Ashley's interview

Interview, August, 1996 by Ingrid Sischy

With black churches being burned in the South yet again, it's clear that the hate that the film depicts is not a tragedy of the past, by any means. Nor, of course, is racism exclusive to the South. But I'm interested in your experiences growing up when and where you did.

AJ: I have some suspicions about a distant relation or two in my family who will remain unnamed. And during a board-of-trustees meeting at my college, a prominent and dearly beloved Kentuckian said the word "nigger." Hello, hello - that is not acceptable. At the meeting there happened to be a reporter from the university's newspaper, and he printed it. I was like, "This is definitely not O.K." I ended up organizing a campus-wide walkout. I went to a couple of meetings that the African-American students held to talk about what had happened, and we teamed up and there was a walkout of classes in protest of the administration not requiring [this board member's] resignation. I'm very glad I did it. I was a sorority girl and I was friends with the man's granddaughter. Some of my sorority sisters were looking at me like I had aliens living with me in my room. They just couldn't believe what I was doing. But what had occurred was just not acceptable to me.

IS : Is the subject of the film part of what attracted you to it?

AJ: I was attracted to the intensity of the drama. And I was also desirous of working with Joel. It wasn't a huge part, but I really wanted to start the relationship, and I want to work with him again. It was a really fantastic moviemaking experience. There was a lot of decency and kindness and consideration going around. On top of it, there was the most fabulous homemade food. Sisters from a local church baked for the movie. Every morning there were cinnamon rolls and these little cream-cheese rolls, and in the afternoon there was everything from homemade black-walnut fudge with marshmallows to the most delicious vanilla cupcakes, homemade blueberry pies with a crust on top spelling out the initials T.T.K.