EXCLUSIVE: FilmmakerCord Jeffersonhas, in recent years, made two life-changing decisions.
In 2008, he donated a kidney to his father.
That was easy, he said.
Cord Jefferson and ‘American Fiction,’ starring Jeffrey WrightBaz Bamigboye/Deadline; Orion Pictures
That was one of the easiest decisions I ever made.
I mean, he gave me life.
I feel like the kidneys half his, the 41-year-old declared.
(L-R) Issa Rae and Nicole Kempskie in ‘American Fiction’Orion Pictures
Then he adapted it for the big screen and called itAmerican Fiction.
The project became his feature film directorial debut.
Orion Pictures releasesAmerican Fictionin select theaters November 3, expanding it November 17.
Theyre good people, but I was wary.
Why have they come to me?
Im damning myself here because its pertinent to the topic that underpinsAmerican Fiction.
The stereotypical cultural tropes we know so well are mercilessly ridiculed.
By the way, were not all of the same opinion.
The thought keeps flashing in my head that I nearly didnt seeAmerican Fictionat all.
Rojas saw my eyes flash and found me a ticket.
Im detailing all this blather because I want to make clear that seeingAmerican Fictionwas a spur-of-the-moment thing.
Not for me to detail what occurs, but of course, stuff happens to them.
The white publishers are on board because they think its so darn awesome.
White folk will gobble it up.
I wanted it to be satire without becoming farce.
Jefferson continued, I think that some satire becomes farcical, and I think thats totally fine.
I think theres some great farcical films, but I didnt want to do that with this.
I wanted it to feel satirical but also grounded.
I think the blending of the family stuff in there grounds it.
It grounds the film before it becomes just pure satirical farce.
He won a Primetime Emmy for co-writing with Damon Lindelof theWatchmenepisode This Extraordinary Being.
In December 2020, Jefferson readErasure.
I started reading Monks lines in Jeffrey Wrights voice.
What was it he felt deeply in his bones?
And Ive had all those.
I have two siblings like the character of Monk.
So its all of these complicated family dynamics.
These were conversations that Ive been having with my friends since I started working in creative industries.
These are things that arent just limited to the Black experience.
Ive got a queer bunch of friends who feel the same way.
Ive got a bunch of Asian friends who feel the same way.
Ive got a bunch of Latino friends who feel the same way.
So it was just this broader conversation that Id been having with a lot of people.
American Fictionhas toucheda chord.
That is not the case at all.I think that its certainly the case for some people.
Its certainly some peoples lived experience, and we dont want to detract from that.
But the question is, why isnt there room for more stories?
Its not that those stories shouldnt exist.
They should because they are truthful, and theyre peoples lived experience.
I just think that we make those and omit everything else.
So its not that those shouldnt exist.
Its that, why are these the only things that exist?
At a recent post-screening Q&A, Jefferson skewered the entertainment industry for its often shallow focus.
The script was written over the course of three months.
They said, Were going to make this movie.
So they were the only ones that we had a meeting with who said that.
That was very fascinating because we met with so many people.
We met with so many distributors, so many streamers, Jefferson added.
I really wish that I worked somewhere where I could make this movie.
Which streamers are we talking about here, I prodded.
I dont want to name names.
But It was also a bunch of distribution companies.
So its not just the streamers.
Some people said, I wish that I worked at a place that could make this.
I love the script.
I love Jeffrey Wright.
But I dont have the juice to make this.
This isnt a $250 million movie.
Its not going to bankrupt you.
I just realized that there wasnt a political will to make it.
I think that its gotten worse as things have gone on.
I just think that now there is this tech ethos that has started to influence entertainment.
you better satisfy the algorithm and satisfy what our data shows us to be successful.
To me, that is a very, very bland way to make art.
It was so clean.
Dont get me started on Antoines FuquasEmancipation.
Yeah, Steve McQueens incredible.
I dont think that his movie shouldnt exist.
I dont think that his movie is bad.
I think its actually very good, Jefferson said.
So I think that these kinds of things are very valuable.
I just want people to understand that theres also another side.
I dont want to play respectability politics.
I dont believe that either.
I just want this film to let people know that there are other stories out there.
I dont think that there is an acceptable way to be Black.
Is there an acceptable way of how to be Black in front of white people?
No, no, absolutely not, he responded.
I dont ever want to make anything that says theres an acceptable way to be yourself.
I think thats up to every person to decide for themselves.
His friend lovedAmerican Fictionbut admitted that he found it a little painful.
Because the friend recognized an instance in the movie that in a way mirrored something hed experienced.
Its a difficult industry in which to make a living.
Its a difficult road to hoe when youre trying to start out.
My own interactions with regards to race amuse rather than anger me.
And I can laugh at the absurdity of the instances of racism that occur daily.
Im of an age where I have to laugh at it.
However, Im often outraged on behalf of others, but I can look after myself very well.
Jefferson nodded, then remarked that these are, of course, serious issues.
Of course, racism is an awful thing, and it sometimes has fatal consequences.
Wright is one of the key reasonsAmerican Fictiontakes hold of you.
Hes one of our greatest living actors, Jefferson proclaimed.
Jeffersons own tears bind the fabric ofAmerican Fiction.
My mother died of cancer, itll be eight years in January, he said, speaking movingly.
This was in Tucson, AZ, where Jefferson was raised.
Hes the youngest of three brothers, but his mothers only son.
His older siblings are half-brothers from his fathers first marriage.
Hes quick to praise an older sibling who lives there.
I would call home and talk and interact, but I wasnt there.
I wasnt actually there.
So I felt a lot of residual guilt about that, and I felt awful.
During his Emmy acceptance speech, Jefferson spoke candidly about mental health issues and therapy.
My mother was disowned by her family for marrying my father, he told me.
I would send them letters.
I would send letters to my grandmother and grandfather and they would return them unopened.
My mother didnt speak to her father until he was on his death bed.
Jefferson never did meet them.
But his mother and her sister were very close.
My aunt kind of took my mothers side, and they were very close until my mothers death.
Then her brother took the fathers side and was out of our lives.
I didnt really meet him until about three years before my mother passed.
He then came to the funeral after my mother died, and he said … Ill never forget it.
It was so haunting.
He said, I will never forgive myself for abandoning my sister.
Theres a lot of family trauma, he cautioned.
His parents met at William & Mary University.
Jefferson told me his father was the second Black graduate of William & Mary Law School.
Jefferson also attended William & Mary but majored in sociology, not law.
I think that for me, it was like, thats not for me, he argued.
My parents werent famous.
My parents didnt have a ton of money.
I wondered if hes still afraid?
Yeah, yeah, I am, he said.
But I think that Ive learned to conquer that fear.
Im afraid all the time.
