We’re just under a month into 2024, and we may have already borne witness to the single greatest injustice that will befall the film industry this year. I’m talking, of course, about Origin.
Indeed, those of you who have channeled the necessary grit to keep up with Origin—the Ava DuVernay-directed biopic about Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Isabel Wilkerson—are all too aware of the grossly mishandled marketing efforts behind it, and its complete and utter absence from the Oscars conversation will be the sour cherry on top for many, especially considering Origin’s deeply affecting subject matter.
But star Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor hardly seems to have had her spirit broken from this development, and in fact seems to be using it as an opportunity to reiterate why the film was made in the first place. In a recent interview with Variety, Ellis-Taylor wasn’t shy about the very grounded, humanity-centric nature of Origin‘s storytelling—a nature that shows in its very democratizing attitude towards itself and its audiences.
“It has been…it was overlooked. What I am excited about is it’s the people’s movie and that people are responding to that call to action. I’m not going to be out in the street…for everything that I do, but that film is bigger than me, the messages in it. It’s based on a book that had something that disrupted our practice in the world. I just want folks to see it.”
While it remains undeniably tragic that Origin‘s importance didn’t reflect in the attention paid to it, there’s certainly something to be said about owning your purpose in the relentless storm of noise and empty calories that Hollywood tends to stir up, and the fact that Ellis-Taylor has chosen to give a voice to that purpose—of breathing life into deeply personal-yet-universal, groundbreaking, and evocatively palpable stories like Wilkerson’s—rather than dwell on its lack of recognition could very well be the type of sentiment that helps drive the Origins of tomorrow to an even brighter future.
Origin is now playing in theaters.
(featured image: Neon)
