Andra Day Talks Her Role in The Deliverance, the Emotional Journey of Filming & the Film's Impact

now let me ask you this Andre now in this film there's you know in general there's often discussions between different Dynamics with biracial children and their parents and in this film you know you and Glenn take it there there's a really big scene that folks will definitely be like oh wow they'll be G you had to gather her together now how did you prepare to betray barisha daughter to a white mother in this film and did you gain any insights or learnings during your research for the fil for the role say that one more time sorry it's okay how did you prepare to portray a baral daughter to White mother in the film and did you gain any insights or learnings during your research for the role oh that's that's actually really great so my research was also my my so my mother is actually biracial so there was I I have some experience my granddad my granddad God bless him you know what I'm saying uh he he got around you know what I mean so it was a lot it was uh we used we always actually jokeing family that we all like in school when people would ask it was like like you only have one Grandma how you only have one Grandma I was like it's like three or four white grandmas in a family but but um no no so I mean the research was was truly my own family you know what I mean especially my mom growing up where she grew up with a white mother with a black father um I think the and the Discrimination like my grandmother faced you know so she would they didn't have money they were poor when they grew up and having to like scrape for food when they were young and she would go to get um Family Services you know what I mean and to go get food assistance and you know she would be approved and then she would show up and she would have black children on her arm and they would deny her then immediately so it a very like you know my mom said she grew up often times it was a small town that she grew up in and she said often times she felt like people looked at her as almost more of an Abomination you know what I mean because they already didn't like they were black but they really didn't like that you were mixed at the time so um that was definitely research for me was truly my own family my mother um family on my mother's side they all have very interesting stories and different different perspectives so I think I kind of gleans from everybody you know and then from my grandmother you know what I'm saying as well and sort of what that was like with her own family you know disowning her because of that so it was just you know and um but also just the conversation my grandmother was always very aware that like she said you know I might have had biracial kids I may have had mixed kids but I was aware that I showed up white and they still showed up black to most people that we were from so I think that's the dynamic that they look at in the film that there are certain things that though you are immersed in this culture there are things that you can escape that I can't escape you know what I mean or things that you I would might be involved in that you might not be involved in just by nature of how we're viewed you know what I mean in society so I really really love that he decided to go I remember him calling me about it too it was like literally out of the blue and I was like never well let's go right let's do it well let's go right now you know in the film and in your next film exhibiting exhibiting forgiveness you know it's clear the season and the theme of forgiveness is all around you at this time apparently so can you share a time when you had to either ask for forgiveness or give forgiveness in your career and what lesson did you walk away with in my career specifically or just in my life or your career but something in your life that was more ENT to you than you can say your life yeah I mean I think I had to you know what okay actually this is really that's a great question by the way oh it's really good let's go there let's get deep let's get really deep yeah um so I think I mean in my I think also I even had to forgive you know my parents right you know what I'm saying I think that but which is interesting because I don't remember ever feeling like I didn't forgive them but I realized you know my parents are you know divorced and you know there was some stuff that happened definitely in our family and and um and I think the way that I functioned in the world you know what I mean this was kind of a result of that you know what I mean and once I realized that I was like okay well now I need to be accountable and you know uh be responsible for my own actions but I had to I think the hardest person for me to forgive on a regular basis though is myself and this character actually helped me do that which was crazy yeah I I really I do not know how to put it into words I realized you know there was some forgiveness including myself that I knew I would not be able to play ebony if I did not actually deal with this you know what I mean and so um yeah there was just some Trauma from my childhood from a church that we went to too that I realized I thought I had forgiven and I said I had forgiven but I really hadn't let go in my heart and so um I definitely had to do that in my career I got to forgive people every day when they say wild on the internet you know what I'm saying I forgive you right so yeah [Music]