Andra Day is set to lead the ensemble cast of Don’t Go Gentle, a contemporary social drama now in production in Toronto, marking writer-director Deborah Riley Draper’s move into narrative features.
Day stars as Tanya Jenkins, an honorably discharged Army medic who refuses to let a wrongful conviction become the final word on her life, only to be pulled into the privileged, strained world of a retired judge and his family after her release. Set in present-day Buffalo, New York, the film follows the collision of Tanya’s world with that of Lawrence Driver (Len Cariou), the retired judge whose history and sense of authority are challenged by her presence.
The cast also includes Teyonah Parris as Ellen, Tanya’s half-sister; Lonnie Chavis as Rasheed, Tanya’s teenage son; Alexandra Daddario as Amelia, Lawrence’s architect daughter; and Finn Wittrock as Ben, Lawrence’s troubled son.
Draper wrote and directs the film, reworking it from Stephen Belber’s play of the same name. Speaking to Deadline from the Toronto set, she described the adaptation as substantially transformed from its source material. “Don’t Go Gentle is completely reimagined from the play, but this is still a story about place, belonging and identity,” Draper said. “In her quest to vindicate herself after being wrongly convicted, Tanya crosses paths with a retired judge who’s dying and ultimately her family moves in with him. There is a dynamic of these families understanding who they are, their place in America, understanding what home is, what legacy is and what entitlement is.”
Draper said she was drawn to telling a story about the often-overlooked experience of women after military service. “Women veterans in America are one of the most overlooked groups because the military system wasn’t necessarily set up for them,” she said. “They come home and often they are poorly served. Andra has embodied this character in so many ways. She’s done so much research about female veterans and African American female veterans.”
Day, who earned an Academy Award nomination and won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her portrayal of Billie Holiday in Lee Daniels’ The United States vs. Billie Holiday, said she was drawn to Tanya’s resilience. “Don’t Go Gentle challenges the idea that strength means suffering in silence,” she said. “What we accepted yesterday does not have to be what we accept today and Tanya exemplifies that. She is resilient and a healer. For her, every new environment and every obstacle is an opportunity to grow and improve conditions for herself, her son and her community.”
Draper’s Atlanta-based Coffee Bluff Pictures produces the film alongside Gerard Butler, Alan Siegel, and Dan Kaslow’s G-BASE and Crystine Zhang’s Oval-5. Ashley Thornton Harrison, Tyler Levine, Cariou, Roxann Thomas Chargois, and Heather Cariou serve as executive producers.
The film marks a new narrative chapter for Draper, a three-time NAACP Image Award-nominated writer and director best known for documentary work including A&E’s James Brown: Say It Loud and OWN/Discovery+’s The Legacy of Black Wall Street.