Passing Trivia | 30 facts about the movie

Passing is a 2021 black-and-white drama film written, produced, and directed by Rebecca Hall.

Let’s find out more about the movie!

1. Passing is a 2021 black-and-white drama film written, produced, and directed by Rebecca Hall.
2. This is her directorial debut.
3. The film is based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Nella Larsen.
4. Its title refers to African-Americans who had skin color light enough to be perceived as white, referred to as “passing”.
5. The film stars Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, André Holland, Bill Camp, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Antoinette Crowe-Legacy, and Alexander Skarsgård.
6. The film had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 30, 2021.
7. Later, it began a limited theatrical release on October 27, 2021.
8. It was later released on Netflix on November 10.
9. It received acclaim from critics.
10. Critics praised Hall’s screenplay and direction, and performances of Thompson and Negga.
11. The film was named one of the top ten films of 2021 by the African American Film Critics Association.
12. For her performance, Negga was nominated for the Golden Globe Award, BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Award in the category of Best Supporting Actress.
13. It was announced in August 2018 that Rebecca Hall would be making her directorial debut on the adaptation of the Nella Larsen novel, with Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga set to star in the lead roles.
14. Hall had begun writing the film a decade earlier upon reflecting on her own family’s history.
15. When Hall presented her with a script version, Negga decided to collaborate in making it into a film as Negga was surprised the work was not more prominent, after having read the novel and was “completely astounded” by it
16. Thompson stated that the film would be shot in black and white.
17. André Holland was cast in October 2019.
18. In November 2019, Alexander Skarsgård joined the cast of the film.
19. With less than a month to go before filming production was set to begin, Hall was still $500,000 short on her desired $10 million budget, and had to apply for two grants to cover the difference.
20. Filming began in November 2019 in New York City
21. The film is in monochrome.
22. Into the third week of filming, the Hugh Wentworth role, originally intended for Benedict Cumberbatch, remained uncast, and budgetary realities and the tight filming timeline meant the production would need an actor who lived in New York.
23. On November 21, Bill Camp signed on, and filming wrapped in December after a 23-day shoot.
24. According to Samba TV, the film was watched in 653,000 households over its first three days of release.
25. In casting the two main characters, Rebecca Hall said she had to find two actors that could play either role, because both of them are so seduced by and interested in each other’s lives. Ruth Negga agreed, suggesting that if they were doing it as a stage play, the actors could trade roles every other night. Tessa Thompson, however, demurred: “I would never want to play Clare. I love Ruth in this part so much, I wouldn’t have done it.”
26. Rebeca Hall spent 10 years writing the screenplay. Her first draft took 10 days, the intervening years were spent retuning and refining it.
27. Tessa Thompson’s first thought when watching the film for the first time was that both she and Ruth Negga looked thoroughly beautiful. She praised Rebecca Hall’s framing of the actresses and cinematographer Eduard Grau’s deep black and white photography.
28. Ruth Neega was instrumental in helping Rebecca Hall get the film made. She had read the book years before and had been blown away by it but was shocked to learn that no one had tried to adapt it up till now. When she heard of Hall’s involvement, she pushed hard for it to be made.
29. Netflix paid $15 million for the distribution rights to the film after its successful debut at the Sundance Film Festival.
30. The famous Drake Hotel in Chicago was turned into the Drayton Hotel in the novel and film.