How is Son of the South a call to action?
I was inspired by Bob Zellner and his story from the very beginning, from when I first met him decades ago. He is an example of somebody who put his action where his heart is and where his beliefs lie. I think a lot of his beliefs stem from the church he grew up in. So for me, Son of the South is a natural call to action because like Bob, we can’t turn away from what we perceive and what we see is wrong in the world.
Sadly to say, there’s always going to be things that are wrong in the world. There’s never going to be a perfect place and there’s always going to be a struggle. It comes down to, which side of the struggle, whatever the issue is, which side of the struggle are you going to find yourself on? The Son of the South raises the question, then what are you going to do about it?
Tell us about the film.
Son of the South is a feature film set in the Spring and Summer of 1961. It’s a story that begins in Montgomery, Alabama, and ends in McComb, Mississippi. It’s a story of the transition of a young man, Bob Zellner at that time, from being completely on the outside of the civil rights movement. In fact, at that moment, his grandfather was in the Ku Klux Klan in Birmingham. But by the end of that Summer, he’s pulled into the very center of the civil rights movement, and the very center of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. And it’s the story of how something like that can happen.
It’s a story of the crossroads that Bob comes to throughout that Spring and Summer. It’s a story about the amazing people he meets on that quick, short journey, who touch his life and influence him. And people that became giants, that were giants, Rosa Parks, Reverend Ralph Abernathy, John Lewis. All the other members of SNCC that had dedicated themselves and put their lives in the lines for the civil rights movement. Virginia Durr and Clifford Durr, who were the people that Rosa Parks called to get her out of jail when she was arrested in 1955. All of these people were people that crossed his path. Jessica Mitford, the Mitford sisters. It’s amazing just how many people in Montgomery, Alabama touched him and influenced him.
What does it take to make real change in 2021?
I don’t think it takes anything different than what it took 60 years ago to make real change. And that is dedication and, and not turning away. In Son of the South, Rosa Parks says to Bob Zellner, something real bad is going to happen right in front of
you one day. And you’re going to have to decide which side you are on. Not choosing, you got to make a choice, and she says, Because not choosing is a choice. And I think we saw that in this last year. You know, a year ago, George Floyd was killed, was murdered. And there was a demand to pay attention, to not
turn away from that and do something. And I think so many people did. Millions and millions of people were influenced and millions and millions of people became allies of the Black Lives Matter Movement, much like Bob did in Son of the South, in terms of the Civil Rights Movement. He did not turn away.
And I think that many of us have not turned away now. And real change comes little by little by little. And it is a constant, constant struggle for real change because there are always forces against change. And there is always forces for repression and oppression. They are not going to go away. So it is a thing of constantly having to renew the effort.
Tell us about how you chose the cast.
Well, frankly, six weeks before going into production, we didn’t have anyone. All of the actors who had said they would do the film had dropped out for various reasons, sometimes because they couldn’t find themselves playing… sometimes it’s some awful characters in the movie and sometimes just because of their own schedules, and that happens. So, six weeks before going into production, I had nobody. We had a great casting director out of LA Nancy Nayor, and then there was Eve Pomerance in New York who also did some casting out of New York. And by a miracle, the most amazing cast showed up. Shamier Anderson to play Reggie, Lucas Till to play Bob, Lucy Hale to play Carol Ann, Lex to play Joanne, Dexter Darden to play John Lewis, Julia Ormond to play Virginia Durr and on and on and on, and some great actors here in Alabama to play wonderful supporting roles. It’s a very, very strong cast and I can only say, I must have a guardian angel because in those final days going into production, just the most amazing set of actors showed up to populate this
movie.
I’m amazed is all I can say. Sharon Lanier, I mean, who plays Rosa Parks. I mean, in my opinion, that is the greatest performance of Rosa Parks I’ve ever seen. Cedric The Entertainer to play the Reverend Ralph Abernathy. I mean, I would have never guessed that Cedric would have shown up to come all the way here to play that part. And Brian Dennehy playing Bob’s grandfather and he was amazing, eerie, scary. It was his last portrayal and it was his last feature film and he knocked it out of the park. He was amazing.
Did I learn anything about myself in making this movie?
I must have learned many, many, many things. One of the things that I wanted with this movie is I really wanted to show up and direct this movie, and direct it well. I’d done other feature films in the past. I never felt that I was really truly a director, I’d always felt that I was an editor trying to direct. And this time I was a director, and dealt with it as a director, which meant that you show up every day and you’re in that moment. You’re in that
moment in the way that whatever has been written, well, that is not something that should be thought of as inflexible. You’ve got to work with those words, but on the set you’ve got to have flexibility to change and move, and rework it. So I told people, even though I wrote the script, I told people I’d banned the writer from the set.
And in terms of post-production, you cover the scene, but at the same time, you just do things that you might have to work out later. But at the moment, as a director on the set, you do it because it feels right. Not because you think, well, okay, this will be good for the editing room. Because sometimes it’s better to create problems for the editor. I was the editor, so, I mean, sometimes there were problems later that I had to solve as the editor. But those are three very distinct jobs, writing, directing and editing. And I think I was relatively happy with myself that I could show up as the writer, and then I could show up as the director, and then I could show up the editor. And these three people rarely met each other.
On May 20, 2021, the 60th anniversary of the seminal Freedom Rides that helped launch the 1960s civil rights movement was celebrated at the Freedom Rides Museum with an in-person and virtual event featuring some of the original Freedom Riders, activists from that period and entertainment.
The event was a joint presentation of the Freedom Rides Museum and the filmmakers of “Son of the South,” a movie based on events of the early civil right movement. The event was only one part of a year-long commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the Freedom Rides, which includes a vintage bus tour to enliven the spirit and re-enact some of the events of 1961: “Retracing the Journey. Passing the Torch.”
What impressed me the most about the 60th anniversary of the Freedom Riders coming to Montgomery?
What impressed me the most was being with three of the original Freedom Riders. Ronaldo Lafayette, Catherine Burks-Brooks, and Rip Patton. I love their take on it and I’ve always loved
being around those people that were in the fight on the front lines of the Civil Rights movement because they have a different sense of this whole thing. And they have a way of talking about it that is so real and so personal with a sense of humor, a lack of arrogance about it. They are not so impressed with themselves.
You see the people they were 60 years ago. And then now, I mean, they’re now in their eighties. They are no longer a 20 something year old activist, but it takes them back to being those people they were because they still are those people. And so hearing Catherine Burks-Brooks talk about, she says, I had
waited for this all my life and I wasn’t afraid. I had to do this. I was there for this fight. All of them were there for the fight and they were there hook, line and sinker. They succeeded because they could not be defeated.
And man, you’re with these people and in their presence and only a few feet away from them. And man, you can feel it and you can feel that power. And you understand, even though they were up against a lot of power and a lot of mean people and people that want to be just as happy as anything for them to be done with, to be killed actually, that they had such resolve that there was no way you were going to beat them. They had already beat the system by taking themselves out of the system and with a will and
determination that had the ultimate power and the ultimate strength. That’s what impressed me because you could still feel it 60 years later being around these people.
Jules Lavallee is a Celebrity Writer in LA.