“When Thurgood Marshall saw people that he thought were falsely accused because of the color of their skin, he took his talents to those people to try to give them the best defense possible,” said St. Louis native and Emmy Award winner Sterling K. Brown.
Brown is one of the co-stars of “Marshall,” which opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, October 13.
The film explores a case early in the career of civil rights legend and first black U.S. Supreme Court Justice. “Marshall” also stars Chadwick Boseman in the title role – along with Josh Gad, Kate Hudson and Keesha Sharp.
In “Marshall,” Brown plays Joseph Spell, a man wrongly convicted of raping a white woman in 1941.
Spell is not perfect, but he’s not guilty either. As a young and gifted lawyer for the NAACP, Marshall comes to his aid in the hopes of making sure that Spell gets his chance at a fair trial.
“My mother always says, ‘how does the character you play glorify God?’ That’s usually her first question when I take on a new role,” Brown said. “I say, ‘Ma, not every character is going to be a saint. Not every character is going to give God the glory, the praise and the honor. However, God made us all. And God doesn’t make mistakes.
It’s important that we see that we see this person in all of his imperfections -and even in those imperfections, his right to life.”
Joseph Spell is a far cry from Randall Pearson, the lovable and squeaky-clean character he portrays weekly on the NBC hit show “This Is Us” – the role that made him the first black man in 20 years to earn a “Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series” Emmy Award last month.
“This role was important for me,” Brown said of Spell. “Not only because I enjoy stepping into different characters shoes,” Brown said. “But for me, I get to release a little bit of judgement that I might hold towards an individual.”
“Marshall” is directed East St. Louis native Reginald Hudlin.
“I love Reggie. He’s been doing this for such a long time and has such a knowledge in the industry as a producer, director, as the head of a network,” Brown said. “To learn from him has been a real joy. To have a mentor in this industry who’s from where I’m from and looks how I look and has a similar educational background and have so much experience.
It has been one of the best things to come out of the film – besides the film itself – is that I got a new friend and mentor.”
In addition to working with Hudlin, Brown said that he is thrilled to be a part of a film that speaks to the power of someone fighting for justice and using one’s talents and skills to improve conditions for others.
“Now that I have a bit of a platform for my voice to be heard by more than just a few, I ask myself, ‘how do I use this moment that I’m experiencing to try to make the world a reflection of the world that I desire to live in?’”
“Marshall” opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, October 13. The film is rated PG-13 with a running time of 118 minutes.
