In Sam Henderson’s Ado, Ms. Hopkins (Jenifer Lewis) has her middle school drama class rehearsal of Much Ado About Nothing interrupted by a school shooter she recognizes as one of her former students.
Awards Buzz spoke with Henderson about how the concept for this timely short film originated:
“It started with a conversation with my mom a couple of years ago, who is a middle school theater teacher. As you know, that is the protagonist in my film. We both live in between or around Uvalde, Texas. And it wasn’t too far from that incident, where I was having a conversation with my mom about what she would do in that situation. At the time, she was almost seventy, on the verge of retirement, and as you know, unfortunately, this American anathema of school shootings, no one, no state, no person, no teacher, no student is immune from the possibility of this. I mean, I think there was a report last week about another shooting. I was thinking specifically about my mother in that situation, not too far removed from both the time and place of that particular incident, and I asked her what she would do in that situation. Outside of protocols, my kids are school age and so we have to go through drills, beyond that, I was concerned about my mother and I was curious about how she would handle something like that at her age, at that point of her career. She didn’t want to talk about it, which is completely understandable, but she said something that was the great initiator for this entire idea. She said, ‘If I came face-to-face with a school shooter, I think the only chance I’d have is if the shooter knew me.’”
Watch the video above to hear about his mother’s response to the film – and her excitement at actress who plays the character based on her – as well as how other audiences have been moved by the film.
Ado is on the Oscar shortlist for Best Live Action Short.
