Actor happy to lead Black cast
The Netflix movie musical “Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey” has all the makings of a classic that endures year after year.
Released earlier this month, it costars Justin Cornwell as a toy-maker and inventor named Jeronicus, who loses his way and eventually sinks into a deep depression that only his granddaughter can help shake.
It is the rare Christmas story set in the Victorian era to feature a primarily Black cast. The bulk of the story centers on Jeronicus in his later years, played by Forest Whitaker; Cornwell plays the younger version of the man, who is a charismatic whirl of energy who tends to ignore the feelings of others, including his apprentice — who ultimately turns on him and steals his best ideas (played by Keegan-michael Key).
“My favorite No. 1 movie of all time is the original ‘Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory’ with Gene Wilder,” Cornwell said. “And on set (writer-director David E. Talbert) was like, ‘Think Gene Wilder — give me more Gene.’
“He knew that I knew the shorthand for the Gene-isms in that movie, and while I don’t think either Forest or I are trying to do a Gene Wilder impression, we’re trying to find that little bit of that unbalance.”
Cornwell, who has roots in the Chicago theater scene, talked about making a film that feels very much like it could become an annual tradition.
Question: Did it feel like this movie had the potential to become a beloved holiday tradition for years to come when you were shooting it?
Cornwell: That was in the air. I remember sitting there with David Talbert and going, “This might be the highlight of my life!” and he goes, “Mine too!” We were all saying, “We’re trying to make a Christmas classic for everyone that just happens to have us, Black people, leading it.”
Just like all those Christmas classics I grew up with. And then when I think about it I almost forget, “Oh, we weren’t in those movies.” But I was able to bridge that gap to the emotions ...
I don’t want to say it, but I feel like there’s a stereotype of, if it’s Black, there’s this perception that it has almost a simplistic quality, or they’re given less of a budget, where you feel the quality of the art is somehow diminished. And I had a conversation with David about that and he wanted to throw that stereotype out the window. We really need to change the language when it comes to us and Hollywood, because I think that will allow us to speak about Black art with more agency.
Q: Like “A Christmas Carol,” this story is set in Victorian England. I don’t know that we’ve seen a holiday story that centers Black people in this milieu.
Cornwell: There were large Black populations in Victorian England, even dating a hundred years before that. It’s just weird that you never saw us in those narratives. We’ve been here. And it’s not an affront to anyone’s idea of what their history is, but I think we should acknowledge that Black people’s presence was real in all of these stories. And this narrative is seeing us through our eyes. I had just written a script that focuses on Frederick Douglass’ life in 1846 and 1847 when he was actually over there in Victorian England, and a lot of the costumes we designed (in the movie) were modeled after the kind of stuff he wore.
Q: Many of Chicago’s theater companies (most notably the Second City comedy troupe) are finally grappling with racism that has been endemic in the theater scene. What was your own experience in Chicago?
Cornwell: Most of my time was spent at (Chicago Shakespeare), so as far as working, I have to go based on my friends’ experiences, because I didn’t get into a lot of theaters. I would advance very far in auditions at the Goodman and Steppenwolf and Victory Gardens, but I never ended up working in these theaters.
Q: Chicago Shakespeare is a pretty white institution, right?
Cornwell: Indeed. And I definitely noticed that. ... I was the only Black male in the Short Shakes shows I did. I saw that and understood that. And even as I went to see other shows at the theater, there would be no Black males at all. But I also saw that there was some kind of push into the African American community to bring more people into Shakespeare, and I saw more diversity in Short Shakes (productions); the main stage not so much.
Q: You were cast on the CBS series “Training Day,” which was a follow-up to the 2001 movie. How did that come about?
Cornwell: I was doing a lot of voiceover stuff and commercial work and the bit parts that so many Chicago actors get on TV shows. So I felt very comfortable. That, coupled with my theater work, seemed like a happy existence. But I got to a point where I was being offered, yet again, more understudy work at Chicago Shakespeare — after working there three years and being in Shorts Shakes and feeling like, “Why am I still being offered understudy work?” And they were like, “We need understudies we can rely on.” And that makes complete sense. But I’m hoping to advance, and monetarily it wasn’t getting better for me in that arena.
So I decided to focus on reading scripts for film and TV instead of doing any theater work for four or five months. And it ended up that I got the lead in (”Training Day”). I remember walking into the table read (after being hired) and on my phone getting an offer for another understudy job at Chicago Shakespeare and I thought ... “Well, you know (long laugh), I think maybe I should do this instead.”