Interview: Danielle Deadwyler on ‘40 Acres’
Set in a near-future world undone by famine, violence, and isolation, 40 Acres follows a family of survivors clinging to their land, and each other, at any cost. At the center is Hailey Freeman, played by Danielle Deadwyler, a former soldier and fiercely protective mother who’s taught her children how to survive, even if it means hardening themselves to the world outside. But when her son Emmanuel begins to long for connection beyond their gates, Hailey is forced to reckon with the cost of survival and how much it demands from those she loves.
For Deadwyler, the role came at a time when she was already thinking deeply about land, family, and inheritance. “I was just compelled by the beautiful character-driven nature of the story, the land, connectivity. It was critical to me at the time,” she says. “I was in the midst of thinking about and dealing with what does it mean to connect to your family land, to know the evils, you know? And how do they fight to stay together? I thought that was completely and utterly compelling.”
The story R.T. Thorne wanted to tell, of a Black and Indigenous family surviving not just violence but erasure, was one Deadwyler hadn’t seen on-screen. “Crafting with the young actors and with Michael Greyeyes this beautiful family, Black and Indigenous family, which I had never [seen on-screen before],” she elaborates. “I mean, RT talks about not seeing that on screen and wanting to put that into play. I was like, ‘Oh, well, I want to be a part of that too.’”
Deadwyler speaks about Hailey not just as a fighter but as a mother shaped by the tension between protection and freedom, a push-pull familiar to many. “I completely understand. I have a son myself,” she says. “What does it mean to send your child out into the world that is not completely loving of them? That is a tension. I don’t want to totally write it in fear, because I don’t want to move with that. But that is something that we are incessantly thinking about. Black mothers are always thinking about that.”
That tension defines Hailey, whose own approach to motherhood is often tough, even militant. “Some are more strong-arming in their method to rear and to protect, and I think that’s where we find Hailey,” explains Deadwyler. “My methodology is completely antithetical to Hailey. Ownership can be degradative to the spirit of togetherness. And that’s what she’s being forced to shift through. Unfortunately, it comes through the unveiling of violence.”
As intense as the emotional stakes were, the physical demands of the role weren’t far behind. “The most challenging [scene to film] is probably the climax for her,” Deadwyler says carefully. “It’s choreography. It’s dance at the end of the day. And you’re carrying a heavy-ass gun and walking in boots and whatnot, with a certain passion and energy and intent. That can be just as intense on the body as a fight scene. So you just better do your pushups. That’s all I say. And eat voraciously.”
Still, despite the dystopian stakes, it was the bond between characters, especially between Hailey and her son Emmanuel, that grounded the story. And for Deadwyler, that connection with actor Kataem O’Connor came naturally. “He is a completely and utterly sweet and diligent and kind actor,” she says. “I move with playfulness at the end of the day. That connects people and opens up the way to be loving, to be vulnerable. And I think that was critical — just for me and him to be people. That can make it comfortable in order to be a tension-filled mother-son dynamic. Just the pathway to playfulness is what enables a relationship to really reveal itself on screen.”
40 ACRES is now playing in theaters in the US.