'Black or White' Stars Kevin Costner and Octavia Spencer in a Moving Drama About Racial Conflicts That’s as True As Today’s Headlines
Relativity Media's new film Black or White is premiered last year at the 2014 Toronto Film Festival and will finally be seen in US theaters beginning January 30. The film was written and directed by Mike Binder, and stars Kevin Costner as Elliot Anderson, a recently widowed white grandfather who has raised his bi-racial granddaughter Eloise (Jillian Estell) since his daughter died in childbirth.
Elliot's world is turned upside-down when the child's black grandmother Rowena (Octavia Spencer), with the help of his brother Jeremiah (Anthony Mackie), demands that Eloise be brought under the care of her father Reggie (Andre Holland), a drug addict whom Elliot blames for the negligence that led to the death of his own daughter. Elliot finds himself deeply entrenched in a custody battle and will stop at nothing to keep his granddaughter from coming under the watch of his reckless son-in-law.
The little girl Eloise is herself torn between two families who love her deeply. With the best intentions at heart, both families fight for what they feel is right. But soon, they are forced to confront and accept their true feelings about race, forgiveness, and understanding.
The film's subject matter resonated so much with Costner that he decided to personally finance it, according to Huffington Post. Said the actor: "A lot of times when we deal with race, the movies have a tendency to look back and look at history. But this is a pretty authentic look at where we're at right now in these two disparate communities. You're dealing with Compton, California, and you're dealing with Brentwood, and in the middle of it there's this child, and it's like where should she be? And when that issue can't be resolved, race starts to come into play. And it's a movie that really said some things that I've been thinking about for a long time. It said some things I wish I could say."
The cast of Black or White also includes Gillian Jacobs, Jennifer Ehle, Bill Burr, Mpho Koaho, Indigo, Lindsey G. Smith, Janeline Hayes, Lloyd Dillon, Ireyon Johnson, Ernest Wells, and Nagelle LeBoyd.