The tragic story of Emmitt Till, a young black boy whose life was cut short in 1955 in racist Mississippi has finally made its way to the big screen, thanks to Oscar-Award-winning actress, Whoopi Goldberg, who executive produced the biopic Till, starring two actors of Caribbean heritage.
Sean Patrick Thomas, who this reporter had featured in Caribbean life in 2014, when he put on a gripping performance in the Tony Winning Best Revival Play during a sold out four-month run at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, is once again making history in “Till.” He plays the role of Gene Mobley, the third husband of Mamie Till, mother of Emmett.
The movie will be out on Friday, Oct. 28.
The “Barbershop” actor, who had said, “Whatever I accomplished in my life is all due to my Guyanese upbringing and the beautiful culture I am a part of,” told the New York Post that, “not many people know about him (Emmett’s surrogate father) and the role that he played, so I felt a great sense of responsibility to him and to his family, to do him justice.”
The very talented actor who has been busy in Hollywood, starring, in “Deep in the Woods,” “Halloween Resurrection,” “Murder on the 13th Floor,” “Merry-Ex Mas,” and last year, in Lifetime TV’s “Christmas Hotel,” among many others, in a recent interview with Hollywood Insider, expressed how the subject matter about “Till” was treated with tenderness, respect and honor.
“I think everybody from the top to the bottom conducted themselves with that spirit. What I would want the audience to take away from this film is that even though this happened in 1955, it’s still happening now. There are still black people in this country who are attacked or even killed because they are black and I hope that people can watch this movie and make a connection between what happened to Emmett Till, and what is still happening now,” he said.
“The advice I would have for young activists is that a simple act of courage can go a long way, when you think about the young lady who videotaped what happened to George Floyd that’s what I’m talking about, she did something simple but it took a tremendous amount of bravery and she literally changed the world just by taping what happened to George Floyd, and so we’re all capable of that, and I just want everybody to be assured in the knowledge and in the confidence that they are capable of it too,” said the Delaware native.
Gem Marc Collins, born to Vincentian parents Garton Collins and Hesbon Griffin-Collins, formerly of San Souci, St. Vincent, plays Wheeler Parker Junior, the cousin of Emmett, in the historical drama ‘Till’, according to Searchlight News.
The newspaper published that Collins, a student at the Oglethorpe University in Georgia, sat for a virtual interview with SEARCHLIGHT ahead of the film’s official release. He recounts his introduction to acting in a school play and nailing the role despite not having learned his lines.
“I felt like I was outside of the world when I was acting on that stage and since that at [age] 13 I said I want to keep doing this,” said Collins.
When his agent informed Marc of the audition call, he said he immediately dived into researching Emmett’s story and watching interviews with Wheeler Parker Junior so that he could bring “the best Marc” to the audition, according to the article.
