Latest news with #SelwynSeyfuHinds
CBC
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
The TV adaptation of Esi Edugyan's novel Washington Black will surprise fans of the books
Esi Edugyan says Disney Plus's take on her acclaimed historical novel Washington Black will surprise anyone familiar with the sprawling coming-of-age tale. There are significant changes to the hero and his relationships, wholly invented scenes and entirely new characters inserted by showrunners and executive producers Selwyn Seyfu Hinds and Kimberly Ann Harrison. Edugyan says she accepted early on that transforming her Giller Prize-winning saga into an eight-part streaming show would mean surrendering her hold on the story, noting she "very much took a back seat" in the process. "It's probably never a favourable thing to have the writer of the book kind of lurking in the background, looking over your shoulder, saying, 'Why have you done this and not that?'" Edugyan says in a recent video call from her home office in Victoria. "I just kind of understood that this was somebody else's art." Like the book, which was championed by Olympic swimmer Mark Tewksbury on Canada Reads 2022, the TV series recounts the fantastical life of a boy born into slavery on a Barbados sugar plantation in the 19th century. Actor Eddie Karanja plays the young hero and Ernest Kingsley Jr. portrays the older Washington Black. At age 11, Wash is taken under the wing of his master's younger abolitionist brother Titch, played by Tom Ellis, who uses the boy as ballast for an experimental flying machine but soon recognizes his aptitude for art and science. Amid this burgeoning friendship, Wash is disfigured in a trial run and then implicated in a crime, forcing him and Titch to flee the plantation. Edugyan's tale is a first-person account by an 18-year-old Wash who looks back on a lifelong search for freedom and meaning that sends him to extreme corners of the world. The Disney version is narrated by Sterling K. Brown's Medwin, a mere side character in the book who runs Wash's boarding house in Halifax. Onscreen, Medwin is a mentor to Wash and gets his own backstory and love interest, all part of what Hinds explains as "the journey of adaptation." As such, Halifax features more prominently in the Disney story, which filmed in and around the Atlantic capital, as well as in Mexico and Iceland to capture scenes set in Virginia, the Arctic, London and Morocco. Hinds says Nova Scotia was home for about six months, with shooting locations including Peggy's Cove, Lunenburg, Uniacke Estate Museum Park in Mount Uniacke and the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site in Cape Breton. He says Halifax in particular "really adopted us as a crew" as they learned the local history of Black settlements in Canada. "There was a young man who used to cut my hair in Halifax and one day we were talking — he told me his family had been there, I think, 400 years. Which for an American immigrant like myself, who's first-generation American, this was just completely mind-blowing," he says in joint a video call from Los Angeles with Harrison. "A big part of what we're doing is trying to bake ourselves in the nooks and crannies and the history of the place. And I did as best as I could to let that infuse the actual storytelling itself." Among the biggest changes is the removal of Wash's facial scars, notes Edugyan, who became the first Black woman to win the Giller in 2011 for Half-Blood Blues and only the third author to win twice when Washington Black claimed the title in 2018. In the Disney version, the scar is on Wash's chest, where it's hidden from view. "That is quite a departure from the novel," says Edugyan. "That was a very deliberate choice on my part to have that be part of how Washington confronts the world — that he's not only an enslaved person but that he also carries with him this disfigurement, which gives him this sort of double estrangement." Edugyan describes the series as "a kind of translation or interpretation of the novel" to satisfy a visual medium and the demands of episodic storytelling. Her jazz-infused Half-Blood Blues was also optioned for the screen, by Toronto's Clement Virgo, which Edugyan says is still in the works. Hinds says he regards the screen version of Washington Black as "the same house" but bigger, with an expanded world that adds a romantic rival for Wash and a deeper backstory for the white-passing love interest Tanna, born to a Black mother in the Solomon Islands. "Because the TV medium just gives you room to explore things that Esi kind of laid out that were really great opportunities — really delving into Tanna's background or really seeing what the Solomon Islands meant (to Tanna)," he says. "With any adaptation, or at least the ones that I've written, the first thing is to find the emotional DNA of the story, right? And once I realized that the story that Esi was telling about finding hope and finding agency and finding freedom, once you sort of lock into the emotional core of what the characters' journey is, everything else makes sense. Both in terms of what you keep in and what you leave out." "It's quite different from the novel," Edugyan adds. "Anybody who's familiar with the source work will be surprised. But I think it's its own piece of art and I'm looking forward to having people watch it and to hearing reactions."
