With the cooperation of Jackie Robinson’s widow, Rachel, Oscar winner Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential) wrote and directed the long-gestating biopic, 42, which chronicles how Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball when he took first base with the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. Nearly 66 years to the day, 42 opens in theaters Friday with Chadwick Boseman—an actor, playwright, and screenwriter who graduated from Howard University and the British American Dramatic Academy at Oxford—in the lead role. Boseman stars alongside Harrison Ford, playing Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey, and Nicole Beharie, as Rachel Robinson.
To hear more about the film, we sat down last month with Boseman, who told us about the pressures of portraying an American hero, the intimate discussion with Jackie’s widow that helped to assuage them, and that supposed on-set visit by President Obama.
Julie Miller: You had so many of Jackie Robinson’s mannerisms down. What kind of training did you do?
Chadwick Boseman: I trained from the middle of January to May, in L.A. mostly. I had baseball practice in the morning and I would do additional sessions in the afternoon. I had several coaches, from college and Major League. They would tape my practices every few weeks, and they would basically split-screen my batting [footage] with his batting, my base running with his base running, my fielding with his fielding. I could see how bad I was and how good he was. [Laughs.] I tried to bridge that gap.
Had you played sports growing up?
Yeah, definitely. I played Little League baseball, but I also played basketball. Basketball was my primary sport. When you play basketball seriously, a lot of times, through the summer season, you continue playing. So that replaced me playing baseball. But I’ve always been an athlete and continued do additional athletic activities. I think that they felt that in my baseball tryout [for the film], that I had the athleticism to do something like this.
I read that you’re also a screenwriter and playwright. At what point did you start acting?
When I started in theater and film, I thought I would be a director. The only reason that I started acting was because I felt like I needed to understand what the actors were doing and their process so that I could better guide them. During the course of that, I caught the acting bug. But once I finished my [acting] training, I still was thinking I would be a writer/director. I don’t really think I focused on acting until I came to L.A. in 2008. That’s when it got serious for me.
At what point did you find out about 42?
I had left L.A. for a few months, and I was directing a play Off Broadway in the East Village. I came back to Los Angeles for a visit and was supposed to go back [to New York] on a Friday, and [my agent] said, “No, they want to see you for 42. For the Jackie Robinson film.” I met with 42 director Brian Helgeland, and I knew that I would love to work with him. He’s an Oscar winner and a great writer but also, the way that he works, you know sometimes that you can vibe with a person and that you will work well together.
The additional meeting was great. A lot of it was just talking about the role and project and why he wanted to do it. I left thinking that it was a great audition but didn’t necessarily know if I would get it. The next week, they called me back in again, and I could tell that he was trying to [show me] to somebody else. They were taping it and saying stuff like “What else might they want to see?” I realized at that point that I was [Brian’s] choice, so I was just trying to prove it.
How heavy was the responsibility of portraying this American legend, and were you able to dissociate from that while filming?
I definitely felt the responsibility going into it. I felt more responsibility to [Jackie’s widow] Rachel Robinson than I did to anyone else. Everyone had their own opinions and reasons why he is a hero to them. People would meet me, call me, text me, e-mail me, Facebook-message me, and tell me, “I hear you’re playing my hero.” When that happens, you know that all of those people are going to have an opinion and feelings that you have to live up to. But I just thought, Let me just focus on the truth.
If you think about him being an icon and a hero anyway, that actually is the pitfall in playing the role. It’s the biggest pitfall you can fall into because he didn’t know that he was going to be an icon. He didn’t know that he was going to be a hero. In fact, [Jackie] has to deal with that heroism throughout the movie when he finds out that [being in Major League baseball] is a bigger deal to everyone than he thought it would be. You can’t completely block out that feeling of responsibility, but you can focus the same way he did—one thing at a time, moment to moment. Eventually all the pieces will be there.
Nicole Beharie told us that Rachel Robinson gave her some of Jackie’s love letters to prepare for the movie. How did Rachel help you prepare?
I started my preparation by going to talk to her. When you’re trying to tackle a hurricane, or something larger than life, I knew that the first thing I had to do was talk to her. She gave me some books. She sat me down on the couch and told me about their relationship and the rules that they set for themselves to get through the experience. That was a great start, because you are meeting someone who is still connected to him and you get a sense of him when you meet her. You see what kind of a man could actually stand by her. Who is this guy that she would fall for?
In some sense, you got the sense of the edges of him, like the two of them were a puzzle. She is one piece and his piece is not here, but I can feel the edges from her. She started the journey, definitely. She showed up on set. And she challenged me by asking me why I should play him. That’s a good place to start because you have to start with yourself.
How did you answer her question?
The exact question was: “If we had made this movie when I wanted to make this movie, Sidney Poitier would have played your role. And then Denzel [Washington] was supposed to play it. And now we have you. Who are you?”
No pressure.
Yeah, on paper I can’t live up to any of them. But I just told her that I would put my entire life and self into this experience. I would learn whatever I needed to learn on the baseball field. And I would research and make it part of my everyday life. And that’s all that I could do.
You spoke about having a good vibe with Brian. What was your vibe with Harrison Ford? It was great seeing you go toe-to-toe with him during those argumentative scenes.
He actually came to my baseball practices to meet me. He watched for a while and then we sat down. We talked. Brian may have been there at first too, but we needed to break the ice. I spent some time with him also in New York in that February before we started shooting. We’d usually meet with a couple of his friends and a couple of my friends, and we’d talk about the role a little bit there. He gave me some great advice on my process. So by the time we got to the point where we were shooting, we were familiar enough with each other.
But it still is a daunting task to do a movie opposite a person with that much experience and that much respect. But he didn’t make it seem like he had all of the answers, and that’s because he is a real actor. You’re exploring. If you have all of the answers, there is no reason to do the role or the movie. So we just explored what the relationship was together, and it was a fun process with him.
I read that President Obama was going to visit the set. Did he ever visit? What happened?
No. [Laughs.] I thought he was coming. And it was actually like the one day off that I had in Atlanta, so I came to work anyway just because I thought that he was coming. But he did not come.
Did you dress up? Or have something planned to say?
Um, I didn’t wear a suit or anything. I just came how I always come to set. I just figured that the parallels would be evident, with President Obama and Jackie Robinson. I just thought it would be organic. It would have been a cool experience, but it is probably going to happen—where he sees the movie. Hopefully he’ll like it!