Danielle Deadwyler Talks ‘40 Acres' Film And Her ‘Widening' Career

Forbes

01-07-2025

Danielle Deadwyler attends the "40 Acres" screening with Talkback during the 2025 American Black ... More Film Festival at the Miami Beach Convention Center on June 14, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida.
She has been a leading force with her deep, emotional and layered character performances in such films as The Harder They Fall, Till, The Piano Lesson, Carry On and The Woman In The Yard - yet actress Danielle Deadwyler still has plenty of on-screen personas that she is eager to take on next.
'I'm trying to get to every segment dot on the line - and it's not a line, it's a circle. I'm trying to hit every quadrant.'
Next up for Deadwyler, 43, is 40 Acres, a gritty drama about a Canadian farming family, living in a dystopian world where they must protect their land & resources at all costs. Directed and co-written by R.T. Thorne, Deadwyler plays Hailey Freeman, the matriarch of this formed family. So, what initially drew Deadwyler to this project?
'The root of any film script is just intelligence, right? Does this piece know what it is? How is my writer, director connecting? That's the realest thing for me. I'm all about the people. What is the story? How do you want to tell it? I jump onto things because of that, first and foremost. R.T. is visually brilliant. He has worked in the realms of music videos, as well as television. And so, to dig into this story of farmland, to dig into this story of family, of survival, of dystopia - I was connected to that on a personal level because I had been dealing in what does it mean to be learning about how to maintain land, to reconnect with land, on a spiritual level and a rooted level.'
The Gotham Award winner not only stars in 40 Acres, but she also serves as an executive producer. So, I wondered what it means to her to have this type agency and leadership role behind-the-scenes, and if it ultimately benefited her on-camera performance.
Deadwyler said, 'I think it does. I think a producer is there to mother and help birth the film, and to take care of the wellness of that project from pre-production to post-, right? To distribution. You are ushering this thing along. Executive producer, I feel like it can be financial, but it is largely creative. It's a checks-and-balances of the work. My job as an actor is to enhance this vision, to enhance this language - but in conjunction with being an executive producer is to instill a greater knowledge of what it is contextually, historically. Having a hand at supporting something like that is moving forward - it's the way that I want to deal with any project.'
(Left to right) Danielle Deadwyler, Michael Greyeyes, Kataem O'Connor, Haile Amare and Jaeda LeBlanc ... More in "40 Acres"
Being the mother to a teenage son in real life, I wondered if Deadwyler brought her own maternal instincts into her acting performance of playing a protective mother in 40 Acres.
'I think that mothering doesn't always come through birth - literal birth, but hell yeah. There is a beauty to children. I believe in protecting them. Everyone was a child at some point - just the protecting childhood and innocence is critical. I do bring that know-how. I taught elementary school and have taught across the educational gamut - the educational span from ESL to GED to arts camps and whatnot. It's important to protect people in the midst of their expansion, in the midst of their widening eye, and to protect their bodies from harm. So, that's the basic thing to do and bringing that to Hailey - bringing that to any role, quite frankly - that entails the exploration of motherhood - that urgency, that passion has to be present. If we're talking about a dystopic North America, we are surely talking about hardcore, passionate, urgent, rigorous, ruthless protection.'
When moviegoers get the chance to watch this 40 Acres Magnolia Pictures film in the theaters starting July 2, I wondered what Deadwyler hopes that people will take from its story and overall theme into our own divisive real world.
Danielle Deadwyler, R.T. Thorne, and Milcania Diaz-Rojas attend the "40 Acres" screening with ... More Talkback during the 2025 American Black Film Festival at the Miami Beach Convention Center on June 14, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida.
'Man, I think the other day, R.T. and I were having a conversation about what's the significance of the film. This is a conversation across generations, right? I think we're at a, you know, every moment is critical. It's not like this is just now the critical moment to be doing this thing. The generational divide has been ongoing, right? For the past umpteen hundred years plus, there's value to Hailey's desire and need to insulate. There is value to her mistrust or distrust, her guarded-ness. And yet, there is an inherent need for her son to desire to know more. It is not just this nuclear family. So, what does it mean to meet each other? Just to meet each other - that kind of discussion is what should be happening. I think in the nuclear family, for sure. As to the greater world, we have a whole other conversation to be had, but the least we can do with those who we are in community with on a day-to-day basis is meet each other, because we are fighting to be together today on a basic level now.'
