Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / Actor David Oyelowo on starring in upcoming drama, Newborn

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Actor David Oyelowo on starring in upcoming drama, Newborn · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: On any given day, more than eighty thousand people are
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  Speaker 1: held in solitary confinement, sometimes for months or years at
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  Speaker 1: a time. The new film Newborn, starring Golden Globe, BAFTA
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  Speaker 1: and Emmy nominated actor David o'yelowo, who plays Chris Newborn,
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  Speaker 1: explores the psychological consequences of this form of extreme isolation
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  Speaker 1: after his character is released from prison, only to realize
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  Speaker 1: that freedom has become a terrifying psychological battleground. ABC's Riena
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  Speaker 1: Royce not down with the actor.
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  Speaker 2: I can't change the pass, but.
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  Speaker 3: When I can do is promise you I will never
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  Speaker 3: leave you again.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for being here tonight. First of all,
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  Speaker 2: congratulations on this beautiful film.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you.
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  Speaker 2: I have to say it is deeply moving, very complex,
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  Speaker 2: and it tackles some really tough issues. We're talking about
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  Speaker 2: the justice system in this country, the ethics of solitary confinement,
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  Speaker 2: and the struggles of mental illness. So I'm curious what
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  Speaker 2: the inspiration was behind this film.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it was to try and find a way to
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  Speaker 3: tell the truth of those things you've talked about in
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  Speaker 3: a way that is relatable, universal and palatable. To be
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  Speaker 3: perfectly honest, Solitary confinement is an incredibly debilitating truth of
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  Speaker 3: the judicial system here in America, But the story that
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  Speaker 3: is often told is of the incarceration, not necessarily what
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  Speaker 3: happens after. And Newborn is about Chris Newborn, who I play,
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  Speaker 3: and what happens after he is released from that, as
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  Speaker 3: you say, mentally very debilitating reality, and how he tries
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  Speaker 3: to reconnect with his family and.
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  Speaker 2: To prep for this role. You really did a deep
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  Speaker 2: dive on solitary confinement, learning about it and even speaking
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  Speaker 2: with people who have experienced it. So I'm curious what
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  Speaker 2: stayed with you and helps shape your performance.
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  Speaker 3: Well, what stayed with me is the fact that you're
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  Speaker 3: never the same again after you've been subjected to this.
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  Speaker 3: Richard Rosario, who I shadowed and who I spent a
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  Speaker 3: lot of time talking to about his experience of soldier confinement.
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  Speaker 3: He was wrongfully convicted, obviously of a crime that he
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  Speaker 3: didn't commit for twenty years, and seven of those were
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  Speaker 3: spent in soldier confinement, and a lot of my performance
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  Speaker 3: is based on the realities of what he told me.
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  Speaker 3: But also I was just deeply inspired by the fact
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  Speaker 3: that his wife stuck with him for those twenty years
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  Speaker 3: and that was what gave him any modicum of hope,
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  Speaker 3: any sort of light at the end of the tunnel,
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  Speaker 3: as it were. And so our film is a psychological
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  Speaker 3: thriller very much with a love story at the center
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  Speaker 3: of it between a man and a woman, but also
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  Speaker 3: between a father and a son. And you know, not
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  Speaker 3: everyone who is subjected to soldier confinement has hope or
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  Speaker 3: has liked at the end of the tunnel, but some do.
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  Speaker 3: And that's certainly the case with the story we've chosen
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  Speaker 3: to tell.
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  Speaker 2: And I understand that while you were taking on this role,
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  Speaker 2: you actually were dealing with a loss in your personal life,
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  Speaker 2: your father passing away the first day of filming.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, I really struggled with the idea of doing
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  Speaker 3: the film because my dad was dealing with stage four
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  Speaker 3: colon cancer at the time, and we shot this in Canada,
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  Speaker 3: so it was going to mean being away from home
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  Speaker 3: in la and my dad was staying with us while
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  Speaker 3: he was in that state. And I said to him,
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  Speaker 3: there's this film I am passionate about doing, but I
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  Speaker 3: simply cannot and will not do while you are dealing
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  Speaker 3: with what you're dealing with, And he borderline forced me
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  Speaker 3: to do it because he knows how passionate I am
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  Speaker 3: about storytelling. He knows that the things I tend to
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  Speaker 3: gravitate towards are not just pure entertainment. They are also
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  Speaker 3: meaningful in some way, certainly to me, and I hope
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  Speaker 3: therefore the audience. And so he was very adamant that
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  Speaker 3: I went and did it. And unfortunately, you know, two am,
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  Speaker 3: the day that we were supposed to start shooting before
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  Speaker 3: my five am pickup, I got the news and yeah,
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  Speaker 3: I look at the film now, and I even I
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  Speaker 3: can see that there is something going on that was
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  Speaker 3: tied to that loss as well.
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  Speaker 2: And it's what we would call, I guess, social commentary cinema.
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  Speaker 2: What do you hope the takeaway is when viewers watch us,
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  Speaker 2: what do you hope that they feel?
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  Speaker 3: I think everyone, if they're honest, deals with feelings of isolation.
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  Speaker 3: I think we literally felt that in the recent pandemic.
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  Speaker 3: But you know, we all have these moments where we
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  Speaker 3: are you sort of feel trapped in your own mind,
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  Speaker 3: trapped in your own circumstances. So I'm hoping people watch
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  Speaker 3: the film they're entertained by it because it's a rollercoaster ride.
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  Speaker 3: It's a psychological thriller. But at the end of the day,
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  Speaker 3: I hope the thing that they leave within the heart
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  Speaker 3: is the fact that that connection is what we are
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  Speaker 3: designed for as human beings, and when there's a lack
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  Speaker 3: of it, it's really detrimental.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's really what it's all about, and it was
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  Speaker 2: both entertaining and just so powerful. David, thank you so
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  Speaker 2: much for joining us. Newborn hits theaters on April tenth,
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  Speaker 2: exclusively at AMC Theaters,