When Colman Domingo addresses the camera, he speaks first and foremost with his eyes. In Sing Sing, a soulful indie crowdpleaser about the healing powers of art, Domingo stars as John “Divine G” Whitfield, a man who’s incarcerated at Sing Sing Correctional Facility for a murder he didn’t commit. Frustrated by the appeal process, Divine G finds optimism through “Rehabilitation Through the Arts”, a real programme whereby he and others convicted of crimes form their own theatre troupe. Amongst the group, Divine G is the unofficial leader who instils each RTA session with enthusiasm, Shakespeare lessons, and, on occasion, scripts penned inside his cell. Still, his eyes, bursting with emotion, tell another story.
“I understand the power of letting thoughts happen behind your eyes, and being confident enough to say, ‘That’s enough,’ and to not do too much,” says Domingo, who’s looking at me directly with a piercing stare across a table in a Soho restaurant. “I believe I’m an empathetic person who can really make eye contact and be generous with what I’m feeling. My superpower is to actually communicate with people.” In his deep, signature, ASMR-friendly voice, Domingo recalls auditioning for Steven Spielberg many years ago. “He told me, ‘Your face changes by the second.’ I didn’t know that, but that’s something I have that’s innate. It’s not learned and practised, but that openness is something I’ve nurtured since I was child.”
Sing Sing was shot in 2022 during a 19-day break Domingo had in between The Colour Purple and Rustin, the latter earning him an Oscar nomination. Sing Sing premiered at TIFF in 2023 to ecstatic reactions (A24 snapped up the US rights within days), it came out in August 2024 in UK cinemas, and it’ll likely contend for the major Oscar categories in early 2025. I’m speaking to Domingo in late 2024, a week before Christmas, catching the 55-year-old actor on his awards campaign – and possibly before a January return to shooting the third season of Euphoria.
For two obvious reasons – they’re staring right at me, and I’m utterly hypnotised – the conversation keeps returning to the power of his eyes. He might be the most charming, magnetic actor I’ve ever met. “It tells you a lot about a person when they’re afraid to make eye contact,” says Domingo, practically challenging me not to glance at my notebook. “I’m required to be vulnerable for my work. If I’m hiding something, people won’t feel what I’m feeling. Our film has an extraordinary feeling that people can’t deny. There’s no big set-pieces. It’s about the landscape of the human face, and going to the eyes, because that’s where we want it to land. The whole experience of Sing Sing is going eye to eye and soul to soul.”
Adapted by Greg Kwedar from a 2005 Esquire article titled “The Sing Sing Follies”, Sing Sing depicts the RTA production of Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code, a play that amalgamates suggestions by its participants such as time-travel, Freddy Krueger, pirates, Goliath, and Friar Tuck. Divine G auditions for the one dramatic role, Hamlet, but loses out to Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, setting up a tense friendship that fuels the film. Not only does Divine Eye play himself, but he depicted Hamlet in the real 2005 RTA staging of Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code. In fact, almost the entire ensemble comprises formerly incarcerated men who play their younger selves and seem to deliver their heartbreaking histories for real.
“I knew I’d be one of the only professional actors leading this company, and being very much the soul of the production,” says Domingo. “I was concerned with how we’d take care of them, and invite them to bring their most vulnerable selves, too.” The film was shot in various decommissioned prisons in New York. “One prison we shot at, they were all at that prison at some point in their prison life. It’s filmed in a very cinema-verité manner. You know you’re watching a narrative but it feels like a documentary.”
Sing Sing is such a topical film that it made the news again when one of the actors, JJ Velazquez, was exonerated in September after serving 23 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. Is it easier to discuss a film when it’s so grounded in reality, even though it was shot years ago? “Yes, but the film was made with my fingerprints on every lens,” says Domingo. “My comrades as well, we made this together. I’ve only watched it all the way through once because it’s very raw. I know it’s that raw because I’m deeply attached to it. All those feelings are what I built, and they came out of my soul. I can talk about this film in any instance because it’s that close to me. It’s like my own breath.”
Domingo, who doubles as a playwright, has been acting on stage and on screen for more than three decades, but only became a household name in his late 40s through Fear the Walking Dead. Now, whenever the actor’s out in public, strangers stop him to express certain thoughts, ask for a hug, or simple say thank you. If he’s not in a rush, he attempts to be accessible. “It’s an extraordinary privilege that I walk out in the world and communicate with people every single day about how I touched their lives,” he says. “Most people don’t get that.”
In recent years, his fame was cemented by his Emmy-winning depiction of Ali, the sponsor to Zendaya’s Rue, on Euphoria. “Go on,” says Domingo, laughing as he sees what’s written in my notebook. “Give me the question.” What’s happening with Euphoria season three? “It will happen. That’s all the information I can give. They’re prepping the show right now. The target is to start shooting at the end of January or early February.”
A heartbreaking moment in Sing Sing is when Divine G is interrogated as part of his parole process and he speaks proudly of his role in the RTA programme, including the many stage productions he’s led. The official responds, “So are you acting at all while doing this interview?” It’s a question I pose to Domingo as well. “Wouldn’t it be interesting if I was?” he says. “I don’t know if I’m that good of an actor!” He laughs and gives it some thought. “Listen, you’re getting a version of me today that wants to be clear, articulate, and sincere. I know the impact of what I’m saying. My words have meaning. There’s a performative nature in doing publicity. So it’s yes and no at the same time.”
What Sing Sing and Domingo during our conversation make clear is that the Rehabilitation Through the Arts programme works. Statistically, the recidivism rate for RTA graduates is 3 per cent, versus the national average of 60 per cent of people who leave prison and then return. Moreover, Sing Sing itself is evidence of how people in incarceration can prosper when allowed to build new skills they didn’t know they had. The film also touches on how people, especially those with a darker skin colour, can be wrongly arrested. “The statistics show that there’s many people who are in prison that don’t belong in prison,” says Domingo. “That’s a fact.”
He continues, “I don’t believe in locking people up and throwing away the key. I believe that there’s paths to be better, and we as a society have to offer that. There’s an accountability that they must do as well, to say, ‘I need these tools. I have to admit and understand that I wasn’t given an opportunity for a path of wellness in the world. Now, how do I reshape that?’ By reshaping these folks that are incarcerated, it reshapes our society.”
Sing Sing is playing in select cinemas and is available to buy digitally.
