Interview: Dante Brown of “Won’t Back Down”

Posted on October 13, 2012 at 8:00 am

Oprah called him one of her all-time smartest and most talented kids. And now Dante Brown is appearing in the new movie “Won’t Back Down,” a touching performance as the son of the teacher character played by Viola Davis. He was nice enough to answer my questions about the film.
What do you see as the biggest challenge facing schools today?

I feel that when your parents are not as active in your life, then disruptive behaviors come out in other places… home, after school programs, interacting with classmates & friends, etc. I feel the biggest challenge that teachers face in schools, today, is… kids’ inappropriate behavior in class and a lack of respect for authorities. As for schools in general, probably, a lack of resources and funding for students to have access to the latest technology, supplies and other stuff needed to make for a great school.

What happened to the school that inspired this story?

I’m not really sure there was one particular school that the movie was “inspired” by… at least that’s what I’ve heard Mr. Daniel Barnz say in some of his interviews, so I don’t really have an answer for that directly, but overall, for school’s that have experienced this or something similar to what takes place in the movie, I’d venture to say that the result might have been difficult at first, but like anything, if you keep at it and continue seeking excellence, the Principal and teachers prevail… the parents & students will prevail, so the school eventually is a success. As long as there’s mutual respect and cooperative efforts toward the one goal of making the school successful.

How can families be more effectively involved in supporting local schools?

By taking an active role… when the school/kids have different events, go. Know what’s going on with your child. Attend the parent-teacher conferences. Sign up to receive the emails, voice broadcasts and other communication. Show that you care. Take the time to attend different school events and if you have the time, volunteer and participate. If you have ideas, share them and see them through. That’s all it takes. Lead by example for your child that’s a student at the school, so that they, too, will be encouraged and excited about participating and being active in the school’s activities, whether it’s a school clean up day, a fundraiser, a movie night or talent show.

If you could make one change in the law to help schools, what would it be?
Every Principal would be required to have successful scores on their evaluations before being given a school. I say this because my parents told me that the way a business or organization functions, depends heavily on its leaders. I’m not really sure about school laws, haven’t really given that much thought, but if there’s not a law monitoring how effective a Principal or Teacher is, then perhaps there should be one. A law that would somehow monitor their effectiveness in helping their students to thrive, because after all, that’s the whole purpose, right?

How did you become involved with this project?
When my agent sent over the sides for my audition on the tape, the project was originally named “Still I Rise.” I immediately thought of Maya Angelou’s poem and was very interested in getting to know my character more, as well as the story. My name means poetic, so it’s ironic that I love poetry, and I was like, “Wow, interesting movie! Then I read the sides and the character was very different than me. But since the movie is a drama, and I love drama, I wanted to nail my audition to make sure I got a callback and be strongly considered for the role. So, I auditioned for it, is how I became involved with Won’t Back Down. LOL

Can you tell me about your casting process?
Sure. My agent submitted me for the role and I auditioned for it. My first audition was on video tape. My Mom took me to someone in LA that tapes actors for auditions… it came out really nice… it was in high definition and looked great. So we forwarded the link to my agent and my agent forwarded the link to casting in NY, I believe, because that’s where the Director Mr. Daniel Barnz is based… I think. At least I know his family is from the east coast. I didn’t know that until recently. *smiles* Anyhow, I guess Mr. Barnz liked what he saw, so I was called in to meet him in person, out here in LA, for callbacks. During callbacks he complimented me alot and before I left, said that he’d see me later, which they often do, but I don’t think anything of it, until my manager or agent actually calls to tell me I got the part. Anyhow, a couple of weeks later they called and told me I booked it and I was super excited, especially after learning that I would play the son of Mrs. Viola Davis and Mr. Lance Reddick.

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Actors Interview

Won’t Back Down — Quote About Education from John Adams

Posted on September 30, 2012 at 2:12 pm

In the new movie “Won’t Back Down,” a teacher played by Viola Davis shares a quote about learning with her students. It is especially apt for them because it comes from the man for whom their school was named, John Adams, the second President of the United States. It comes from his 1765 “A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law,” well worth reading in full. Here it is, good advice for everyone:

Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.

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Understanding Media and Pop Culture

Won’t Back Down

Posted on September 27, 2012 at 6:00 pm

What should have been a rousing, feel-good, “inspired by a true story” film about a mother and a teacher who take on the teacher’s union and the school board to turn around a failing elementary school benefits from strong performances but suffers from a palpably skewed point of view. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Jamie, the devoted single mother of a daughter with dyslexia who attends the John Adams elementary school in a poor Pennsylvania community. Viola Davis plays Nona, a frustrated teacher whose own son has developmental disabilities that add to the strain in her marriage.

