Actor Jeffrey Wright Calls Fatherhood ‘The Most Rewarding Thing’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Actor Jeffrey Wright has had many significant roles during his career, but the most important one is being a father.
“[Parenting is] the most rewarding thing,” Wright told Fatherly. “But it is also the most relentless thing.”
The actor described his parenting style as “ever-evolving and continually learning,” adding that patience is one of the most important things in a parent’s tool box.
“Horses run in a matter of minutes after being born. Birds fly in a matter of weeks for the most part. Children take many, many years before they fly, and we can’t expect them to do all of the things that we might want to project onto them until they’re ready,” Wright explained.
He continued, “At the very moment that I became a father, when I was in the delivery room and my son emerged, I recognized immediately that this was a permanent situation, that our relationship was permanent. This was as permanent as things can be, and that has only been reinforced over time. Parenting and fatherhood never stops, and it requires many skills. But none of those skills can be brought to bear or have any usefulness without the quality of patience.”
Wright also spoke about the father figure in his life that influenced his performance in ASTEROID CITY, his most recent project.
In the movie, the actor plays an Army general who is in charge of a group of young people, and Wright drew on his experiences with his grandfather.
“My primary father figure was my grandfather, who was a very special man,” Wright shared. “And of course, I’m biased, but he wasn’t special because he was my grandfather. He was special because of who and how he was.”
The actor described his grandfather as “a waterman” who caught oysters and crabs, farmed, and “sold spirits when it was legal and illegal to do so.”
“He was a provider, and his house was always a meeting place for folks who were desirous of seafood, vegetables, and a taste, but also conversation. It was a hub in the community,” Wright said. “I watched the way that he fathered his family, but also, in some ways, he played this role as a father to the community. There was no other man in my life who had that type of influence on me in terms of my understanding of what it meant to be a father and what it meant to be a man.”
Wright lost his own father when he was just a year old, but he still feels connected to him, telling GolfDigest that his father’s childhood job as a caddy turned into a lifelong love of golf for the entire family.
Wright’s part in ASTEROID CITY isn’t as large as some fans might have wanted, but the actor told Entertainment Tonight that he enjoyed being part of a huge cast.
“There’s a super strong sense that we’re part of a company,” Wright said. “Everybody else is holding up their end of the story over there, and we’re holding up ours over here, and at the end of the day, it’s going to come together in this remarkable, unique way that only Wes does. It’s very much about this collaboration between all of us.”
A portion of the Movieguide® review for ASTEROID CITY reads:
ASTEROID CITY has beautiful art direction, but the script is convoluted. The characters discuss grief and question if there’s an afterlife. Some believe in God, some don’t, and some make jokes about being witches. ASTEROID CITY has scenes of praying to God and forgiveness, but it leaves the meaning of life up in the air. The movie is marred by an excessive scene of nudity, a homosexual kiss and implied extra-marital affairs.