The Independent
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
'Washington Black' is the show that could, just like its main character
'Washington Black' just seemed destined for a screen adaptation. The 2018 novel by Canadian writer Esi Edugyan caught actor Sterling K. Brown's eye. As he put the wheels in motion, things just started to line up in a most un-Hollywood fashion — so much so that Brown started to believe strongly the project was meant to be. 'Sometimes you keep hitting barricades and obstacles and you're like 'Well maybe I should step away.' No, things kept falling into line in such a lovely way that let me know that we were moving in the direction we were supposed to go,' he recalls. It felt appropriate that the universe wanted a coming-of-age story about a Black boy with big dreams, who goes from the Barbados plantation where he was born to finding freedom, love and friendship across the seas. The eight-episode miniseries premieres Wednesday on Hulu. Brown noted that, as a producer, he wants to put out tales that can benefit society. 'I think for me it's been the sort of fare that has been reserved for people that don't look like us so much,' he says — so the opportunity to make it happen was 'very exciting.' The idea of doing a show where a young person overcomes tumultuous circumstances through hope and joy enchanted him: 'They were telling him, 'Maybe you should dream smaller.' He just kept going up. It's beautiful.' Adapting the book The first stop was finding a writer and Selwyn Seyfu Hinds fit the bill perfectly. His lyrical style and family background inspired Brown — who also acts in the show — to get him on board as one of the two showrunners. Born and raised in Guyana, Hinds moved to the United States as a teen with his family, and felt the story spoke to him personally. 'It's always been part of my desire as a writer to tell stories that connect the Caribbean to the overall diaspora,' Hinds says. The show follows 11-year-old George Washington 'Wash' Black, born into slavery in Barbados on a plantation owned by the Wilde family in the 1830s. His quick mind, inquisitiveness and knack for science get the attention of Christopher 'Titch' Wilde (Tom Ellis), an inventor, who enlists him as his assistant. A tragic turn of events forces them to run away together and takes them on adventures on the high seas, North America and ultimately the Arctic; the story stretches across almost a decade. Adapting it into eight episodes required changes to the book, but they kept to the emotional core of the journey. 'It's big and expansive, not for its own sake, but because I think that thematically reflects the character's heart and the character's own ambitions,' says Hinds. The series, which filmed across locations in Nova Scotia, Canada; Virginia, Mexico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Iceland took nine months to complete. Co-showrunner Kim Harrison is still incredulous at pulling off such a massive endeavor of juggling multiple locations, temperamental weather and stars' schedules. 'When you look back at the finished product, you're like, 'Wow, we did that,'' she says of the feat. Two stars are born, with a mentor to boot Among the many elements that had to work, the most crucial one, perhaps, was finding its young leads — one actor to play young Wash and another to play him as a young adult. After months and months of auditions and thousands of tapes, they both revealed themselves in an 'undeniable' way to the producers. 'They both carry the truth of the character in their eyes … like they've got the same emotional expression and intelligence and empathy in their in their eyes,' Hinds says. He's speaking of Ernest Kingsley Jr. and Eddie Karanja, who was just 14 at the time. Kingsley got the older part three months out of acting school in London; he was bowled over when he had to do a chemistry read with Brown, who stars as Medwin Harris, a Black community leader and father figure in the Nova Scotia years. Brown found himself impressed by the newcomer immediately. 'This kid embodies the hopefulness, the sort of Black boy joy that is the engine that drives the show,' he recalls thinking during auditions. Brown inadvertently became a mentor to the inexperienced actors on set because he wanted all of them to feel comfortable. He remembers how young actors feel unable to voice doubts or practical questions because everyone else seems to know what they're supposed to do. 'You just want to give them the space to share all of that so we can move through it together,' he says. He extended the same helping hand to Iola Evans, who plays older Wash's love interest, and Edward Bluemel, her suitor. Brown always made time in his busy schedule to visit the set to watch, listen and generally be a hype man. Don't call him a baddie Charles Dance, the inscrutable paterfamilias James Wilde, surprised everyone who'd seen him in 'Game of Thrones.' Hinds recollects even Ellis, who plays Dance's character's son, gave a speech at the wrap party in Iceland saying how shockingly nice Dance was — he had been terrified before meeting him. 'So the fact that Charles is scary and intimidating just worked beautifully for us,' laughs Hinds as Ellis channeled it into his performance. Karanja says he even got a boost from Dance: 'Charles was the warmest guy and he continued to give me confidence in myself as an actor.'
