CHICAGO ACTRESS ON MOVING INTO ‘ SUBURBICON’
Chicagoan plays a willful woman in Clooney film
As Chicago native Karimah Westbrook prepared for her role as the wife and mother of the first black family to move into the fictional Sub-urbicon— in director and co- writer George Clooney’s new film of the same title ( opening Friday)— the actress looked to history for inspiration.
The project was sparked by the true story of Daisy Meyers and her family moving into the all- white planned community of Levittown, Pennsylvania, in 1957, so Westbrook first turned to Meyers’ memoir of that period, “Sticks and Stones.”
“I learned so much from reading her book,” said the actress, seen earlier in “Badasssss” and “The Rum Diary.” “You can understand how Daisy came to be known as the ‘ Rosa Parks of the North,’ ” for sticking it out in Levittown for five years, despite constant harassment, intimidation, hostility and all kinds of racial bias.
Expressing understandable admiration for Meyers, Westbrook admitted, “I can’t imagine how awful that had to be— living through all that, while trying to support your family and doing all the things a normal family needs to do to survive. It definitely had to be unbelievably challenging. Her quiet strength is so inspirational. Frankly, if I was faced with that kind of hatred, I think I would have moved.”
Along with Meyers’ book, Westbrook went back and studied “a good deal about how African- Americans have been treated— and mistreated— in this country, going back to the days of the Founding Fathers. … Preparing for this role was another great lesson in history for me,” said the actress, who began acting in the western suburbs during her years at Proviso East High School, appearing in community theater productions and at the Circle Theater in Forest Park.
“Suburbicon,” starring Matt Damon and Julianne Moore, originated in a script by Ethan and Joel Coen, later rewritten by Clooney and producing partner Grant Heslov. The duo had been looking for a project that would spark a conversation about excluding outsiders, set in suburbia.
“Just by chance, we heard about the first black family that had moved into Levittown, and we thought that would make for an interesting backdrop,” Heslov said. “… This goes back to before Trump was elected, but it was our intention to make a statement about immigration and building fences and building walls to keep people out.”
For Garfield, the disabled are true superheroes
“Lessons in humility are always good, especially for ego- centric actors,” “Breathe” star Andrew Garfield said with a sly smile. “But playing Robin Cavendish in this film gave me a lot of good lessons in humility— especially when I actually met a number of people living with the condition Robin did.”
The actor was referring to the research he conducted in London— talking to individuals seriously paralyzed, as was the case with Cavendish, after he was stricken with polio at age 28 in the early 1950s. At that time, polio victims were warehoused in hospital wards, hooked up to breathing apparatuses which kept them alive for the short time they generally survived after diagnosis.
“Breathe” traces how Cavendish, aided by his amazing wife Diana ( played by “The Crown” star Claire Foy), revolutionized the way the severely disabled could lead their lives.
As the “Amazing Spider-Man” star met disabled people, he became aware of rehabilitation facilities around the globe— including Chicago’s Shirley Ryan Ability Lab, formerly the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. “I’ve been told that is one of the best such hospitals in the world,” Garfield said. “Hopefully, on a future visit to Chicago, I can go there and see what they are doing.”
Robin died in 1994, more than four decades later than originally expected.
“Both Robin and Diana were remarkable people,” Garfield said during our interview at the Toronto International Film Festival. “They figured out something about dealing with a catastrophic event. Through terrible loss— and by living through it— they incorporated that loss into their spirit. Humor played a huge role. But, in addition, they came to understand that one has to surrender to the chaos of life and in so doing managed to find sincere joy.”