In June 1981, an African- American man broke into a house in Shreve port, La., where three young girls were sleeping.
He assaulted and raped the oldest, just 10 years old, and then slipped into the night, leaving her unconscious and violated.
The girls later identified a man named Calvin Willis as the attacker, although their description of that man didn’t fit Willis: the man in question was bigger and had a beard. It took a court only 20 minutes to sentence Willis to prison.
It took 22 years for one stubborn Southern paralegal — Janet “Prissy” Gregory — to get Willis out.
By that time, Willis’ wife had left him and married another and everyone except Prissy and his grandmother had all but forgotten him while the two women kept fighting. On Sept. 18, 2003, Willis walked out of the prison a free man.
The story of that fight is told in Lifetime Movie Network’s “The Wronged Man,” based on Andrew Corsello’s original article in GQ magazine and airing tomorrow (8 p.m.).
“I was truly shocked to discover that not only could someone spend 22 years in jail for a crime they didn’t commit, but also at how tenacious Prissy Gregory was,” says Executive Producer Gale Anne Hurd.
“The Wronged Man” stars Julia Ormond and Mahershalalhashbaz Ali (“The 4400“), who co-starred in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”
The patrician Ormond, in particular, seems like a strange choice for the part of Prissy, the paralegal who stumbled on Willis’ case and then spent the next 20 years fighting to remedy that injustice. The British actress had to work with a dialect coach to master a Southern accent, and she displays a tough, no-nonsense side she hasn’t shown in previous parts.
“That’s where you get the benefit of having someone around who knows these actors,” says Hurd. “[Casting director Laray Mayfield] told me that Julia ‘might not be the first person you think of for this part, but she has the acting chops, the accessibility and the humor you need to bring this part to life.’ ”
On the surface, Ali is a more obvious choice. Bearing an uncanny resemblance to the real Calvin Willis, Ali “came in and read for the role and had us all bowled over by his performance,” says Hurd. “It’s a tricky role because Calvin is a character that’s not always likable. But there’s something incredibly engaging about Ali and his performance, and that keeps the audience still wanting Calvin to be free.”
For Ali, the part was tough for several reasons. The production was on a tight budget, and shooting started and finished within 15 days. That meant that Ali, Ormond and the supporting cast — all of whom were cast in and around Atlanta, where filming took place — spent 15-hour days shooting long, emotional scenes.
“That was tough because of the emotional state you have to be in just to do that role,” says Ali. “I felt like we were doing something for a cause that goes beyond entertainment.”