"I really feel like this film begins when the credits roll at the end. This is a film about how we have the conversation, how we cross these divides." .@kerrywashington tells @hodakotb about "American Son," Netflix's film adaptation of the Broadway play of the same name. pic.twitter.com/3SxFkBgCdc— TODAY (@TODAYshow) October 30, 2019
Oct. 30 (UPI) -- American Son can help start difficult conversations about race, actress Kerry Washington said Wednesday during a discussion about the upcoming Netflix film on Today.
American Son, based on Christopher Demos-Brown Broadway play of the same name and starring the same cast, features Washington and Steven Pasquale as an estranged interracial couple who are searching for their missing son and demanding answers from the police.
"To bring Kendra to life I'm really thinking a lot about being the mother of black children and what it means to raise kids of color," the actress said.
"Anytime you become a mom it's such an active vulnerability but that's complicated when you are the mother of a kid of color because the systems are at work to really put your kid in a more dangerous situation," she continued before referencing Emmett Till and police violence against African-Americans.
Washington, when asked by Today's Hoda Kotb if the issues raised by American Son are insurmountable, said that the film will help cross divides.
"I really feel like this film begins when the credits roll at the end because really this is a story about how we have the conversation, how we cross these divides and be able to talk to each other about these really personal feelings," she said.
"I think the film really gives us an opportunity to be able to talk about stuff that people find it hard to talk about."
American Son will arrive on Netflix on Friday.
