Peacock’s latest film, Bosco, is based on the story of Quawntay “Bosco” Adams, who was sentenced to 35 years for attempted possession of marijuana. With the help of a woman from an ad, he escapes to see his daughter.
Rolling out spoke with Aubrey Joseph, who’s cast as Bosco in the film, and Vivica A. Fox, who is cast as Bosco’s mother, Willa, about their roles and the message they would send to mothers and fathers who are in the same situation as their characters.
What led you to portray Bosco in this film?
Aubrey Joseph: What stood out to me in the script the most was how intelligent he was and how relentless and resilient he was. This is somebody that I’ve never met. Even talking to him on the phone, after I accepted the role and everything, I was just like, there are so many similarities in our upbringings, and I feel like there are a lot of people that look like us whose stories aren’t being told. I felt like it was my responsibility and an opportunity to do that. That was the biggest thing that allowed me to take this on.
With your role, how do you think a mother would feel watching this film?
Vivica A. Fox: First of all, it’s family. Aubrey said in some of his interviews prior to this, that he was like a superhero. What young Black man do you hear about escaping from jail successfully, but that his main drive was that he wanted to be there for the birth of his daughter? There are a lot of wonderful messages, including the story of redemption. If a mother sees this, I hope she holds tight to her son and doesn’t let him become a product of a bad environment.
What’s the message that you would send to that father who’s incarcerated and wants to be there for his kids?
AJ: It’s a situation of the saying, “If you know, you know,” and if you don’t come from those types of situations, you don’t understand that. These are situations where people are waking up and saying, “I want to do something that’s going to put me in prison.”
A lot of these situations are life or death situations for people who are just trying to survive and get by and get to the next day. In that sense, I would say you never want to wish prison on anybody, but you can’t change what is. I would just say to reflect and kind of learn from what has happened, and in that, there’s always a future, and there’s always a way to rewrite your story. Just because certain things didn’t go the way that we may have wanted them to, there’s always more to life. I feel like Quawntay is the biggest example of that. His whole life story is a redemption story, and as long as you’re open to learning and keep your eyes open on what’s going on, search, and look for information, there’s always a way to be a better man.
