Anthony Hemingway, whose passion and respect for the projects on which he works, was a perfect fit for WGN's upcoming series Underground.
As a director/producer who wishes to make a positive difference through his art, everything in his career seemed to lead up this moment.
Originally hailing from The Bronx, Hemingway started young. In fact, he took his first job as a production assistant at 13 and moved up the ranks to Second AD at the ripe young age of 19, working on the television show American Gothic.
It was there that he happened to meet a young Sarah Paulson, who would serendipitously later play the role of Marcia Clark in Hemingway's produced/directed The People Vs. O.J. Simpson.
In his 19th year is also when he joined the DGA, making him the youngest member ever at the time. He then became a First AD at the age of 22 paving the way to his first directorial debut on The Wire.
Now after some stops in Brooklyn, North Carolina and currently Los Angeles, he is not only an accomplished director, he's a trailblazer.
He directed his first feature film, Red Tails, which was co-exec produced by George Lucas and released in 2012. He has helmed episodes of prominent television shows including The Wire, Orange is the New Black, Shameless, The Newsroom, The People Vs. O.J. Simpson and Trème (the latter three, he also co-executive produced,) with many other projects on his impressive, diverse resume.
This hasn't gone unnoticed by organizations ranging from the NAACP (who have nominated him for many Image Awards,) to members of Congress, including James Clyburn who gave him the "Passing the Torch" award for his unique and important work in African American storytelling. He has been awarded by AFI and received the Trailblazer Award from the North Carolina Cine Noir Film Festival.
He was recently behind the camera (episodes 1-4) for the upcoming show, Underground, set to air March 9th on WGN. Underground tells the story of a group of slaves on a Georgia plantation who plan a 600 mile escape. On their journey, they encounter help from a couple involved in the Underground Railroad.
What got you started in film and television?
I grew up in this business, out of the womb! My mother was a production coordinator, so I had a lot of awesome influences. But at the time I didn't know that I was going to be in this business.
My ambition or goal as a child was to be a doctor; I wanted to save the world. I wanted to find cures in ending disease and sickness and poverty! I had a notebook and I would draw floor-plans of communities I wanted to build to house the homeless.
And then my senior year of high school, I had a complete change of heart and worried, "well what happened to that love and desire?"
I started working as a PA at the age of 13, really just to have my own independence. Growing up in this business didn't mean I was raised with a silver spoon. We still had to struggle like many other families. So I saw that in my mother and father, and just wanted to help. And my way of helping was to start working.
As a child, I always had artistic desires because I loved photography and storytelling.
Senior year of high school, I thought "what am I going to do?" My Father is a Vietnam vet and he suggested I start to figure out how to at least build a foundation for myself. So I got a job on a show called The Road Home, where one of the executive producers was Bruce Paltrow, who was a family friend. He used to somewhat be my "professional father figure." I'd look to him for guidance in terms of what my future was going to be.
And after many conversations, I started to look in hindsight at the things that I had done or interests I had and it all came together. It was just that light-bulb! And I love these light-bulb moments, and he was that light-bulb moment for me! So I just decided to commit to it. I was already a PA and I basically went through the school of hard knocks. That was my education. Then I became an AD and then started directing on The Wire. Such a journey!
It really seems that this is what you were meant to do!
And that's when I started to realize it. I am such a believer of purpose. When that light-bulb clicked and things started to fall in line, I realized I was purposed to do this. Even all of the desires and interests of saving and healing, I incorporate into how I direct and how I interact with talent. It definitely fuels my moral compass.
You talked about wanting to have a purpose and tell a great story. What else do you look for when deciding which projects to work on and develop?
It really has to speak to me from that sense. One of the things I've always said in terms of wanting to build a legacy is that when I leave this Earth, I don't want my life to be in vain. Whatever contribution I can add to the progress or betterment of our world and the environment I live in, I want to add to that.
And so, by way of me being a filmmaker and the stories I can tell, I want those stories to be part of that contribution that move us forward. Stories that really have integrity and are entertaining at the same time. So when I think of projects or when I read material, the things that really speak to me have those qualities.
Are there some actors/actresses on your upcoming wish-list with whom you'd love to work?
Yes! I think the first person that I've been dying to work with is Meryl Streep. I've had the fortune of working with her daughter, Grace, whom I love and we've become friends. But Meryl is definitely one who I cannot wait to work with. Tom Hardy is another person I can't wait to work with. I could keep going!
Let's talk a little about your upcoming project Underground. How did you get involved? What drew you to the project?
I got a call from my agent saying they were interested in having me read the script. I read it and could not put it down. It was one of those stories that is as old as time, but felt as contemporary as today's headlines.
And it's that kind of material that really gives me the one-two-punch, and I can't see myself not being a part of it. Yes, because of its importance but also because it was fun and I got to really dig deep.
It was a story that is ultimately about American heroes. That was a thing that I loved, because this slice of history is rarely known and told. Even coming up in school, it was two lines in the history books. It's a revolutionary story and it's exciting!
Being able to see these revolutionaries use their power and ingenuity to make lemonade out of lemons! And grab the bull by the horns and take matters into their own hands (to become) a contribution to our nation. Because they really have contributed that way. They're heroes!
It's the right time for this because we need more representation and examples of how to persevere, positively. I think we need more of these stories. We’ve been inundated and overwhelmed with the other side, playing victim. And now we're really able to be revolutionary. That really inspired me to want to approach the material in a different way, while still giving it an entertaining veneer.
Many of us who were actually involved were asking, "what are we gonna learn that we haven't learned or heard before?" And once you read the material, you understood. Because this was definitely a story that hasn't been told.
What I got to learn is it's the first integrated civil rights story in history (representing) how we need to come together and help each other. One of the things that I live by is that we're all more alike than we're different. Let's sever whatever the past is and let's move forward.
You get to see the strength in these people and that's what I wanted to highlight and give a feeling that was contemporary. There's a generation now that clearly have no idea the contribution that they made to this world.
It's easy to say that we're standing on bold, strong shoulders of those who came before us, but people rarely get to see representations of that. And I think Underground does that well.
What's next on your slate?
Well, it's funny - it's LA in the 90s again! Now that I've just gotten through being inundated with O.J., I'm working on The Infamous, a working title, which is an uncompromising crime series that somewhat deals with race and music in LA in the 90s."
Interesting! Is it along the lines of Straight Outta Compton? What did you think of that film?
I loved Straight Outta Compton and was so bummed it didn't get the attention it deserved because it was awesome! I don't get it. I continue to ask that question.
Any final words?
Instead of focusing on what's wrong with the way things have been done in the past, I think about what the solution is to better the future.
