Aldis Hodge

2015-2016 was arguably a pivotal year in your career, appearing in both Straight Outta Compton and Hidden Figures, two films that received both critical acclaim and box office success. What was the experience like for you? How did you keep grounded during this period?

The experiences were simply great educations about how we are able to fully impact people in a huge way with our art. Each film took on a life of its own through our audiences, and it was quite special to observe and be a part of.

Staying grounded comes from having an awareness that it’s not directly about you and never will be. You didn’t accomplish this feat alone. Having a great foundation of family at home helps. And also understanding that when people boast about the supposed “power” you have, what they really mean is the great “responsibility” you have to the audience, to the craft and most importantly, to yourself. As long as you don’t forget the work you have to do, you won’t go astray. 

You star as Anthony Woods, an inmate on death row, in the new film Clemency. Tell me how you prepared yourself for this role. Was it difficult for you to mentally enter the space of this character?

I prepared first by having many discussions with Chinonye Chukwu, our brilliant writer/director. She’d done four years of research and volunteered on fourteen different clemency cases prior to us beginning production. She was a perfect source for opening my mind to what we were about to experience. She gave me the book I Am Troy Davis, a true telling about how Mr. Davis sought clemency before he was executed in Georgia a few years ago. It was riveting.

Then I visited San Quentin to see what the reality of death row looked like: the cells, the prisoners, their lifestyles, etc. It really helped to shape my intent behind playing this role.

It wasn’t mentally difficult for me to play Anthony because of how I am linked to my craft and why I do what I do. I knew I had a beautiful opportunity in front of me. I was so ambitious about the potential of what we were about to do that every day I stepped on set I was too full of excitement. I was truly connected to my purpose for being in this film. 

I read that you visited a prison prior to filming to prepare for your portrayal of Anthony Woods. How did this experience inform your performance? 

Yes, I visited San Quentin and was able to observe the different treatment for the men on death row as opposed to the other inmates. The isolation was shocking. It all informed my idea of who Anthony was before he went to jail and who he’d become after 15 years of being in isolation.

Clemency touches on many different important topics, but the debate surrounding the death penalty is central to the film. This is a topic that has been hotly contested in American society for decades. What do you think it is about the film that makes such a convincing argument against capital punishment?

I think the film puts the audience in a seat they’ve never been in before when it comes to this topic. It allows them to see the horrid truth of this issue from a completely new perspective. We get to see the outreach of its effect in many ways for all of the victims of capital punishment – those condemned to have their lives taken and those condemned to take lives. 

It does so without imposing a particular viewpoint on the matter. We simply display the issue for the audience and allow them to decide how they really feel after going on this roller coaster. 

It’s when people have to have that raw internal discussion about the subject matter with themselves that you start to see real change.