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“When George Got Murdered?”
I was not going to touch that.
I wanted to come at it from a different standpoint.
Montel, what made you want to be part of the project?
Montel:The way Terrance has explained it.
Did you feel a lot of pressure in how you approached it and making sure you got it right?
They love the cops.
They’re going to go with the cop no matter what.
We knew when we did the movie that we had a built-in audience for this subject matter.
All I pretty much did was told the story of what was going on.
Did you feel like there were any elements to the story that were the most important to get right?
I wanted to show that it was really touching every aspect of each person’s life.
Montel:Terrance nailed it.
It’s trying to show that juxtaposition there.
It’s also interesting because your character, he doesn’t move throughout the whole story.
A lot of things sat dormant in America.
My character was very interesting.
He doesn’t do anything.
He says, ‘Okay, none of you guys are going to be near this guy.’
His physical position and his mental position were pretty much in lockstep.
How the film became feature length
You mentioned before you did the unexpected ending to the film.
Was that something you knew you wanted to do from the beginning, Terrance?
Terrance:Yeah, you know what’s so crazy?
This is only a short film.
It’s supposed to be about 20 minutes.
I’m really discouraged by it.
You got to get us a longer film," and so, I [made] it longer.
Now, they just postponed that until January of next year.
It would’ve been more impactful for people to gravitate and come to the film.
I didn’t answer your question, but it was short because of that ending.
Montel:For Terrance, you’re able to see it, life and schedule.
Life went on, and things moved.
Now, they’ve postponed the trial again until the first of next year.
Trying to schedule something that’s this time-sensitive, where there’s no real calendar, is tough.
Terrance:It’s tough.
Montel:I give all kudos to Terrance for doing what he was able to do.
Terrance:Thanks, man.
We’ve been wrestling with it from the word “go.”
They canceled those guys' trials the first time.
This might be the third cancellation.
I’m not really sure.
This might be the second or third; I’m not really sure.
The most difficult part was not making the film.
It was on their calendar the trial, the sentencing, George Floyd’s anniversary.
Terrance:That’s the only thing I heard about it then.
Montel:We heard nothing else about it since.
Terrance:We heard nothing about it since, but you got to remember something.
Me and Montel, we talk about this when we had the screenings.
This is an issue that people don’t want.
This is almost like child sexual abuse.
When you’re dealing with cop stuff, it’s just like child sexual abuse.
They want to sweep it under the rug.
They want to act like it’s not going on.
They want to ignore it at all costs.
All of this brutality, they want to keep acting like it’s a figment of somebody’s imagination.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available.
Tykeem’s thoughts on Grand Rapids shooting
Terrance:[There are] new ones every day.
It took them three, four months to charge this guy up here in Grand Rapids.
They finallycharged the cop.
The film’s probably going to get a second life once they do have the trial.
So far, [people are] ordering the film to watch the film.
That’s a good thing, but I wanted it to be on a bigger scale.
Montel:From my perspective, I hope that it sparks the conversation that’s well needed in America.
Unfortunately, I’m so jaded.
I don’t know if America’s ready to sit down and have that conversation.
Terrance:Right now, we know the reality of this.
“Jaded” is an understatement for what I am right now.
We know the reality, but we still have to …
When you get a platform like this, you have to do it.
We got two huge radio shows that my other PR person just set up for us to do.
I’m always doing the blog shows and the TV shows.
I’m like Montel.
Well, what did he do?
What happened before that?"
[An officer] killed somebody.
What difference does it make what happened before that?
You kill somebody, [not just injure them].
They’re never coming back, and you are putting somebody’s job ahead of somebody’s life.
From a mental standpoint, you got to be brave enough to do these topics.
Like I told Donnamarie [Davis, who plays C.O.
She’s seeing it firsthand.
There were people I had known for years.
I had to unfriend them on my social media because I knew that they were horrible people.
When you start making excuses for somebody getting killed, then there’s something wrong with you.
