but he’s also one of the few who’s not actually played by himself, though he is in it as a cameo. Would it be correct to assume that he had a hand in developing the film at all?
GK: Yeah. Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin and Divine G both share a story credit on this film, and that’s not just like a thank you. It really was an intricate part of the storytelling process for us. We really leaned on both of them to capture the pivotal moments of their lives, but also the textures and all of the unique details of their own lived experience.
BH: I went into the movie blind, and did not realize that so many of the people were playing themselves. Through the entire thing I kept trying to think, “Oh, man, what do I know that guy from?” Had any of them done any film work before, or had they only appeared on stage?
GK: If any, only minor opportunities. This was all of their first major feature film experience– in particular, Clarence Maclin. But that was one of the powerful things about this experience, the exchange of established actors, like Colman [Domingo] and Paul Raci and Sean San Jose, coming into a space with actors that had a lot of stage experience, but from this really specific context of which the story is based on. And they’re both teaching each other, and it’s in that alchemy that it becomes elevated, and I think ultimately becomes something transcendent. One without the other I don’t think would make this movie as special as it is.
BH: What was the process like working with Colman, especially since he had to sort of inhabit this character in a way?
GK: Well, Colman, beyond just being an actor, is also a producer on the film, and at every key benchmark of this process he really held us to a high standard. He holds himself to a very high standard as a performer, and he held the production to that. I think one of the things that’s beautiful about his work on this project is he’s such a commanding presence in this movie, but he’s also generous and lets other people shine. It’s really hard to do both of those things at the same time, to take up as much space as he does and to draw the camera to him, but also cede the floor. I don’t know how he pulled it off. And also he’s just someone who’s always exploring and trying things. I never wanted to call cut! [laughs] I really didn’t– something was always happening. The last thing I’ll say about his performance is he really set a North Star. He wanted his performance to carry three pillars: for it to be honest, for it to be elegant, and for it to be tender. And I think he delivered on that.
BH: You mentioned that you worked with Divine G and Clarence on the screenplay. I’m curious, did any of the other cast members shape the film at all with their own experiences?
GK: Oh, without a doubt. One, it was very hard in casting, with [producer] Monique [Walton] and myself and the real Brent, who was helpful in this, to even explain what exactly we’re doing: “It’s a play that you were in when you were inside at Sing Sing, but we’re not doing the whole play, only parts of it. And we’re also doing this other movie, and you’re playing yourself, but not really yourself!” But I think one of the really special parts about the experience was those moments where we just set the room and the moment and then turned the camera on, and everything that poured forth was from their own voice. I think those are my favorite parts of the movie.
BH: You mentioned that not many of them had done much film work, but do any of them have any other projects lined up? Do you know if any of them are planning on further work?
GK: For a lot of them this sort of reignited their passion for performance. Many of our cast are working in a lot of different professions now– a lot in education, particularly [with] at-risk youth. And yet, a few of them are really resolute in pursuing this as a career, particularly Clarence Maclin. He was a movie star in my eyes when he walked through the door eight years ago, and I think the world is about to anoint him as one very soon. And Sean “Dino” Johnson also, who’s the one who says “We’re here to be human again” at that moment in the movie. He was one of the standouts during his time in the program, and you just can’t take your eyes off of him. He’s such a wonderful soul. Both of them now have representation, and I think we’ll see a lot from them soon.
BH: Your last film was Jockey, which is also excellent. Both are about these worlds that people might not necessarily think about. Did you see a throughline between those two films?
GK: Yeah. I was in a unique position on Jockey in that I co-wrote and produced it, but my creative partner, Clint [Bentley], directed it, so I was sort of watching on the sidelines as he was crafting this beautiful movie. There was a moment in which we had a bunch of jockeys sit in a circle in a room and just tell stories from their lives. And it was so magical, we ran through so many cards of footage, hours and hours of it, and I was just like, “What if we could double down on that, and what if we could push that further, and what if it was not just a moment of the film, but actually the anchor of the film?”
BH: What do you hope people might take away from this film– especially people like me, who went in completely blind? What do you hope that people see in it?
GK: There’s a lot to hold on to. For one, it’s kind of a permission to feel again. All those things that that movie is working on in you, it’s okay to express them, and you’re not alone in that. I hope people see the human potential behind the walls. A big part of this experiment was to push the wall down and have a camera draw very close to the face of these men, to make you look them in the eye and see the fullness of their humanity. And also, I hope people take away just the power and beauty of friendship, and that friends in their lives they lean a little closer on.
BH: One last question that I feel like I have to ask: Did you end up shooting the entire play of Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code, and if so, is there any way we can see that?
GK: Well, if you’ll recall from the movie, [the play] was 147 pages! [laughs] And it came together really at the end of development. I used to always be like, “And then they do a bit from a rehearsal part of Mummy’s Code.” And all the departments were like, “Well, what part of Mummy’s Code?” And I was like, “Oh, we’ll get there.” It was more about charting [the journey] for Divine G, and particularly for Divine Eye’s character. Those are the ones we really need to see in the full scope of where they began and where they ended, [because] they ended in very different places. And then, around that, it’s about, “Where’s the joy in the other moments in the play?” Like, if we’re talking about [how] Freddy Krueger is somehow in this in this script, we need to at least get a glimpse of that moment. But yes, a secret dream of mine– not so secret anymore, I guess– is I would love to see Mummy’s Code remounted out in the world for everyone to see.
Sing Sing
2024
dir. Greg Kwedar
105 min.
Opens Friday, 8/2 @ Coolidge Corner Theatre
