The Film ‘Empire of Light’ Began Its Publicity Tour As Early As Summer 2022 With Micheal Ward Conducting Promotional Interviews At Various Jamaican TV & Radio Stations In August @Micheal Ward. It Officially Premiered In Canada At TIFF (The Toronto International Film Festival) In September 2022. It Previewed At The BFI (The British Film Institute) London Film Festival In October 2022. Olivia Coleman Appeared With Ward On The BBC’s (Pre-Recorded) Graham Norton Show New Year’s Eve Special On Friday December 30th 2022. And It Was Finally Released In The UK On January 9th 2023.
Compared To Its Promotion In Jamaica Last Summer, Its Canadian Premier Last Autumn, Its General Promotion And Release In Britain This Winter, Its Cinema Run Seems Rather Short Especially After Such A Long Time Coming. That’s A Bit of A Shame As The Promotional Interviews Were Brilliant And The Film Itself Is Excellent. It Would Have Been Great If British Audiences Were Afforded A Greater Amount of Time To Go See It. Especially Compared To How Long Some Other Movies Seem To Stay In Cinema Houses Long After Their Release.
Fortunately Everyman Cinemas Were Still Screening It When TheOrator.Press (TO.P) Went To See It In Early February. We Saw It In Their New Flagship Sofa-Cinema In Crystal Palace, South East London. So Moved Were We That We Undertook Further Research To Get Inside The Head of The Director Sam Mendes (Who Was Not On The Graham Norton Show With The Aforementioned Main Actors But Was With Them In A Number of Great Interviews Elsewhere Around The World And At The Aforementioned Autumn 2022 BFI Film Festival).
There Appears To A Welcome Notably More Inclusive And Transparent Approach To Interviews In The Publicity Tour Compared To Others We’ve Ever Seen, Especially As Far As Actor Micheal Ward, Is Concerned. He Plays One of The Two Main Characters, Stephen, Opposite Colman’s Character Called ‘Hillary’.
Ward Is Naturally Handsome, Charming, And Authentic And A Culturally Conscientious Actor Openly In Touch With His Culture, As Well As Being A Smooth Movie Operator. In That Sense One Can’t Help Think of Sidney Poitier, Who Was Very Much The Same And Famous For His Quest For Self-Improvement. We Look Forward To Wards Continued Career Development.
Seeing The Whole Cast Engage With A Series of Quality Black Media Outlets Was Very Refreshing. It Would Be Great To See More Such Inclusivity And Diversity Sustained In Future As It Makes Everything So Much More Authentic, Interesting And Appealing In Terms of Variety. And It Opens This Great Film Up To A Wider Audience, And In Turn Helps Build A Broader Fanbase For The Actors And Film Makers. We Fell In Love With Toby Jones For Instance. Who Knew?
Sam Mendes Introduces Empire of Light At The British Film Festival Autumn 2022
Set In Thatcherite Britain In The Early 80s This Is The Era of Miners Strikes, Poll Tax Demonstrations, The Murdoch Press Docklands Revolution, Police Brutality Towards The Press Workers, Strikers, Demonstrators, The Brixton Rioters, The New Cross Fire Demonstrators And The Main Opposition Group To Far Right Skinhead Group The National Front – The Anti-Fascist League (Recently Re-Monikered By The Trump Administration To The Shortened And Less Impactful Name of Anti-fa’).
Popular Music of The Era Included Black And White Two Tone, SKA, Reggae, And Musical Youth’s “Pass The Dutchie ‘Pon The Left Hand Side” (Which Eventually Went To Number One In 1982 And Is A Theme Tune To This Generation).
40 Years On (Thanks In Part To Princes Harry And William Who Previously Put On An Open Front And At One Stage Were Jointly Talking Openly About The Loss of Their Mother) Britain Is Talking More Openly And Empathetically About Mentally Health. Simultaneously (Thanks In Part To The Post Lockdown World In Which The Police Brutality Murder of George Floyd Took Place) Britain Is Also Talking More Openly And Empathetically About The Impact of Racism And The Subsequent Need For Social Justice Reform. Both At Corporate And Community Level.
