When you got 42, that’s a very important story, but it’s also sort of designated for African-American actors to do civil rights stories. Was it a mixed bag to do that, or was it all good to have that opportunity too?
That opportunity was an honor and then some. I remember my grandmother having pictures of Jackie Robinson and I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would actually meet those people and that they would become a part of my everyday life. Two weeks ago [July 19] was Rachel Robinson’s birthday. I called Rachel Robinson. I’m talking to Rachel Robinson. As an actress you just don’t imagine you become a part of history, you have the responsibility of telling that story to people. It’s amazing. It really is amazing.
It’s just a huge honor and even having this particular show for example, there’s a parallel between the history that they’re trying to tell with the Revolutionary War and being in the modern times with Ichabod and the onset of the sort of information superhighway and the internet and all that stuff. It’s interesting because you have that time which is very volatile and new, and this time that we live in which is very volatile and new. We’re all trying to figure out what is Twitter? What is all this? What can really happen in these times? There’s a lot of interesting race stuff that’s happening right now too. So I feel like there’s a parallel between the times, even with 42 and I feel honored to have a part in that.
What was great about 42 was how it depicted the real difficulties they had, minor things like that ticket agent in the airport. But it wasn’t heavy handed about it, right?
No. They had to be very sensitive about what was happening because they knew they had a mission. The mission is ultimately more important than the minutiae, than the tiny things that are happening. I have a lot of respect, and it’s funny because when I met Rachel and spent time with her, she said that there were a lot of things that they had to just take. You just have to take it and move forward and I think that’s a huge lesson that I learned, life changing amazing lesson that I learned.
Aside from just being African-American, just being a human being, that occasionally you will have to take those abrasive, acidic moments in order to get to your goal. What’s funny is that in “Sleepy Hollow” that’s what Abbie also experiences. So it’s funny that there’s like a cumulative sort of thing that’s happening with all the work that I’m doing.
With Harrison Ford movies in the ‘80s, have you seen The Mosquito Coast?
I don’t know Mosquito Coast. You got me. What is that?
He moves his family to the jungle and sets up camp there because he wants to get away from society.
That sounds like something I would do. I’m totally into sustainable farming. Occasionally I go to Ashrams and all that stuff and get away. That’s interesting. I don’t know that film, but Harrison Ford is a B-A-D M-U-T-H-E-R-F-*-*-*-*-*. And even being on set with him, there are things that didn’t make it into the final cut. I did two scenes with him and I learned so much in that three hours of shooting because honestly, the way that he works with a camera is unlike any other.
He strikes me as the consummate professional, even when we get to meet him.
Professional, but also not. There’s an interesting balance. There’s a really strange balance. He’s very professional. He knows how everything should be done, but doesn’t necessarily always do that thing and that’s what keeps it alive. That’s why he’s sixty-whatever and still bubbling, still interesting.
Did you want to, or were you able to do ride-alongs with real cops for “Sleepy Hollow?”
I wanted to. I didn’t get to. Everything happens so fast with television. I was cast and then I was there, but I did get to do some gun training with real cops and a briefing about information, certain lines and things like that. I’m in communication with some cops about the way things go.
We’ve been seeing you for about the last five years, but I imagine you were doing a lot of work before we discovered you too, right?
Five years, I don’t know. I just got out of school. I was at Juilliard. The Express happened before I graduated from Juilliard so I was a really lucky girl. Before I even graduated I got to do that film.
Was that unusual for them to let you do a film while you’re still enrolled?
Well, I kind of was like, “Deuces.” I kind of left and did it. I feel like you go to school to train and then ultimately the goal is working.
This year we got to see 42 and then “Sleepy Hollow” comes on. Have you noticed a lot of attention and exposure this year?
I will say I’m really happy about the audiences and really surprised. There has been a lot of love. 42 was kind of an impossible endeavor. Epic film, it was a period piece, civil rights, I think a lot of people were like, “This is not going to work. It’s just not going to work. It’s not going to pull the numbers in” and it did really well. I’m surprised that everywhere I go someone is like, “I saw you in 42 and I love that film” or they have questions. If they didn’t love it, they have questions, and I think that’s amazing.
