Over the next decade they fought their case all the way up to the United States Supreme Court.
This isnt the case here, is it?
COLIN FIRTH:No, theres really no role in the film for me.
Credit: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic
And what was going on in your mind then?
I immediately wondered why more people didnt know about this story.
Eventually Nancy made her documentary,which everyone must see, and we formed our production company.
What to know: Directed by Jeff Nichols (Midnight Special), Loving tells the true-life story of Mildred and Richard Loving (Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton), an interracial couple arrested in 1958 for their relationship. The drama debuted at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and already stands as one of the year’s early awards season frontrunners.Ben Rothstein
But it still took some amount of time, six or seven years, to get it made?
My question to myself was always, How do I be an instrument for getting this made?
I contemplated directing it.
Ben Rothstein
In fact, there are some forever-embargoed pages of script, attempts of mine to write it.
I do think its a great blessing that thats not the route we chose.
No, not at all.
You could make this whole movie from the lawyers point of view and still have a very interesting film.
But Jeff told us from the outset that that was not where he was going.
And I honestly had mixed feelings about it.
But, suddenly as a producer, youre not thinking like that anymore.
It wasnt just a question of making it commercial you want the story to reach everybody.
And part of you will do whatever it takes.
Was that also a concern in the casting?
Joel Edgerton had worked with Jeff before but is not a superstar.
And Ruth Negga isnt a household name, not yet.
Again, this was me with my producers hat on.
But Jeff wanted to keep in within the parameters of his own vision.
He knew what he wanted and he knew what he needed.
He needed 40 days.
He wanted to shoot on 35mm film.
And, my God, how could we have done this film without Joel and Ruth?
And so there was this thing on the other hand authenticity.
If authenticity is always important in storytelling, it seems especially important here with the Lovings.
As people, they were not demonstrative, they were not exhibitionists, they were not attention-getters.
They werent even activists.
They were quiet and utterly true to themselves.
Theres so much built-in poetry with the story.
I mean, they lived in a town called Central Point.
He was a bricklayer, which is a beautiful motif in the film, building block by block.
And their name, for Gods sake, was Loving!
Beautiful, isnt it?
And if wed made it up, it would have been cheesy.
Its an incredible scene.
And that bedroom thats sacred space.
A bedroom is the Do Not Enter area.
And thats where law enforcement barged in.
But nevertheless, thats a violation.
That room becomes emblematic of their basic human rights being violated.
It also shows, once again, the restraint that Jeff Nichols brought to the story.
He keeps it with the family.
Jeff makes such a wonderful study out of the power of restraint almost to a fault at times.
Jeff was going to cut out her saying Yes.
But Jeffs language is cinematic.
If something is unsaid, he will leave it unsaid.
Their both looking out the window and theres all this trepidation, but theyre holding hands.
Whats your favorite scene in the film?
Theyre not saying a word and Mildred just takes a moment to feel the sun.
You feel the temperature, you feel the light, you could smell.
Its like adding another dimension to watching a movie.
And its not just that, you see him looking at her.
And all of that happens in a few seconds of screentime.
The movie is not overtly political.
Did you discuss doing that?
Well, a bit.
But the beauty of Jeffs approach is that by focusing on the personal, hes rendered all labels absurd.
I knew a guy at school who was a very open racist.
And there were four Asian guys at school, they were Indian.
He absolutely hated Indians except for these four guys.
And it just heightened the absurdity of his views.
The personal is where all commonality lies.
You recently attended the films official Virginia premiere.
What was that like?
It was kind of amazing.
You just so deeply hope that youve done them justice.
Its such an overused word, when people say they feel humbled.
I mean, come on.
But that was humbling for me to meet the surviving members of the Loving family.
Theres 24 of them and theres such an incredible energy and spirit that they all have.
Shed said to us while we were shooting, I have his old uniform.
Do you want to use it for the movie?
And she said, He was like that, he did say that stuff.
She thought he was misguided but he was still a human being.
And she made that stipulation.
Theres a real sense even among the locals to want to address that side of their history.
