Chinonye Chukwu’s Till, the latest in a very short line of films and television to tell Emmett Till’s story, might just be the most successful at portraying the horror and humanity behind Till’s lynching in Money, Mississippi, back in 1955. What fuels that success? The choice to cast All American actor Jalyn Hall, a rising star amidst a stunning cast. Even though he’s not present for much of the film, which follows the aftermath of Till’s murder, he approaches the performance with a carefree joy that keeps Till’s humanity – and age — at the forefront of our minds.
Originally, Jalyn came to Till by way of a single scene early on in the script and then, after the initial audition, Jalyn received a callback for the chemistry read with Danielle Deadwyler (who plays Mamie Till) and realized exactly what role he was up for.
“It was just amazing. It was such a great vibe. I had to sing a song and we just had a wonderful time bonding together,” Jalyn shares, laughing a little as he remembers the second round of auditions. “And by that time, they had told me what it was for, which made going into the chemistry read that much more important to me because it was like this became more than me, more than my career. This became something that was so crucial to my heart, and that's why I was so drawn to it.”
Interviewing Jalyn, it’s hard to divorce him from the historical figure that he plays in Till. At 15 years old, Jalyn is about as old as Emmett Till was when he was killed, and there are some similarities in their features. What also connects them is the way Till’s story continues to serve as a cautionary tale even in Jalyn’s own life. His first experience with the tragedy came from his mother using that history to prepare him for the world around him.
“From a young age, my mom told me about the tragic event that happened with Emmett Till, as sort of a learning moment, sort of a warning moment when going out into the world,” Jalyn tells Teen Vogue. “And unfortunately, that is the case for a lot of Black boys, Black families that these things that you see on the news have to be taught to your kids … in efforts to prevent that from happening to them.”
But approaching Till’s story through the movie’s lens led him to do more research and discover more about his life; Chinonye and filmmaker Keith Beauchamp gave him firsthand sources to read, which helped him embody Till in the film.
“This is one of the most authentic stories I would say that I've seen in a long time, which granted isn't a very long time given the fact that I'm only 15,” he says. “It's just so much information that people don't know, and I didn't know, but I do now.”
Jalyn’s use of the word “authentic” speaks to why Till may be different from some of the other films dealing with antiblack atrocities in the same period. This film has been in the making for years; Emmett Till’s cousin Simeon Wright, an eyewitness to the event, consulted on the film up to the point of his death in 2017. Beauchamp – who worked on writing the film alongside Chukwu and Michael Reilly and helped facilitate reopening Till’s case back in 2004 – utilized almost 30 years of research to bring the film to life.
When Till was first announced, one of the most consistent reactions to the upcoming film was, “Oh, this is going to be hard to watch, who’s going to see that?” It all ties back to an ongoing conversation about the way that Black suffering is portrayed in the news and on film dating back far past the days of 12 Years a Slave. Just last year, the Us copycat Them was criticized widely as “Black trauma porn” for what The Guardian’s Jason Okundaye calls “an exercise in gratuitous racial violence.” Portraying the horrors of Black American existence – what’s been inflicted on us for centuries – requires care and nuance. It’s not just about caring about the subjects of the film and what nightmarish events they’re going through, but caring about the Black audiences that will see the film and the performers that have to take on these heavy roles.
Watching Till, it’s easy to come out of the film with concern for Jalyn. This is a heavy role, one where even though much of the physical violence is off screen, its specter and aftereffects loom oppressively throughout the film. For Jalyn, the most difficult part of being such an integral part of Till wasn’t actually filming. It was what came afterwards, realizing how similar he and Emmett Till were, how much they had in common.
“Whenever you're watching a horror movie, [you think] that would never happen to you. But this is one of those things where it's like, ‘This did happen to somebody and it's still happening now,’” Jalyn says. “You see all these men, these Black men on the television, on the news, and it's sad to think about, but going through this, I was like, me and Emmett Till are not unalike. He liked to sing, he liked to dance, he loved his mom, things that I do on a daily basis, so it was that realization for me that was probably the hardest part.”
Thankfully, Jalyn has solid support systems in play. He spent time with his family in Atlanta (where he was born and raised) while they were filming, and found relaxation in gaming, gesturing to the PS5 in the background of our interview. And of course, his mom was his biggest support system: “It was my mom who was there all the time helping me, whether I needed a hug or some reassurance, it was my mom.” Considering Till’s heavy subject matter and the way the film revolves around mother-son relationships, that’s a good support system to have.
Till is a heartbreaking movie, one that urges audiences not to look away from the atrocities of antiblackness and how long it takes to get justice. So, who should see it? According to Jalyn: everyone.
“I don't think that this is a movie that's targeted to any community of people. Of course, like our Black community, we need this as people to be shown so that people can wake up, and not even just for the Black community, but for everyone in general, these are things that are happening to everyone right now,” he says. “People being oppressed, people being treated differently, people who wanna enact change but don't have that push, but this is that push for them. From people all over the world, this is something that will change you in a way that is unique to you, so I don't think there's a select audience, I think that everyone should see this.”
