‘Sing Sing’ Exclusive: Driector Greg Kwedar Explains Why It Was Challenging Finding The Film’s Cast

July 25, 2024

To tell the story of the formerly incarcerated men who used the arts to help them deal with their time behind bars and improve their lives, it made all the sense in the world to use the men directly involved in the powerful story.

Sing Sing tells the story of a group of now-formerly incarcerated men who found hope and ultimately bettered their lives through the RTA (Rehabilitation Through Arts) program while incarcerated in Sing Sing correctional facility in Ossining, New York.

Colman Domingo and Clarence Maclin lead the film’s cast, which includes actual program members. Domingo, Maclin, and the other cast members also serve as producers.

Greg Kwedar Reveals It Was Challenging Choosing Sing Sing’s Cast

Source: Cassius Life / Sing Sing

The RTA was founded in 1997 by Katherine Vockins after a visit to Sing Sing with her husband in 1996, who did volunteer work teaching a college-degree program to incarcerated men.

The program was born after a group of men with dreams of writing a play approached Vockins for help, which was the moment the RTA was born.

The program’s founder members are the Sing Sing’s formerly incarcerated, Dewey Bozella, David Wayne Britton, Sean Dino Johnson, Derek Rogers, Robert Sanchez, Mark Wallace, John “Divine G” Whitfield, and Vince Warren.

Cassius Life’s Bernard “Beanz” Smalls spoke to Sing Sing’s director, Greg Kwedar, about working on the film, which he revealed was years in the making. He says narrowing down which troupe it would follow was challenging because the program has had so many success stories throughout its 27-year existence.

“I’ve been working on this movie for over eight years, and one of the first discoveries was just meeting alumni of this program, and the talent, and as well as the depth of experience is undeniable,” Kwedar begins.

…the movie wouldn’t be what it is without these men at the center of it, on every level.

He continued, “Really, the biggest challenge was just making a decision of who was going to be the troupe because it’s so vast in terms of the quality of actors and people that have come out of this program. And so coming full circle, the movie wouldn’t be what it is without these men at the center of it, on every level.”

The Importance of Filming In An Actual Prison To Tell Sing Sing’s Story

Source: A24 / Sing Sing

Like the actual actors, the location is just as much like a character in a film. Kwedar revealed some of the filming was at Sing Sing and the rest at Downstate, another correctional facility.

That’s the real place, and it’s one of the most iconic prisons in the world. It’s almost 200 years old.

“We actually stitched four locations together into our one Sing Sing. So we did shoot a day at the real Sing Sing itself, for all the exteriors. That’s the real place, and it’s one of the most iconic prisons in the world. It’s almost 200 years old,” Kwedar begins.

He adds, “It’s the only prison in the world where a commuter train goes through the yard several times an hour, reminding the people incarcerated that they’re in one place and the rest of the world is moving around them.”

“And then the majority of the interiors we shot at a place called Downstate, which had closed only a couple months before we actually came in there, which was a very surreal experience for the filmmaking crew, but even more intense for our formerly incarcerated actors who the entirety of our alumni cast had actually been incarcerated in this place at one point in their life. And so we were very sensitive to that, but I think the power of the message that they wanted to get out was bigger than their discomfort.”

Sing Sing is in theaters now for a limited run, and it will have an expanded release beginning on Aug. 2.

You can head here to find tickets.

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, To tell the story of the formerly incarcerated men who used the arts to help them deal with their time behind bars and improve their lives, it made all the sense in the world to use the men directly involved in the powerful story. Sing Sing tells the story of a group of now-formerly incarcerated
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