Interview: Letitia Wright Talks ‘Mangrove’, Portraying Altheia Jones-LeCointe & Her Production Company Threesixteen Productions
Although Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology series has already started making waves in the UK, Americans will be get their first taste of the incredible series this Friday on Amazon Prime with the premiere of Mangrove starring Letitia Wright.
For those unfamiliar, Small Axe is an anthology series comprised of five original films set from the late 1960s to the mid 1980s that tell personal stories from London’s West Indian community, whose lives have been shaped by their own force of will despite rampant racism and discrimination.
Earlier this month, I had the chance to sit down with Wright to talk about what it was like portraying Altheia Jones-LeCointe, the authenticity that was captured when filming the joyful moments and why she decided to start her own production company, Threesixteen Productions.
Check out the interview with Letitia Wright below:
Mangrove centers on Frank Crichlow (Shaun Parkes), the owner of Notting Hill’s Caribbean restaurant, Mangrove, a lively community base for locals, intellectuals and activists. In a reign of racist terror, the local police raid Mangrove time after time, making Frank and the local community take to the streets in peaceful protest in 1970. When nine men and women, including Frank and leader of the British Black Panther Movement Altheia Jones-LeCointe (Letitia Wright), and activist Darcus Howe (Malachi Kirby), are wrongly arrested and charged with incitement to riot, a highly publicized trial ensues, leading to hard-fought win for those fighting against discrimination.
Wright (Black Panther), Shaun Parkes (Lost in Space), and Kirby (Curfew) star alongside Rochenda Sandall (Line of Duty), Jack Lowden (The Long Song), Sam Spruell (Snow White and the Huntsmen), Gershwyn Eustache (The Gentleman), Nathaniel Martello-White (Collateral), Richie Campbell (Liar), Jumayn Hunter (Les Miserables), and Gary Beadle (Summer of Rockets). Mangrove was co-written by Alastair Siddons and Steve McQueen.
Mangrove starring Letitia Wright premieres on Amazon Prime Friday, November 20.
