Success of Ginsburg film inspires CNN look at John Lewis
Indirectly, the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg inspired CNN Films’ new documentary on the life of civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis.
The unexpected commercial success of the “RBG” film in theaters two years ago had CNN looking for another contemporary leader whose life could be seen in historical terms.
“We knew there was something about the fact that people thought they knew RBG, but our film revealed there was a lot more to know,” said Amy Entelis, head of CNN Films. “We wanted to figure out if there was anyone else like that, and we landed on John Lewis.”
The film, which had a limited release this summer and was part of the Tribeca Film Festival, premieres on television Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern on CNN.
As Erika Alexander, a producer of “John Lewis: Good Trouble,” put it, he was “more than just someone who crossed a bridge and got hit in the head.”
The footage that made Lewis a part of history, from the 1965 march in Alabama, is of course a big part of the film. Knocked to the ground and beaten with a nightstick by a police officer for crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma as part of a civil rights march, Lewis thought he was going to die that day.
“John Lewis was really a singular figure in politics,” said Dawn Porter, the film’s director. “He was a person who was able to live his values. There was no doubt where he stood on issues. But where possible, he crossed the aisle” to reach common ground.
Porter finished the film late last fall, just before learning that Lewis had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
While “John Lewis: Good Trouble” didn’t have nearly the exposure in theaters as “RBG” — the coronavirus pandemic guaranteed that — Entelis believes the time is right for people to see it on television. It offers a deeper dive into Lewis’ life for people who became intrigued about his story around the time he died.
“There can’t be a film that we can show at this particular moment in time that would be more relevant to what people are talking about in the world,” she said. “We think our audience will be very hungry for this film.”