Every sports movie has
the same sort of characters. One of the staples is the guy with all the
talent, but no discipline. In Pride,
that’s Andre, played by Kevin Phillips. Though based on the true story
of Jim Ellis turning his rec center boys into competitive swimmers, it fits
perfectly into that mold. But first, the actor needed to learn how to swim.
Kevin Phillips Talks Pride
“I knew how to swim underwater but I didn’t know how to freestyle,”
said Phillips. “So prior to the film, we had a month of training and
in that month of training I learned how to swim and got into shape and was
prepared to play Andre. We had two practices six days a week for like a
month and, after practice, we would all go eat together, just get familiar
with each other and I think that chemistry, that bond that we established
from training, we brought to the film.”
Phillips also brought some character details to the script, like hints of
an interest in the black power movement. “I brought my own ideas to
my character that I thought would stand out and be strong and powerful.
The necklace was a representation of my father. It was like the Jamaica
symbol with the red, black and green just for power. I wanted to bring that
to my character. It was like his superman emblem. Originally, my character’s
father was incarcerated and if you see the scars on my back as Andre, the
backstory of our characters went really deep.”
Pride
Dealing with the racial tensions of African-Americans
joining a white-dominated sport gives the film conflict, and brought a reality
to the filming. “Those scenes were very uncomfortable for me. We all
deal with racism or prejudice at some point in your life but, for me, it
was nothing that strong. Just to really see those looks and the words they
were saying, it was like ‘whoa.’ It brought chills to my body
and I just brought that to the character. This was what they went through
at that time. It was really uncomfortable to be in that situation but, beyond
the set they were cool. They were really observant and complimentary to
us. ‘You guys are doing a great job.’ We all talked with each
other. After the scenes, there was nothing going on that was negative.”
Pride is out in theatres now.
For the trailer, posters, review and more movie info, go to the Pride
Movie Page.
Stay tuned for updates.
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