Letitia Wright is reflecting on what it means to be a Black artist.
As the 31-year-old actress prepares to make her debut as a director on Saturday, May 31, at the South London Film Festival with the short film “Highway to the Moon,” she opened up to the Guardian about the burden she feels Black artists are under regarding representation.
Wright told the publication that she has felt this pressure even in her acting career.
“I know how much representation means and the power of image, the power of what you see and what you hear, and how it can influence,” the “Black Panther” star said, adding that balancing that has been a challenge in a variety of areas while making her film, including writing, directing, producing, and casting.
“[There’s] that thing in the back of your mind feeling like, dang, is someone’s going to misinterpret my intentions?” she continued. “And that has already happened. But I also have to let go of it because it’s a huge burden to bear and I cannot control everybody’s feelings. That’s the one thing that I’ve been able to look at just in a mature way and just say, I cannot control how everyone’s going to take this. All I can do is focus on my intention.”
Wright’s intention for “Highway to the Moon,” which stars Kenyah Sandy and Lamar Waves, is to humanize the very real impact of losing a young Black boy to violence. She was inspired to make the coming-of-age film by the fatal stabbing of the brother of a good friend of hers.
“It came from that place of shock that people that I knew, particularly my friend’s brother Junior, weren’t here anymore, and it was over a disagreement,” she said. “His life is gone, and just seeing that pain of my friend and her family and her mum processing it, and how nobody would want to come forward to say who did it. Justice hasn’t come to that household.”
Wright first announced “Highway to the Moon” on May 5 in an Instagram post, in which she described the film, made in collaboration with 3.16 Productions and We Present, as a “coming-of-age fantasy drama” set in a world between Heaven and Earth.
“The story delves into the themes of brotherhood, unity, and hope,” she wrote.
The actress is aware that some may criticize the fact that her film, even though there’s not a single scene with a knife in it, depicts Black boys experiencing violence. However, she hopes her larger message comes through, particularly for young Black male viewers.
“I want this to really hit home with our boys when they watch it. It’s like, dang, I’m meant to be here. He’s meant to be here. We’re meant to have a good quality of life,” she said.