Associated Press
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
'Washington Black' is the show that could, just like its main character
LONDON (AP) — 'Washington Black' just seemed destined for a screen adaptation. The 2018 novel by Canadian writer Esi Edugyan caught actor Sterling K. Brown's eye. As he put the wheels in motion, things just started to line up in a most un-Hollywood fashion — so much so that Brown started to believe strongly the project was meant to be. 'Sometimes you keep hitting barricades and obstacles and you're like 'Well maybe I should step away.' No, things kept falling into line in such a lovely way that let me know that we were moving in the direction we were supposed to go,' he recalls. It felt appropriate that the universe wanted a coming-of-age story about a Black boy with big dreams, who goes from the Barbados plantation where he was born to finding freedom, love and friendship across the seas. The eight-episode miniseries premieres Wednesday on Hulu. Brown noted that, as a producer, he wants to put out tales that can benefit society. 'I think for me it's been the sort of fare that has been reserved for people that don't look like us so much,' he says — so the opportunity to make it happen was 'very exciting.' The idea of doing a show where a young person overcomes tumultuous circumstances through hope and joy enchanted him: 'They were telling him, 'Maybe you should dream smaller.' He just kept going up. It's beautiful.' Adapting the book The first stop was finding a writer and Selwyn Seyfu Hinds fit the bill perfectly. His lyrical style and family background inspired Brown — who also acts in the show — to get him on board as one of the two showrunners. Born and raised in Guyana, Hinds moved to the United States as a teen with his family, and felt the story spoke to him personally. 'It's always been part of my desire as a writer to tell stories that connect the Caribbean to the overall diaspora,' Hinds says. The show follows 11-year-old George Washington 'Wash' Black, born into slavery in Barbados on a plantation owned by the Wilde family in the 1830s. His quick mind, inquisitiveness and knack for science get the attention of Christopher 'Titch' Wilde (Tom Ellis), an inventor, who enlists him as his assistant. A tragic turn of events forces them to run away together and takes them on adventures on the high seas, North America and ultimately the Arctic; the story stretches across almost a decade. Adapting it into eight episodes required changes to the book, but they kept to the emotional core of the journey. 'It's big and expansive, not for its own sake, but because I think that thematically reflects the character's heart and the character's own ambitions,' says Hinds. The series, which filmed across locations in Nova Scotia, Canada; Virginia, Mexico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Iceland took nine months to complete. Co-showrunner Kim Harrison is still incredulous at pulling off such a massive endeavor of juggling multiple locations, temperamental weather and stars' schedules. 'When you look back at the finished product, you're like, 'Wow, we did that,'' she says of the feat. Two stars are born, with a mentor to boot Among the many elements that had to work, the most crucial one, perhaps, was finding its young leads — one actor to play young Wash and another to play him as a young adult. After months and months of auditions and thousands of tapes, they both revealed themselves in an 'undeniable' way to the producers. 'They both carry the truth of the character in their eyes … like they've got the same emotional expression and intelligence and empathy in their in their eyes,' Hinds says. He's speaking of Ernest Kingsley Jr. and Eddie Karanja, who was just 14 at the time. Kingsley got the older part three months out of acting school in London; he was bowled over when he had to do a chemistry read with Brown, who stars as Medwin Harris, a Black community leader and father figure in the Nova Scotia years. Brown found himself impressed by the newcomer immediately. 'This kid embodies the hopefulness, the sort of Black boy joy that is the engine that drives the show,' he recalls thinking during auditions. Brown inadvertently became a mentor to the inexperienced actors on set because he wanted all of them to feel comfortable. He remembers how young actors feel unable to voice doubts or practical questions because everyone else seems to know what they're supposed to do. 'You just want to give them the space to share all of that so we can move through it together,' he says. He extended the same helping hand to Iola Evans, who plays older Wash's love interest, and Edward Bluemel, her suitor. Brown always made time in his busy schedule to visit the set to watch, listen and generally be a hype man. Don't call him a baddie Charles Dance, the inscrutable paterfamilias James Wilde, surprised everyone who'd seen him in 'Game of Thrones.' Hinds recollects even Ellis, who plays Dance's character's son, gave a speech at the wrap party in Iceland saying how shockingly nice Dance was — he had been terrified before meeting him. 'So the fact that Charles is scary and intimidating just worked beautifully for us,' laughs Hinds as Ellis channeled it into his performance. Karanja says he even got a boost from Dance: 'Charles was the warmest guy and he continued to give me confidence in myself as an actor.'
Toronto Star
21 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Star
Disney version of ‘Washington Black' roots tale in Nova Scotia, expands world of side characters
TORONTO - Esi Edugyan says Disney Plus's take on her acclaimed historical novel 'Washington Black' will surprise anyone familiar with the sprawling coming-of-age tale. There are significant changes to the hero and his relationships, wholly invented scenes and entirely new characters inserted by showrunners and executive producers Selwyn Seyfu Hinds and Kimberly Ann Harrison.
New York Times
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Washington Black' Is a Defiantly Joyful Fable
As the opening scenes of 'Washington Black' come into view, the narrator Sterling K. Brown tells viewers that what's about to unfold is 'the story of a boy brave enough to change the world.' In the sweeping 19th-century adventure that follows, the wide-eyed, kindhearted George Washington Black, a.k.a. Wash, escapes the Barbados sugar plantation where he has been enslaved since birth, finds freedom and romance in Canada and uses his keen intellect to make marvelous scientific breakthroughs. The eight-part series, based on Esi Edugyan's acclaimed 2018 novel of the same name, debuts Wednesday on Hulu. As the saga bounces back and forth in time, Wash (played by Eddie Karanja) as a boy and by Ernest Kingsley Jr. as a young man) hones his prodigious artistic talents with help from Christopher Wilde (Tom Ellis), a white scientist who facilitates the boy's escape from bondage. Wash learns crucial lessons about the world — and his socially precarious place in it — as he soars through the air in a fantastical flying machine, sails the Caribbean Sea with pirates, rides a dog sled through the Arctic tundra and dodges a relentless bounty hunter hired by his former enslaver. Brown's production company, Indian Meadows Productions, secured the rights to the novel in 2019 and the show's creator, Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, set about transforming the transcontinental coming-of-age tale for the screen. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
