“I think we both opened our spirits up to the legacy in telling that story. She gushed about working with Kaluuya: “He’s able to see people for who they are and where they’re at and he’s able to meet people there,” she explained. I made this joke, I told him, I said, ‘I’m hoping to be the Michael B to your Ryan Coogler.’ Anything that he’s doing I always want to be a part of it.”įishback seems to have a unique ability to bond with her collaborators. “I love talking about working with Shaka because I just think he’s amazing. Throughout filming, they always seemed to find themselves on the same page. Writing the poem, Fishback tried to tap into how Johnson must have felt bringing a child into “a warzone.” While writing, Fishback contemplated this question: “What does it mean to be a warrior?” When King read the poem, he told her that it was a “powerful piece” that added to the film. Johnson then snatches the notebook away from him and recites the poem Fishback wrote. It was King who asked Fishback to write an original poem for Johnson to read to Hampton in the film.Īfter Hampton is released from prison and learns of Johnson’s pregnancy, he finds her notebook expressing her worries about motherhood. Give me your notes.” Once she got the go-ahead, Fishback was writing King “three-page essays” on the film and her character. King welcomed concerns about their characters and regarded them all with deep consideration.Īccording to Fishback, despite the historical expectations and pressure from the studio King “still made space for me and the other actors” with a high “level of respect.” When Fishback expressed her worry about overstepping, his reply was encouraging: “You’ll be playing her. Working on the film was a positive experience for Fishback, in large part because the story was crafted in close collaboration with the actors. Courtesy Everett Collection ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH, Dominique Fishback, 2021. What made her different? What made her stand out to him?” “That was something that Shaka and Daniel and I all cared about.
“I really wanted them to connect intellectually,” she explains. For Fishback, it was important to establish that Hampton “loved her for her mind” and that “she was worthy of love before” him. And it actually ended up going into the film in the line where they share their first kiss.” It’s these personal touches that provide a lived-in quality to the romantic scenes. and Malcolm X, and that went into the scene: “I remember in April 2019 for whatever reason I woke up every morning and I was listening to him and Malcolm X’s speeches every morning. In real life, Fishback is well-versed in the speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. In the scene, Johnson talks about how much she admires the way he “never gets flustered or frustrated” and how she wants to gain those qualities. But it ends on a flirtatious note, with her calling him a poet.įishback’s favorite moment between the characters happens later, when they’re discussing Malcolm X. In their first scene together, Johnson critiques Hampton’s approach, urging him to choose his words more carefully. Throughout the film, we see their romance from their first meeting to Johnson eventually the mother of his unborn child. “Shaka, look I’m coming from a romantic standpoint,” she told him.
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She asked King if she could keep a journal so Johnson would have “something that is just hers” in the film to get a sense of her life “outside of the Panthers and the movement.” She also kept close correspondence with King, giving him her thoughts on how to do justice to Johnson and the real-life love story.
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Those were the things that really resonated to me.”ĭespite her limited screen time, Fishback was determined to create a full character for Johnson, using her skill as a writer to breathe life into the character. “A lot of what I got from Deborah Johnson in terms of how I portrayed her was meeting Mama Akua and hearing her speak and getting a sense of her personality and a sense of her side-eye. Fishback laments that “there’s not a lot of footage of her at that age” so she had to draw from their interactions. “I went downstairs and she said: ‘You did that scene! That was Deborah Johnson up there!’ That was really an honor for me.” According to Fishback, Njeri - or “Mama Akua”, as Fishback calls her - felt that the film portrayed her well. They said ‘Mama Akua wants to see you’,” Fishback explained. “She came to set one day - it was probably my second day becoming Deborah.
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