‘Exhibiting Forgiveness’ stars André Holland as a painter and family man grappling with trauma
In playing a character grappling with trauma, achieved catharsis both on and off screen.
“There were a lot of ways in which my life and this part lined up,” says the actor, 44, of. Artist-turned-director Titus Kaphar’s new movie stars Holland as Tarrell, a painter and family man forced to reckon with his past.
“It was easy for me to relate to the discipline, I think, that comes with being a painter,” the star tells PEOPLE. Actors and visual artists alike, he says, know “the bravery, the courage it takes to make a mark, make a choice.”
Other aspects of Kaphar’s story weren’t as relatable. “Where the work was,” says Holland, was portraying Tarrell’s fraught relationship with his formerly abusive father La’Ron (played by John Earl Jelks). “My relationship with my father was so wonderful. [I had] to imagine my way into what it would be like to live in that dynamic because that was not my experience at all.”
Related:
Yet Exhibiting Forgiveness, with all its themes of processing loss and trauma, enabled Holland to think about his own , in other ways. “My father passed away not long ago,” he shares with PEOPLE. The “grief around that,” he says, proved “useful” in playing Tarrell.
“There were a lot of overlaps,” says Holland, adding that the movie could often be “draining” to film. “Emotionally, it asked for a lot.”
Asked how he decompresses from inhabiting such big emotions on screen, he responds with candor: “I don’t know, to be honest. That’s one thing I’m working on, how to take better care of myself. I tend to be a person who likes to go all the way in and stay there, and that’s what happened with this film.”
Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Related:
Exhibiting Forgiveness also required Holland to learn how to paint — capably enough, he says, “to get to a place where I felt confident with the brush in my hand.”
Tarrell’s paintings were created by Kaphar himself, who also took three months to train his lead actor. “He’s a good teacher and he and I both were super adamant about wanting to be believable,” Holland says with a laugh. “Not wanting to do that thing where you see a hand and then you see my face and you never see them in the same frame.”
Although Holland says “you can’t learn in three months” to match MacArthur Fellow Kaphar’s work, he’s “really proud” of his painting on screen.
“When I watch the movie, I don’t cringe,” he says. “I cringe most of the time. I’m watching through my fingers. I normally don’t watch [my movies], but this one I really wanted to see.”
Related:
Exhibiting Forgiveness, which costars , and Ian Foreman, is in theaters now.
For more People news, make sure to
Read the original article on .
This article originally appeared on www.aol.com: www.aol.com https://www.aol.com/andr-holland-used-movie-process-142210790.html