Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Tinsel

Home
Religious Music & Entertainment
For Lance Reddick, School Failures in ‘Won’t Back Down’ are Personal

For Lance Reddick, School Failures in ‘Won’t Back Down’ are Personal

Last updated on: September 26, 2012 at 10:41 am by Rebecca Cusey

For Lance Reddick, School Failures in ‘Won’t Back Down’ are Personal 2012-09-26T10:41:25-06:00 Rebecca Cusey

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Lance Reddick at the New York premiere of “Won’t Back Down.”

Most of the time, taking a role is a matter or business for actor Lance Reddick. The tall, otherworldy man has come into his own in such TV shows as Fringe and Lost, and especially critic-darling The Wire. He does steady work in Hollywood and has earned the right to consider a part with an eye to if he wants to play the character and how it will build his career.

Won’t Back Down, a story of parents fighting to save a failing school, was personal.

Reddick’s life wasn’t always Hollywood glamour and big roles.

Back in the days before The Wire, Reddick was just another struggling actor and musician living in Baltimore, raising a son and a daughter with his wife. The schools where they lived were failing. They couldn’t afford to move into the ritzy school districts, nor could they afford private school.

He had grown up in Baltimore. The son of two teachers, although his father later became a lawyer and public defender, Reddick was raised with an appreciation for education. However, his mother, who taught music in the public schools, knew the schools too well to send him there. He attended the Friends School of Baltimore and went on to study music at the Eastman School of Music and drama at Yale.

So when it was time for his daughter to go to junior high, Reddick dutifully filled out the financial aid forms for a private school, he told me when we sat down recently in DC. The process was complicated, they missed deadlines, and their application was refused. He kept calling, he kept trying. Eventually the school stopped taking his calls.

“It killed me to have to send her to the local junior high,” Reddick said.

She was lucky to have a father who cared. In fact, when Reddick landed a dream role in a Broadway play, he commuted three hours a day until he could move the family to a home in a good New York school district rather than move in to an easier but less academic district.

His story has a happy ending. He was able to get son and daughter into specialty high schools where academic success was expected and both went on to college.

“But I don’t know what would have happened if they hadn’t made it in,” he said.

In Won’t Back Down, Reddick plays the husband to Viola Davis’s Nona. Nona and Charles moved to a failing district full of big dreams of making a difference. Nona still teaches at the local elementary, but life and an uncaring system have almost extinguished the fire inside of her. When single mother Jamie (Maggie Gyllenhaal) approaches her with a hairbrained idea to take over the failing school, Nona cannot imagine anything changing. But for both Nona and Jamie, their children are trapped in the school. Private schools are out of their reach. Precious slots in a functional school go to someone else in an excruciating lottery.

It’s make the school succeed or fail their children.

Anyone who is a parent knows that there is really no choice there.

So when Reddick was approached about playing the supporting part, he had some qualms. He usually likes bigger roles. But the quality of the script and the subject matter won him over.

Not that it’s easy. In the movie, as in real-life controversies about schools, the teachers’ unions take a lot of heat for protecting teacher benefits over kids’ success.

This portrayal makes Reddick a bit uncomfortable.

“Look, I am able to make a living because I’m in a union,” he said, referring to the Screen Actor’s Guild (SAG-AFTRA) that negotiates for actors’ pay scales and working conditions.

Still, something has to change, he says. As a son of Baltimore and a black man, it makes him angry that so many failing schools are in African-American communities. It’s not just an ethnic issue, he says, but it certainly has ethnic overtones.

Most of all, he hopes the movie will inspire people to hope again, to believe the system can be changed. After all, the kids being left behind can’t wait.

Previous Post

September 24, 2012

Breaking Bad Final Showdowns

Next Post

September 28, 2012 Review: Lackluster 'Hotel Transylvania' is Parable for the Crusaders of Tolerance

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Becky's Picks Children's Movies DVD releases Entertainment News Faith on Film Featured Hunger Games In Theaters Interviews Life, Etc. Mixed Nuts Movie Reviews Poliflix Scroogewatch slider Television Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 April 2011 March 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

At Jesus' crucifixion what did the soldiers place on His head?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Crown of Thistles Crown of Nettles Crown of Thorns Crown of Jewels