Taraji P. Henson and Sam Rockwell team up for The Best Of Enemies opening in theaters this weekend.
The drama focuses on the unlikely friendship between outspoken Black activist Ann Atwater and Ku Klux Klan member Claiborne Paul Ellis, during the turbulent 1960s in Durham, North Carolina. Atwater was a maid who became a social activist while Ellis was a laborer who began attending city meetings to speak on behalf of the poor white working class. The two were put on a committee overseeing the desegregation of schools where, after heated battles and much to their surprise, they discovered common ground: They both cared about the economical and educational well-being of their kids.
The film’s script is based on the book Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South by Osha Gray Davidson. It was also shot right here in Georgia.
Rounding out the cast is Anne Heche, Wes Bentley, Bruce McGill, Nick Searcy, John Gallagher Jr., Nadej K. Bailey and Babou Ceesay. Robin Bissell served as the film’s director.