So, with thought-provoking films like 40 Acres, is Deadwyler noticing that her priorities and interest towards the stories and characters she wants to take on, evolving at all as time goes on?
Deadwyler said, 'Oh, heck yeah. I can hit a Till, I can hit a Piano Lesson, I can hit a Carry On, I can hit a Woman In The Yard - and then now, I'm hitting a 40 Acres. This is in the dystopian future - and then I'll pull it back. You can hit it in a horror thriller capacity, in an action thriller capacity, in a drama. This is a family drama with some action thriller. I think people respond to all kinds of stuff and I'm trying to have a wide range of a discussion or engagement with all kinds of audience members. If I can get them in these different genres, then let's play. If I can get them in film, TV, let's do it. Theater, performance art - let's do it. I'm just trying to have a well-rounded conversation about what does it mean to exist in this body and the narratives that come through it.'
While reflecting upon the trajectory of her career up until now and what she is perhaps enjoying more today than in years past, Deadwyler said, 'Well, when I was a child, that's when I started. What am I enjoying today? I think the community is widening for me. I think that's exciting to feel and see, and dialogue with folks who are of like-mind. I think I'm trying to go a little slower. Things are hectic - things do move fast. The industry is at a critical tipping point. And so, how do you take something from infancy to adulthood as a project? That's what I'm getting the privilege of doing now, to take my time and to be that much more critical of the things that have been coming my way - and to develop. I'm getting to mother the works that I am connected to.'
As Deadwyler continues on around Hollywood projects, with celebrated recognition already surrounding her outstanding performances by groups like BAFTA, the Critics Choice and the Film Independent Spirit Awards, I was curious what she is liking about the ways of the entertainment industry today, and what aspects of yesteryear does she wish were still in place.
'I feel like as difficult as the internet and social media have contributed to the shifting nature of the business, I am a beneficiary in that I'm from Atlanta. Aside from educational stints elsewhere, I've always lived in Atlanta and have not had to live in Hollywood, in order to have a greater conversation. I think that Hollywood is global at this point, which is a challenge to a lot of spaces - which has been a challenge to an ongoing conversation in Los Angeles. It has opened the world up, and I, along with other folks, have had the privilege to be witnessed and not necessarily in-person, though I have had that, too. So, it's a weird thing to have come in right at the cusp of the mad dash shift into bookings off of just self-tape or whatnot. I think the ability to be working is the massive privilege and something that I am grateful for. The other movements are a bit more challenging. I just want to be someone who's encouraging and advocating for work in local spaces that may be in LA - like bringing more things to LA, that may be in Atlanta. Everybody's having a kind of dearth of projects, but bringing things back to the U.S. is critical.'
Having navigated over the years as a creative professional herself, what advice does Deadwyler have for other creatives that want their skills to be considered within a competitive and often unstable industry?
'You have full capacity to make - you have so much technology at your hands. You can just make, right? Like literally, collaborate with people who are 'simpatico' with what you are doing. If that thing can be made on a very small, intimate level - and it can be made on a grander level - but you can just start right here. I think when I started doing performance art about 13 years ago, that just fueled me to the things that I could do. I don't have to wait to show my skill in a way. I have to do it for myself. I have to do it for the local community that I'm trying to have a conversation with. Everything, it has its place. I think you should be preparing for all of those spaces and doing it with people who you have a connected heart to.'
As I concluded my conversation Deadwyler, I left her with my signature and original interview question, wondering what she would say to her 40 Acres character Hailey, if only she could.
Danielle Deadwyler in "40 Acres"
Deadwyler said, 'Girl, you should smoke the weed, instead of drink the liquor [laughs]. At the end of the day, the fight that she has is so important. If not for that, would they have been able to protect themselves the way they needed to? There is a need for reprieve, as much as there is a need for the ability to fight. So, I'd tell her to take a couple of tokes and let everybody live.'