Jeffrey Wright and Ashton Sanders play father and son in the new Netflix film “All Day and a Night,” but these guys don’t go fishing and drink beer. They reconnect, as hardened adults, in the clink.
Before a somber reunion at a prison yard picnic table, the actors spent most of the film shoot apart, which gave their performances a real feeling of parent-child conflict.
“It did kind of reflect, you know, our off-screen relationship to an extent,” Wright tells The Post. “We had met, obviously, and spent time together and rehearsed together … but there was an unfamiliarity, which was kind of cool.”
But Wright, 54, known for such diverse roles as Felix Leiter in the James Bond films and Belize in Broadway’s “Angels in America,” quickly became familiar with 24-year-old Sanders, a breakout star of 2016’s Best Picture Oscar winner, “Moonlight,” as Chiron. The actor also scored leads in “The Equalizer 2” with Denzel Washington and played RZA in the Hulu series “Wu-Tang: An American Saga.”
In “All Day and a Night,” he plays Jah, a 20-something in Oakland, Calif., who wants to be a rapper, but gets locked up for a violent crime.
For Sanders, making the film shook up his emotions.
“This character, Jah, and this story narrative wasn’t too far from what I was growing [up] around,” he says. “I was surrounded by these archetypes.”
“I feel like playing this character is honoring the people in my life. It is very real and it is very raw.”
Wright’s character, JD, goes through a lot of physical changes as the movie jumps back and forth through time, and he sadly notes that the designer of his wig in the film, Charles Gregory Ross, died of complications due to COVID-19 last month.
“Thanks and praises to Charles for this, and many films,” Wright says.
During the coronavirus lockdown, Wright has jumped into action in his home borough of Brooklyn, where he’s created the Brooklyn for Life charity to provide food for health-care workers and first responders and to give local restaurants a boost.
“Today we will surpass 75,000 meals,” he says of the partnership involving 50 restaurants serving eight medical facilities and all FDNY stations. “We’re keeping a lot of small businesses engaged in a seriously meaningful way.”
So far, they’ve raised about $450,000 from small donors and celebs such as Daniel Craig, Jay-Z and Spike Lee.
“I’m convinced we can keep this going for as long as it’s necessary.”