When Jamie tries to see the school superintendent to complain about the principal’s unwillingness to help her, she can’t get in. But a sympathetic receptionist explains that there is a parental trigger law that at least in theory can help. If a school has consistently failed, parents and teachers can petition to take it over. In reality, Jamie is told, those petitions never succeed. The school board uses delays and technicalities to wear down the petitioners. But, as Jamie explains, those mothers who lift trucks to save their babies have nothing on her.

The other teachers are angry and scared when Nona joins Jamie. If the petition is successful, the teachers will no longer be part of the union. They will lose their tenure and possibly their jobs. The petition cannot be successful without the signatures of at least half of the teachers. Lifting the truck begins to seem easy by comparison.

Gyllenhaal conveys passion well but her character is too good to be true, never wavering or even slowing down despite having to hold down two jobs to support her daughter and always having to exemplify all that is committed and pure of heart while also being all kinds of spontaneous and free-spirited, knowing everything about Penguins hockey, being infinitely patient with her daughter, and rocking the skinny jeans. Davis brings great depth and warmth to Nona, but she is stuck with the “black Stepford wife” role and even Davis, one of the finest actors in film history, cannot make Nona’s big powerhouse revelation scene work.

Every parent and anyone who has ever been to school cannot help but be drawn into this underdog story about people who want to make things better for their children and are willing to take on the bad guys. But oh, this movie really overdoes it with the bad guys. There are some mentions of the important contributions made by unions, especially by Michael (the always-outstanding Oscar Isaac) as a Teach for America veteran who is one of the school’s best teachers. But those references are all to the distant past and the praise sounds as insincere Antony’s praise for Brutus. Meanwhile, the union officials are portrayed as venal and corrupt, more concerned with their own power than with the welfare of the children and willing to restort to bribes, threats, manipulation, and character assassination. The bias is evident when of them all but twirls a villain-esque mustache as he quotes a statement the late Albert Shanker, former president of the teacher’s union, never actually made about how children do not pay union dues, so his allegiance is to the teachers who do. They make “It’s a Wonderful Life’s” Mr. Potter seem like Santa Claus. There are bad teachers in schools but it is way over the top when the opening scene shows Jamie’s daughter struggling to sound out the word “story” as her teacher checks her email and shops online and some of the other kids play computer games and make fun of her.

The film has been widely criticized because it is funded by those who have an economic interest in taking over schools, for-profit companies that want to get the school contracts, and those points are valid. Those points are valid. But so is the point that seven out of ten kids at this school cannot read by the time they leave. It is fun to see Gyllenhaal and Davis dance together in the bar where Jamie works as a bartender but it would have been a lot more meaningful to have a forthright conversation about how to protect and retain good teachers and help students who do not have enough support at home. All we ever hear about from the phone book-sized petition Jamie and Nona present to the board is a number with digits mistakenly reversed that may be grounds for rejection. We never hear about the ideas for change that would be the reasons for its approval. We can all agree that schools can do better and that abuses occur when there is too little protection for teachers and administrators and when there is too much. The tough part is coming up with a way to do something about it. Nona and Jamie talk about the importance of high expectations. I had higher expectations for this film than it was willing to meet.

Parents should know that this film includes drinking, scenes in bar, mild language (“screw”), references to drunk driving and irresponsible behavior, tense confrontations, and some kissing.

Family discussion: Read about the controversy over the “parent trigger” laws advocated in the film – what are the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing school administration? What are parents in your community doing to help teachers and students?

If you like this, try: the documentaries “Waiting for Superman” and “Small Wonders”

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Based on a true story Drama School

Won’t Back Down — The Real Story

Posted on September 27, 2012 at 3:54 pm

This week’s feel-good movie “Won’t Back Down” is the “inspired by a true story” saga of a mother and a teacher who worked together to take over a failing school in Pennsylvania. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis star as the women who got the support of the other parents and teachers despite the opposition of the teachers union. The movie has created a lot of controversy on all sides for its portrayal of the teachers union as interested only in job security, hours and pay for teachers and not what is best for their students and willing to resort to threats, bribery, and character assassination to maintain their power. A quote often attributed to real-life teachers union president Albert Shanker (“When schoolchildren start paying union dues, that’s when I’ll start representing the interests of school children.”) is used in the movie even though there is no record of his having said it. It is documented, however, that he said, “It is as much the duty of the union to preserve public education as it is to negotiate a good contract.” (Fans of the Woody Allen movie “Sleeper” may remember that there is a joke about Shanker getting a bomb.)

The Center for Media and Democracy’s PR Watch is very critical of the film because they say it is funded by businesses with a hidden agenda — to get parents to use “trigger laws” to get rid of the unions and administrations at under-performing schools so that private businesses can take over and make a profit. Families who view the film should find out how “trigger laws” work in their own community and what standards are being applied in their own school systems for evaluating proposals to improve the students’ experience and results.

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The Real Story