As people continue to process George Zimmerman’s “Not Guilty” verdict, Fruitvale Station, written and directed by Ryan Coogler, is making its rounds, reminding many that Trayvon Martin’s senseless murder is unfortunately not an isolated incident. New Year’s Day 2009, Oscar Grant was shot in the back on the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) platform at Fruitvale Station by a BART officer and died later that morning.
Instead of showing protests and the trial, however, Coogler has taken it back to the very essence of Oscar Grant’s last day on this earth, retracing not just his steps, but breathing life and soul beyond the headlines or the statistics. Because Fruitvale Station wowed at Sundance, Cannes and opened, some would say divinely, on the same weekend as the Zimmerman verdict was handed down, it has generated even more attention, adding even more flame to its already blazing Oscar buzz.
During a promotional stop in Atlanta, as the film expanded beyond New York, L.A. and the Bay Area, to six more cities July 19 before going wide on July 26, Coogler spoke to UPTOWN one on one about Oscar, Trayvon and making Fruitvale Station.
In the wake of the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial for the murder of Trayvon Martin, do you people who see Fruitvale Station will compare Trayvon and Oscar? And what are your feelings about Trayvon in relation to Oscar?
I think people can draw parallels. For me the biggest tragedy in Oscar’s situation is that Oscar’s life is lost and that’s the same way I feel about this situation. The most devastating thing is that this kid’s life is cut short unnecessarily. For me, it’s that mass loss of life that’s happening among young African American males that our attention should be focused on in trying to bring it to an end. It’s happening with black-on-black crime, officer-involved shootings and situations like [Trayvon’s]. I pray for all those families.
When you make a film, what is your personal mission?
I’m just trying to bring audiences closer together. Tell a story from the inside out as much as possible. Never could I have imagined that we would be promoting the film while that trial was going on, let along releasing it when the verdict was happening [because] we made it before Trayvon was killed.
How did having Forest Whitaker’s backing empower you?
Having him gave me so much more credibility when it came time to cast the film, when it came down to approach the family. Aside from he’s an incredible artist but an incredible person, him being there when it came time [to make] decisions and him being able to weigh in and provide insider advice was invaluable.
People from the Bay Area who have seen Fruitvale comment on how authentic it is, was this intentional on your part?
The Bay Area has a very strong culture and [Oscar] was born and raised there; born in Oakland and raised in Hayward. It was a very much a part of who he was and how he interacted. The Bay Area culture is a very diverse culture. It’s an optimistic culture too. Even though we got our issues and it’s a very dangerous place. It’s a place where people will walk up to you and talk to you if they don’t know you. It’s kind of how it is so I definitely wanted to capture that because I think people are a product of their environment . . . It’s a great place but it’s far from perfect. Like human beings.
How much did you work with Michael B. Jordan on the nuances of Bay Area culture?
Quite a bit. As much as we had time to. He came up early, maybe three weeks before we started filming. He comes from Newark, New Jersey and he has this East Coast energy so we worked on countless things . . . He hung out with Oscar friends . . . I’m from there so being around me helped a lot, him being around my friends every day helped a lot. Mike, he’s just a great actor. He has a great work ethic. We isolated certain things, certain speech patterns. A lot of things were direct swap outs, like in Newark, in New York, they say “son,” we say “bruh” so we just switched that out.
You didn’t shy away from showing Oscar’s flaws either.
[I]t would have been a crime not to show what he was struggling with, not to show that he dealt with issues of anger, that he could become violent sometimes and that he was still doing what he was doing that got him back in prison at this time. He was still smoking weed. I think people identify with people through their flaws. I wanted to [show] all his flaws. I wanted to show all his good qualities. I wanted to show everything.
The way the film was shot felt important as well. What were your intentions there?
I wanted it to feel immediate. I wanted it to feel almost like a home movie. More so than a home movie, almost as if you’re hanging and sitting with somebody. . . . We shot in the Bay Area. I like that sense of place.
In Fruitvale, Oscar seemed to be turning a corner. Did you know that for sure?
Did I know Oscar for sure was turning a corner? I know for sure he was working towards it. I know for sure he was thinking about it. To be honest with you in looking at him on that day and talking people that were around him on that day it was definitely something that he was making moves towards doing. But, at that the same time, that’s New Year’s Eve, everybody is doing that. I heard that New Year’s Day is like the biggest day for gym membership sign-ups. Everybody is going to work out at the beginning of the year. Everybody is going to break the bad habits that they have. And, for Oscar, he had a lot going on. He had just got out of prison and was re-engaging in his daughter’s life, re-engaging in his loved ones’ lives. He was trying to catch up on lost time in many ways and was definitely at a crossroads. Would he have been on that same page in the next couple of weeks? Who knows?
