*There are three sure-fire ways to ensure an audience will enjoy a film – great writing, compelling actors, and a talented director! “Surrounded,” starring Letitia Wright, could arguably possess all three.
The Anthony Mandler-directed film, stars Wright (Black Panther, The Silent Twins) and Jamie Bell (Billy Elliott, Fantastic Four), and follows a Black freed woman and a Buffalo soldier, Moses “Mo” Washington. She has disguised herself as a man who sets out on a dangerous journey to lay hold of a gold-mine property she’s been longing to claim.
We caught up with Wright and talked about the subtleties in which she maneuvered through the film portraying a man.
“I find myself to always flow between masculine and feminine energy.” She continued, “I’ve always been like a tomboy. Just drawing from real-life experiences really.”
Wright goes on to acknowledge that she tried to embody the mindset of Cathay Williams, a freed Black woman having to hide as a man, by whom her character was inspired.
Bell who played opposite Wright’s character in “Surrounded,” portrayed legendary outlaw Tommy Walsh, a bad boy with a bounty on his head. Although antagonistic in character, Bell had a way of playing up the charm and relateability.
“You know, if you’re in a trapped situation and you are in a submissive situation, you want to try everything right, so I think that’s just another one of his tactics to try and get away,” said Bell.
A bitter-sweet moment in the film takes place when the late-great actor Michael K. Williams joins Wright and Bell on-screen during a beautiful and compelling moment.
“Michael was a dear friend of mine for twenty years,” said Anthony Mandler about working with his friend. “Having his last performance is something that I hold really close to my heart.”
“Surrounded” will be available digitally everywhere, June 20.
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