Acclaimed movie about prisoners putting on a theater production focuses on healing power of arts, empathy.
From left, actors Clarence Maclin, Sean San Jose, Colman Domingo and director Greg Kwedar talk about their new movie “Sing Sing.”Everyone associated with “Sing Sing” has high hopes for a hopeful, move-you-to-tears film set in what many consider one of the most depressing and despairing places to be — the New York correctional institution of the title.
It was also one, he is quick to point out, that was conceived and made outside of the Hollywood studio system, and might even influence later productions. “One of the main things I would like people to take away is that people in prison are just people,” Maclin during a promotional tour for the film with Kewdar, Domingo and Sean San Jose in San Francisco — a place Domingo and San Jose know very well.
When that happened, “We’re like we have to really go back in the kitchen and figure this out because it feels false,” he said. “And they were like ‘it doesn’t feel right’ or ‘the staging doesn’t feel right.’ We would step up because it was like how everyone owns the film.” What also impressed Domingo and San Jose about the production was how Kewdar and filmmaking partner Clint Bentley drafted what could turn into a template for future indie filmmakers. Their novel financial approach calls for paying everyone in the production — from the lead to the key grip — the same salary while giving everyone equity as well.
“We didn’t visit any previous works from the cannon,” the director of the 2016 border-themed thriller “Transpecos” said. “I don’t think you can even really classify this film as a prison movie or a theater story. It kind of exists on its own.”
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