On the set of Break, Michael K Williams always came out smelling really good according to his castmates.
In front of are dead last year, Williams had just completed production on the thriller-drama that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
“His clothes”, star John Boyega told The Hollywood Reporter at the film’s West Hollywood premiere about what he most remembers about Williams on set. “The design of his clothes, his fashion sense. He smelled very nice. He was very nice. I’m wearing his natural oils tonight because he gave me a bottle.”
“It smelled really nice,” said actress Selenis Leyva, who plays Rosa Diaz in the film.
In addition to his recognizable scent, Williams is remembered by his castmates as not only a talented performer, but a generous one as well. Over the course of the film, several interactions between Williams’ character and the rest of the cast take place over the phone. While Williams was not required to be present during the filming of those scenes, he always was.
“A lot of the times I saw him on set he was actually off camera, on the phone, literally passing the lines to John,” Leyva said. “A lot of actors in his position would say, ‘No, I’m not.’ He was there. He was there. Just an amazing spirit.”
Nicole Beharie, who plays Estel Valerie in the film, echoed that sentiment. “This man is an icon,” she said of Williams. “And yet on his day off he came to get my phone off camera just to say my words. I don’t know if you know but people don’t. Sometimes there are people with you in a scene and they are there no. So that’s Michael’s spirit. It sucks that he’s not here today.”
Director and co-writer Abi Damaris Corbin recalls Williams teaching on-set acting classes to extras in the film. “He showed them, ‘Hey, if you want to take your career to the next level, here’s how to do it.’ So many fragments in a short space of time. His presence was so rich and so giving.”
She continued: “He was a dancer in his eyes, in his heart and in his mind, a man who wanted people to be better than him, and yet, what an amazing man. I want to remember how we saw him. Because he saw me. He also raided my fridge looking for chocolate chip cookies and banana bread.”
Break tells the true story of the late Brian Brown-Easley (Boyega), a Marine Corps veteran who faces financial hardship and homelessness when he doesn’t receive his disability check in the mail. When the Department of Veteran Affairs fails to help his situation, Easley turns to robbing a Wells Fargo Bank with a bomb threat in 2017.
After learning of Easley’s story, Corbin was heartbroken. “This man wanted so badly to be heard. He still hadn’t been heard. So I felt the weight on my shoulders and said, ‘Wow, one person after another just walked past this. I can’t do the same. I’m not getting any better.’ There is no way to fix a system that is broken when everyone is looking away. So we made this film so we don’t have to.”
The cast praised the movie star Boyega for his intense portrayal of Easley. From the start, Corbin and co-writer Kwame Kwei-Armah had the Star Wars actor in mind.
“As Kwame and I finished the last line of the script, we looked at each other via Zoom and immediately had the same thought: John Boyega,” Corbin said. But at that time Boyega was unavailable. “We were devastated,” the director recalled. “Then we looked at Jonathan Majors, and he happened to be available, but then COVID and Marvel and schedules, and the person who was supposed to be in the room, landed in the room. And the very first day John was on set, the birthday when Brian Brown-Easley walked into that couch. When he first walked on set, there was a sacred silence on set. And there was power. You could just feel John was mentally ready.”
“He’s a generational talent,” Boyega’s Kwei-Armah said. “He is an artist who exceeds expectations every time. I knew John as a boy, and we just embraced. We hugged and almost cried because I gave John his first job in a one-line play. Now I have seen this man, this brilliant artist. I feel like crying.”
Williams’ son Karim Anderson also attended the film’s premiere on Wednesday night. “I’m glad I’m still here to be in his legacy and see his work unveiled,” Anderson said of his father. ‘And that you can enjoy it. He is a master of everything, and he is a phenomenal person. So when you see him on the big screen, you just see a phenomenal person who loves acting.”
Boyega added: “Me too [remember Michael’s] Work ethic. The versatility and type of work he has shown before is unparalleled. He had such a great career. We wanted him to bless our little movie and give it some grace. And that’s exactly what he did.”
Break running in cinemas Fri. 26 Aug.
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