American Violet is based on the true story of Dee Roberts who is a single mom who struggles to make ends meet in a small Texas town. When the cops arrest her in a drug sweep, she insists on her innocence. Refusing a plea bargain that would allow her to avoid jail time, Roberts decides stands up against a corrupt law enforcement and judicial system. The film stars Nicole Beharie (The Express), Tim Blake Nelson (O’ Brother Where Art Thou), Xzibit (Gridiron Gang), Will Patton (Remember the Titans), and Michael O’Keef (Michael Clayton). Anyway, I was lucky enough to have a sit down with the film’s star Nicole Beharie and the writer/producer Bill Haney. Here’s the result:

How did you get attached?

Nicole Beharie: That’s weird (laughs), I auditioned for the part. I got like a stack of scripts from my agency and I read a whole bunch of them, and quite frankly some of them were garbage. This one I was just moved by enough so that I actually had a dream about it. So I called my agency and asked if I could go in for the part, and when I went in I was moved by Bill and Tim, and what they said about there investment and how they had actually been to the town and they’ve been working on it for like six years. So I knew I wanted to have a part in this regardless if I played the main character or whoever. I wanted to have a part in it, because I thought it was important and then from there I got the part (laughs) which is kind of amazing.

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