TRUE LOVE IN A REAL TRAGEDY
Denzel directs ‘Journal for Jordan’ based on reporter’s memoir
Denzel Washington’s vision for “A Journal for Jordan” was clear from the start.
As the director of the romantic-drama, Washington aimed to authentically represent the relationship between an American soldier and his fiancée, Dana Canedy, whose bestselling memoir inspired the movie.
“When we started this, people talked about it as a war movie, and Denzel was adamant from the beginning, ‘No, no, no, this has elements of war, but it’s not a war movie at all. It is a love story at the heart of it,’ ” Canedy told the Daily News.
“We agreed that the main point in doing this movie was to really show what true love looks like up close, and that it endures, that love never dies. Love is always with you.”
First Sgt. Charles Monroe King was killed in Iraq in 2006, seven months after Canedy gave birth to their son, Jordan. Canedy, then a journalist for The New York Times, wrote a piece for the newspaper to channel her grief, and later penned the memoir, which she released in 2008.
Coming out in theaters on Christmas Day, “A Journal for Jordan” depicts Canedy’s life with King — played by Michael B. Jordan — and highlights the valuable messages the soldier wrote about in a journal for his son during his deployment.
“I want [audiences] to understand, really, what military service and sacrifice looks like up close, and understand that there are so many Charleses giving their lives for our country without ever having a movie made about them,” explained Canedy, who was a producer on the film.
“For every soldier who is deployed, there’s a family that’s left behind that has to keep the bills paid and pick up the dry cleaning and check the homework — and all the while wondering if the next phone call or knock at the door is going to be someone telling them that their loved one is gone.”
Canedy is portrayed in the film by Chanté Adams, who played rapper Roxanne Shante in the 2017 musical drama “Roxanne Roxanne.”
“Denzel made sure from the very beginning that everyone understood that we weren’t just characters,” Canedy said.
“We were actual people, and because it became personal to all of us and we became so close, I think you see the raw emotion and passion that they all brought to this film, in addition to their talent.”
Canedy, who is now the senior vice president and publisher of Simon & Schuster, believes the release of “A Journal for Jordan” comes at the perfect time, as her 15-year-old son is old enough to appreciate “what this says about this father.”
She describes King as “a man of dignity and of purpose,” and says the journal he kept for Jordan is a family heirloom.
“For the Jordan behind ‘A Journal for Jordan,’ it’s an ongoing conversation with his father,” Canedy said.
“There are literally times Jordan will ask me a question and I’ll say, ‘Go see what your father had to say about that,’ and he’ll open up the journal and read a passage.
“I’ve said to Jordan many times, ‘You’re in an ongoing conversation with your father that doesn’t exist among fathers and sons where the father’s living.
“He speaks to you in a way that a lot of men don’t talk to their sons,’ so in that way, Charles is still very present for him.”