Meanwhile Post Pandemic, The World Is Trying To Move On From The Virus But Many People Are Still Suffering From Long Covid – Long Term. Many Others Have Lost Relatives With Whom They Can Never Move On Again. And Whom They Must Now Surrender To History’s Past Generations Whilst Struggling To Move Forward And Some How Survive Another Historical Tragedy – The Unprecedented Cost of Living Crisis, Energy Crisis, Climate Crisis And Environmental Crisis. And Simultaneously Many A Poll Tells Reports That The Next Generation Are Suffering Climate Anxiety.
Life’s Challenges Don’t Come Conveniently Individually Wrapped With Each One Politely Waiting To Take Their Turn. Different Realities Intertwine And Co-Exist At The Same Time. This Film Challenges Viewers To Open Their Eyes And Deal With That Fact! Some Are Capable of It More Than Others of That. The Really Interesting Question Is Why Is That? Maybe It’s The Different Real Life Experiences They’ve Had & Continue To Have. One Way To Communicate Those Different Experieces Is Through Cultural Representation Highlighting The Fact That Regardless of Colour We Are All Human With A Shared Humanity. That’s The Impact of This Film.
Here Are Some Elements of Our Favourite Interviews. You Can Also Click The Link Below To See Our Original Review.
Actors Sidney Poitier, Henry Belafonte And Charlton Heston Attend The Dr. Martin Luther King “I Have A Dream” Speech In The Early 1960s. TheOrator.Press (TO.P) Observes That Ward Has A Touch Of The Poitier About Him And There Are Clear Comparable Similarities In Terms of Charm, Cultural Consciousness And Acting Ability.
Television Jamaica: Smile Jamaica, It’s Morning Time
“I Was Born Here. I’m From Here. And Now It’s About Reconnecting To My Roots And Giving Back. That All Feeds In To The Representation That We Spoke About.”
“Just To See How Things Work Over Here, It’s Very Different. Big Up To Spaniel Benz For Allowing Me To Go There And Witness Something So Special In My Hometown.”
“I’ve Never Done A Premier Here – Why Not? For Me Those Things Are Important. It’s All About Stuff Like That, As Well As Screenings, Connecting With People.”
[The Host Observes That Part of What Is Moving Nigeria Into The Netflix Arena Is The Fact That The Nigerian Diaspora Come Home And Contribute To The Developing Viewing Figures].
“It’s Just About Making The Gap Smaller And Making The Transition So That We Can Execute Better.”
“I’m A Storyteller Through Film & TV And It’s About Witnessing Stories. I Don’t Like To Tell Stories From The Window. I Like To Know!”
“I Had A Drive And A Determination But I Just Used To Have Fun With It. And Just Keeping Authenticity At The Forefront of Everything I Do, I Want Anything You Watch of Me You Can See That Person Without It Being Me.”
“You Can See That Person Working In A Cinema. You Can See That Person Being A Homeless Footballer. You Can See That Person Being From The Streets And Doing What He Has To Do For His Brothers”.
The Floor Magazine
As Andrea Nzeribe of Floor Magazine Rightly Observed During An Interview With Ward “This Cast Is Stacked”.
But Ward RepliesThat He Was Not Intimidated Because He Just Wanted To Prove Himself – Which He Clearly Did As He Was Subsequently Nominated For His Second BAFTA. It Was Important To Him As It’s The First Time He’s Been In A Film Where There Have Been So Few Black Cast Members (Just Three In Total, Himself, Tanya Moodie And Crystal Clark). His Previous Main Productions Were Steve McQueen’s Small Axe Where He Played A Young Jamaican Born Man Who Comes To Britain, Top Boy Where He Played ‘Jamie’ And Also ‘Blue Story’.
He Requested A Black Acting Coach To Make Sure He Did Not Feel Isolated During This New Experience And Also A Black Hair And Make-up Specialist, And A Black Wardrobe Assistant. Director Sam Mendes Agreed He Could Have Whoever He Wanted, For Which He Was Very Grateful And Described It As “Special.”
“Until People Like Sam Are Deciding To Write Stories Where There Can Be A Mixture of People And Stuff Like That, No One’s Really Going To Get Those Opportunities So I’m Glad It’s A Step In The Right Direction.”
Empire of Light Has Earned Him Another BAFTA Nomination For Best Supporting Actor 2023
Sunrise Jamaica
Appearing On Sunrise Jamaica, August 3rd 2022, Ward Said: “I’m Happy To Come Here And See That We’re The Majority And Not The Minority – Which Feels Good.”
