Jurnee Smollett executive produces and portrays Dolores in We Grown Now. You can currently see the film in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago theaters and it will later be released nationwide on April 26.
In 1992 Chicago, as Michael Jordan solidifies himself as a champion, a story of two young legends in their own right begins. As wide-eyed and imaginative best friends Malik and Eric traverse the city, looking to escape the mundaneness of school and the hardships of growing up in public housing, their unbreakable bond is challenged when tragedy shakes their community just as they are learning to fly.
“I find myself in this moment of my career wanting to be behind the camera more and be more in the producorial role. I think I’m just excited to see stories told by people who don’t traditionally get to tell these stories and someone like Minhal is a force. I loved her first film and the notion of being a part of her follow-up film and us all growing in our art together was really exciting to me,” she shared. “She’s such a great collaborator. Our first meeting, it was like a two-hour meeting in which we cried and laughed and talked about grief and our common loss. I think from that moment on, I knew, ‘Oh, I have to work with her,’ because anyone who’s open to the collaborative process and wanting things to just be better and check their ego at the door, that ignites the best version of me.”
I caught up with the actress to ask which elements of the project made her also want to be an EP and about the importance of family.
Watch the interview here:
