(beep)
(upbeat music)
- [narrator] The difficulty of time travel shows
isn't limited to manipulating rules
and playing with physics.
When a character travels to the past,
they have to actually be in that moment
with all of its cultural implications and politics.
- [woman] So when I got to the room
and it was like the 60s Dallas,
my immediate go to,
in my mind is like
so our characters know they can drop into the 60s,
and possibly, fit in.
So that's a very different story for Alison, right.
This is a black woman in the 60s,
and they're in like the South
so for me immediately,
we have to talk about this somehow,
like her experience is just different from her siblings.
- [Emmy] From the moment I was told that,
"For the second season,
"we are going to place you
"right in the middle of the civil rights movement."
And I was like, "I love that.
"I am scared of that in a good way."
My name is Emmy Raver-Lampman
and I play Alison Hargreeves
on The Umbrella Academy.
I heard a rumor that I blew your minds.
- [narrator] Alison, also known as Rumor
is a celebrity sister of the Academy.
She's a successful actress who's power's convincing people
to do what she wants.
(dramatic tune)
At the end of the first season
Alison has her throat slashed by her sister Vanya,
which presents her with one very big challenge
right at the start of season two.
- [Emmy] She has no voice she cannot speak
and I think because of that,
it forces her kind of to start over
to reinvent herself without powers
and I think it is less complicated life for her
and it is simpler and it is truer and more real.
- [narrator] One of the ways
the writers thought Alison can reinvent herself
was to relearn how to use her voice.
She did that both physically and metaphorically
by becoming part of the civil rights movement.
The writers worked with the researcher
to make sure their scripts were accurate
but they also did a lot of their own digging.
When it came time to capture the bravery
of black civil rights activists
and the violence they faced
they decided to put the citizens of the 1960s
on the screen.
- [male voice] Out, or else I'm calling the police.
- [Emmy] I'd like to be served please.
- [female voice] Can't you read girl?
- [Emmy] Seven languages.
- [male voice] Oh, you smart one huh.
- [narrator] So Emmy, what was the first scene you shot
for the sit in?
- [Emmy] I'm pretty sure we shot it in order actually.
Stephen Surjik, who is just amazing
and he directed a few episodes on the first season as well.
I think it was really important to him
that we shoot it in order
so that we were all on the ride together
and we weren't skipping around.
And so the first scene that we did shoot is
me walking and sitting down,
and then the beautiful scene in slow motion
where everybody else kind of follows me in
and then they all sit down.
- [Emmy] We'd like to be served please.
- [narrator] One by one,
The members of the movement sit at the lunch counter.
The white customers get up from their tables.
Some are simply horrified.
Others are looking for a fight.
- [female voice] You are not welcome here.
- [narrator] As the night progresses,
the white customers get more and more belligerent,
pouring salt on the protesters heads.
There are other black protesters outside the diner yelling
"No more backdoor."
White police officers stand by their cars
with their clubs out
and at the ready.
- [Emmy] It was like the end of the first night
of shooting this sequence
when the police officer like slams my face into the counter
and then I had to watch Ray get beat up.
- [narrator] Ray is Alison's husband in the show
played by actor Yusuf Gatewood.
- [Emmy] And that was extremely difficult
and really just heartbreaking
and you could feel it in the room
because there was 50 plus extras
and background actors standing in this diner,
because they needed them to be yelling
and the energy was necessary.
- [crowd] Get out.
- [Emmy] We would cut for scenes
and a lot of people would come up to me
and like apologize
for doing their job and I was like,
please stop apologizing.
It is your job, it is my job
we are all here we are trying to,
make this thing that is really,
feels really important and is really important
and I'm not taking it personally.
This is what happened.
- [narrator] And there's a lot of responsibility
that comes with getting that right, right?
It's like it's tough to act through it
and to be a part of it but it's,
it is important and you don't wanna sort of
make it PG if it's not.
You want it to feel authentic.
- [Emmy] Right, it was really important to me to
not shy away from
the reality of moments like this
for so many people in the 60s.
That scene in particular of
the cop slamming my head into the counter
and then everybody watching.
And we did like four or five takes,
having to scream for my husband
who's being beat up by a cop
in front of my eyes
and then dragged and taken away for no reason.
(screaming)
No, no, no, no.
- [narrator] The black protesters are swarm by the cops
as Ray is dragged outside.
The camera stays close on him
moving with Ray
so the audience can see exactly what he's feeling.
And that was intentional.
The director of photography, Craig Wrobleski,
he wanted it that way.
- [Craig] A lot of the footage that exists of these events
is taken at a distance
and is observational by virtue of what they had to do,
they couldn't be in the middle of it with a camera.
But we could be
and we wanted to immerse the audience
in this world
and make them feel like they were in that diner
and that they were out on that street.
- [narrator] What caught Craig by surprise
was how caught up he became in the scene.
Shooting it became a little overwhelming.
- [narrator] That scene when Chestnut gets hauled out of
out of the diner
and taken into the street,
when we shot that I was so choked up,
and I still am now just thinking about it
because it was,
you were just with him.
And you were just feeling it
and you were feeling his fear and his terror
and the uncertainty of what was going to happen to him
when he was taken out into that street
and it was really, really powerful in the day
and Yusuf's beautiful performance.
- [Ray] What did you say to him?
What the hell did you say to him?
- [Emmy] I just him want to leave you alone.
- [Ray] There is no way in hell that a white cop
is just gonna walk away cuz a black woman tells him to.
- [Emmy] That was a really difficult moment
and a really
just exhausting
experience because,
Yusuf had all the pads on his back
but they have their like fake nightsticks
and we're doing the thing
and they were doing their jobs and really,
trying to get that image caught on camera.
It was really, really hard to watch.
- [narrator] And I'm curious like,
having all the experiences you have as a black woman
and having all the experiences you have on set,
and then looking at what's dominating the news today
like how things feel right now,
what is it like to think back on that scene?
Does it, how does it feel?
- [Emmy] I think,
in the moment last we shot that last summer a year ago.
It still felt present
like nothing about that felt far away for me.
Nothing about black bodies
being brutalized by the police felt distant
or something that I could not imagine living through
because we were then, we are now,
we have been for centuries.
It was really important to me
to get that right for this show,
but also specifically for the civil rights movement
because there are people that are still alive
that actually went through that.
That were hosed down by fire hoses in the streets,
that were chased down by police dogs.
Watching the news today
is no different than it was
watching the news in the 60s.
It was not hard for me to research
what it is like to be a a person of color and feel hunted.
It didn't feel like I was having to like,
reach way back in american history and like,
unearth these feelings that I couldn't find in my
in myself or in the world
that I look around and see today.
It is the same thing.
- [narattor] I'm curious what were the conversations like
with Steve Blackman, the DP or Yusuf,
about those scenes?
- [Emmy] I think we all just wanted to get it right.
It felt a little daunting but also,
it felt like
good work and important work.
Like Netflix is a massive platform.
Just how many eyeballs
are going to be on these scenes
and see these images and these realities
play out in front of them
that maybe have never seen anything like that.
And granted, that was a year ago
and the moment that we're in right now,
I don't know,
there's probably not a country in the world
that's not turning on the TV
and seeing something very similar
play out on their televisions right now.
- [narrator] Of course, Emmy's right.
The making of this podcast
is run concurrent with protests against systemic racism,
happening both nationally and globally.
Fueled by the murders of Ahmad Arbery, George Floyd,
Brianna Taylor, Tony McDade, Elijah McLean
and countless others black americans.
(shouting)
So these conversations and Emmy's storyline
feel particularly pointed right now.
But like Emmy says,
the injustices our character wrestles with
have always felt real and immediate for black americans.
These stories have always been triggering.
But as someone that got a chance to watch it,
one of my thoughts was sort of like,
you see so many things you see so many of these images
in black and white
and it's crazy to watch it.
And like 4k HD color and it was just,
you did an amazing, amazing job.
- [Emmy] I still have a hard time watching it because I,
every actor is like,
" Ahh, I could have done more,"
like there's so much to tell.
You know what I mean?
There's so much to cover
and so much that needs to be understood and I just,
there are so many more lessons and experiences to share
about that time period.
- [narrator] Look, I know that we have to wrap now
but thank you so much.
I know that the talk was sort of heavy
but appreciate you going there with us.
- [Emmy] I am kind of expecting this
because of what is happening in our country right now
and that it is a direct,
there is a direct correlation between,
my storyline this season and what's going on now
and what's been going on for centuries
and so I'm expecting that
but I'm glad that it is a part of the show
and I'm honored that I got to just,
brush the surface of what it was like
to be a woman of color in the 60s in Texas
and to even try to shed a little bit of light,
to a broader audiences,
it's an honor.