‘Lawmen: Bass Reeves’ – Interview:

23 March, 2024 Siobhan Marie Day 0 Comments 4 categories

Ava DuVernay and David Oyelowo attend the "Lawmen: Bass Reeves" SAG Screening on February 01, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Paramount+

Lawmen: Bass Reeves SAG Screening Q&A…

During the 2024 television awards season while promoting Lawmen: Bass Reeves for consideration, during a Screen Actors Guild special screening of the 2023 Paramount+ series, Screen Actors Guild Awards nominees Ava DuVernay and David Oyelowo held a Question & Answer session after the screening. DuVernay moderated the interview session where she talks with Lawmen: Bass Reeves star and executive producer Oyelowo about his role as the iconic lawman Bass Reeves.

Genre: Drama, and Western, Created by Chad Feehan, Based on "Follow the Angels, Follow the Doves: The Bass Reeves Trilogy, Book One" by Sidney Thompson, and "Hell on the Border: The Bass Reeves Trilogy, Book Two" by Sidney Thompson, Starring: David Oyelowo, Lauren E. Banks, Demi Singleton, Forrest Goodluck, Barry Pepper, Dennis Quaid, Grantham Coleman, Donald Sutherland, with Theme music composer: Chanda Dancy, Country of origin: United States, Original language: English, No. of episodes: 8, Executive producers: Ron Burkle, Chad Feehan, David Glasser, David Hutkin, David Oyelowo, Jessica Oyelowo, David Permut, Taylor Sheridan, and Bob Yari, Running time: 32–57 minutes, Production companies: Catch Fire, Yoruba Saxon, Bosque Ranch Productions, 101 Studios, and MTV Entertainment Studios, Original Network: Paramount+ (2023)

The Screen Actors Guild Award earned by the winner of the Awards show. Photo Credit: SAG/AFTRA

Ava DuVernay moderates the "Lawmen: Bass Reeves" SAG Screening on February 01, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Paramount+

David Oyelowo attends the "Lawmen: Bass Reeves" SAG Screening on February 01, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Paramount+

Bass Reeves (July 1838 – January 12, 1910) was an enslaved Manservant, runaway slave, gunfighter, farmer, scout, tracker, Railroad Agent and Deputy U.S. Marshal. He spoke and understood the Five Civilized Tribal languages including Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole and Creek. Bass was one of the first African-American Deputy U.S. Marshals west of the Mississippi River mostly working in the deadly Indian Territory. The region was saturated with horse thieves, cattle rustlers, gunslingers, bandits, bootleggers, swindlers, and murderers. Bass made more than 3,000 to 4,000 arrests in his lifetime, only killing twenty men in the line of duty. Bass was born into slavery in Van Buren, Crawford County, Arkansas. His family were slaves belonging to Arkansas state legislator William Steele Reeves. During the American Civil War, his owners fought for the Confederacy. At some point, Bass escaped and fled to Indian Territory where he learned American Indian languages, customs, tracking and survival skills. He eventually became a farmer and rancher. By 1875, Bass was hired as a Deputy U.S. Marshal along with other individuals. He was 37 years old. Bass was well acquainted with the Indian Territory and served on their land for over 32 years as a peace officer covering over 75,000 square miles, now part of Oklahoma. He was a victim of several tragedies during his lifetime. He accidentally shot his cook, William Leach, which led to the court case United States vs. Bass Reeves, for which he was acquitted, his first wife Jennie died in 1896 and in 1902 he had to arrest his son Benjamin "Bennie" Reeves who was charged with murdering his wife Castella Brown. Bennie was convicted and found guilty by a jury on January 22, 1903, in Muskogee. The presiding judge was C. W. Raymond. Bennie was sentenced to the U.S. prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for his natural life. His son was released after eleven years in prison and lived out the rest of his life as a model citizen. Bass encountered some of the most ruthless outlaws of his day. His weapons of choice were the Winchester Models 1873 and 1892. They were guns that conveniently fit dual-purpose handgun/rifle cartridges. He also briefly used the 1873 Colt Single Action .45 caliber Peacemaker. He tracked and killed notorious outlaw Jim Webb. Webb murdered over eleven people. Another notorious desperado Bass encountered was murderer and horse thief Wiley Bear. Bass rounded him up along with his gang which included John Simmons and Sam Lasly. Bass was in a gunfight with the Creek desperado Frank Buck whom he shot and killed. Bass was immortalized in the popular media including TV shows, films, novels, poems, and books. He was also inducted into the Texas Trail of Fame. A bronze statue of Reeves was erected in Pendergraft Park in Fort Smith, Arkansas and the Bass Reeves Memorial Bridge in Oklahoma, was named after the legendary lawman. Photo Credit: Google Images

David Oyelowo as Bass Reeves in "Lawmen: Bass Reeves" (2023) Photo Credit: Paramount+

Oyelowo discusses everything from his earlier roles in his career before he was the leading man of any film, or series with DuVernay, but not before he tells the audience in attendance how he first met DuVernay. Oyelowo then discusses how he moved to Los Angeles from London when the script from Selma arrived at his door and was being directed by none other than DuVernay. It would be their first collaboration together, and the film would make Oyelowo a household name after playing civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. during the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches.

David Oyelowo speaks during the "Lawmen: Bass Reeves" SAG Screening on February 01, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Paramount+

directed by Ava DuVernay, Written by Paul Webb, Produced by Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner, and Jeremy Kleiner, Starring: David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Tom Wilkinson, Giovanni Ribisi, Alessandro Nivola, Cuba Gooding Jr., Tim Roth, and Oprah Winfrey, with Cinematography by Bradford Young, and Edited by Spencer Averick, with Music by Jason Moran, Production companies: Pathé, Cloud Eight Films, Plan B Entertainment, Harpo Films, Ingenious Media, and Redgill Selma Productions, and Distributed by Paramount Pictures (North America), 20th Century Fox (United Kingdom), Pathé Distribution (France) (2014)

Ava DuVernay directing "Selma" (2014) Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures/20th Century Fox

David Oyelowo as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in "Selma" (2014) Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures/20th Century Fox

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke before a crowd of 25,000 Selma To Montgomery, Alabama civil rights marchers, in front of Montgomery, Alabama state capital building. On March 25, 1965, in Montgomery, Alabama. (Photo by Stephen F. Somerstein/Getty Images)

Martin Luther King Jr. led marches to demand rights for black people who were systematically prevented from registering to vote in the South. Coleman Domingo (from left) plays Ralph Abernathy, David Oyelowo plays Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Andre Holland plays Andrew Young and Stephan James plays John Lewis in "Selma" (2014) Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures/20th Century Fox

Oyelowo then goes on to discuss how far he’s come in his career being named an executive producer for Lawmen: Bass Reeves, and what it means in film versus television. Oyelowo goes on to discuss with DuVernay and the audience about how impactful it is, especially as a black actor. He then goes on to discuss what it meant to play such an iconic lawmen of the Wild West, and the fact that he was one of the first African American US Marshals west of the Mississippi River. What it meant to finally tell this untold story in a history that has often overlooked the contributions of African Americans and Indigenous people that were part of the formation the American West. He discusses how the history, his leading role in the series, and the history of inequality with black people all comes full circle in his representation in the film as not only an actor, but an executive producer.