Jussie Smollett is back in his happy place.
The actor, singer and director debuts his second film, The Lost Holliday, on Sept. 27. The film showcases the dynamics between an estranged mother-in-law and her son’s widowed husband. Jason Holliday, played by Smollett, suddenly lost his husband Damian to gun violence. Damian’s death led to a call being made to his mother, played by Vivica A. Fox, to deliver the tragic news. Damian had not spoken to his mother in years at that point, and she didn’t know he was gay until she learned he was married.
Characters in the movie represent the entire LGBT community, and Fox’s character is initially uncomfortable with everyone’s lifestyle choices, coming from a traditional Black background. Fox and Smollett’s characters eventually grow closer through grief as the ironic holiday season approaches.
The independent project is also produced by Mona Scott-Young, the media powerhouse that produces “Love & Hip Hop.”
Days before the movie’s premiere, Smollett and Scott-Young stopped by rolling out to discuss the film and their careers.
Jussie, how did you connect your personal experiences with how traditional Black families handle homosexuality in the creation of this film?
Jussie Smollett: Thankfully, I’ve never lost anyone I was in a relationship with, but I have lost a parent and lost cousins and close friends. So, I know about grief.
I certainly know a lot about grief, but how that ties into me somehow is when I came up with this idea, I thought of my mother, a Black woman, who married into a non-Black family. At the time, especially in the ’70s and the ’80s, that was not always easy to navigate. My father passed almost a decade ago, and seeing the way she bonded after his passing with my grandmother, his mother, was something beautiful to me.
It’s a situation that could be painful, but it also is beautiful and hopeful to watch these two strong women in their prime bonding with each other and putting things to rest.
It’s never too late to make amends.
Jussie, you’ve been in the headlines for years for legal battles but you are back creating. At what point did you forgive yourself?
Jussie Smollett: One, you have to be able to look at yourself, and you have to be able to say, “I stand by what I’ve always said for the last six years.” I didn’t do what I was accused of doing, of course, but at the same time, there’s always an opportunity to take responsibility for the things that you have done because sometimes when people say false things about you or say lies about you, what they’ll do is they’ll take a pile of lies and they’ll sprinkle it with a little bit of the truth, and then you’re left to deal with the actual truth … I think we all have things to forgive ourselves for. You have to acknowledge those things; then you can smile again because you know who you are.
What was one thing you had to move to elevate in life?
Jussie Smollett: I had to move on from the perception of other people.
Mona Scott-Young: When you just said that about not seeing yourself through other people’s eyes, that’s something I could relate to totally because of the double-edged sword that has even been “Love & Hip Hop.”
People form opinions without knowing who I am as a person. For me, none of that has ever held anyway, because I’ve been able to look at my own life and say, “Well, I know this is not true. I know these people have no idea of what the truth is…” When I met Jussie, it was purely through his art, and the person I got to know was incredibly intuitive and so smart with a great sensibility for storytelling and conveying that storytelling through the visuals.