He Was Actually Born In Jamaica. Sadly His Father Passed When He Was Aged Just 2 Years Old. He Grew Up In Romford, Essex. Of His Father He Said:
“I Know He’s Watching Over Me. I’m Definitely Happy How Everything Is. I Get To Make My Mum Proud. I Know He’s Watching Over Me Very Closely, No Matter What He’s Always Watching Over Me, Which Is A Special, Special Feeling.”
“I’m Glad I Got To Be Back And Go And Visit [Dad] And Share That With Mum Because It’s Been A Long Time Coming.”
The Negril June Weekender, The Sunfest Weekender, And The Impact of Winning A BAFTA
Whilst In Jamaica On The ‘Empire of Light’ Promotional Tour Ward Attended The Negril June Weekender And The Sunfest Weekender And Said “Getting To See All Those Talented Artists Was Really Special.”
“We’re Not Here To Play Games, We’re Here To Really Really Make A Change – In Many Different Areas, Not Just Acting But Film And TV In General And The Arts In General. Over Here As Well. I Really Think That I Can Make A Big Impact In The Arts Over Here. That’s Gonna’ Be The Kind of Focus.”
“I’ve Never Done A Premier Here. – Why Not?”
Micheal Ward On His Empire of Light Publicity Tour In Jamaica (Summer 2022)
Micheal Ward’s Road To Success
- Drama Classes At School
- Drama Classes In The 6th Form
- Drama Classes At College
- His Former Drama Teacher Became His Agent
- He Won A JD Sports Modelling Competition Circa 2016, Later Modelled For Louis Vuitton’s 1920 Autumn Winter Collection, And Also Appeared In A Number of Music Videos
- He Got A One Day Shoot As A Supporting Artist In‘Brotherhood (2016). It Was His First Ever Film Set.
- He Appeared In TV Series Blues Story And ‘A List’ In (2018)
- His Big Break Came In The Revival And Third Series of Top Boy – On Netflix – (2019). The Series Was Revived Having Originally Began In 2011 On Channel Four. Singer Drake Discovered It, Liked It, Helped Revive It, And Executive Produced It.
- Ward Went On To Win The BAFTA Rising Star Award 2020
- He Starred In The Second Episode of ‘The Small Axe TV Anthology’ In November 2020 (Written & Directed By ‘12 Year’s A Slave’ Oscar-Winning Director Steve McQueen). His Was The ‘Lovers Rock’ Episode (Officially Described As A ‘Romance Film’)
Capital Xtra (15 Mins) (2019) Urban DJ Robert Bruce @robertbrucek In Conversation With Micheal Ward About Making It To His Big Break In Top Boy
TelevisionJamaica.com: 9 Mins Interview Dahlia Harris @dahliaharris & Micheal Ward @Micheal Ward ‘Keep It Real’ On Jamaica’s Premium Breakfast Show – Smile Jamaica It’s Morning Time)
BlackFilmAndTV.com (10 Mins With Veteran Film Commentator Wilson Morales @wilsonmoralesfilm BlackFilmAndTV On YouTube)
The Floor Magazine (12 Mins Cosy One on One Chat Between Andrea Nzeribe & Micheal Ward @Micheal Ward)
The Koalition Interesting Interview With The Whole Cast (45 Mins) Discussing Their Different Elements.
He Says The Difference Winning The BAFTA Made Was Being Able To Get Into Certain Rooms He Was Not Getting Into Before.
“My Mum Was In The Same Room As Robert De Niro And Al Pacino And She Was Happy About That.”
“For Me The BAFTA Just Allowed Me To Know I’ve Got A Lot More Opportunities Coming. To Connect With People Who’ve Been In The Industry A Long Time.”
“It’s The Only Way To Elevate In The Manner I Really Want To. I Wanna’ Work With The Greats To Be Able To Be Great.”
“To Learn From Them And Implement What You Learn Into Your Work And To Share That With Others.”
“That’s The Way To Be Great In My Eyes Anyway.”
Asked What He Would Advise Others He Said “Just Keep Focused On The Craft And The Rest Will Come.”
(Seperate Empire of Light Film Review In TheOrator.Press (TO.P) February Issue)
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