Free State of Jones
Short description
Set during the American Civil War, Free State of Jones follows Newton Knight, a Mississippi farmer who serves as a Confederate Army medic while opposing slavery. After his young nephew dies in battle, Knight returns to Jones County to protect his family, only to be branded a deserter and forced into hiding. He joins runaway slaves sheltering in the swamps and, together with other small farmers, forms an armed resistance against Confederate authority. That alliance leads to the declaration of the Free State of Jones, a community in which Black and white members are treated as equals. Knight's relationship with Rachel, a former slave who becomes his wife, is central to that experiment.
Gary Ross wrote and directed the film, his fourth feature after Pleasantville, Seabiscuit and The Hunger Games. Matthew McConaughey plays Knight, with Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Rachel, Mahershala Ali as Moses Washington, Keri Russell as Serena Knight, Jacob Lofland as Daniel and Sean Bridgers as Sumrall. Ross produced with Jon Kilik and Scott Stuber, and the credited production employed 46 cast members and 108 crew.
Released in June 2016, the film had a budget of 50 million US dollars and took about 25 million worldwide, so it did not recover its costs at the box office. Audiences were more receptive than critics: it holds a rating of 6.9 from roughly 68,000 votes on IMDb and 6.8 from about 1,700 votes on TMDB, while the critics' rating stands at 5.5 from 193 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- In 2016, a document was discovered in the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, which was a request from Newton Knight to include him and his men in the Army of the Potomac. The document is dated 1864. Its discovery serves as confirmation of Knight’s claims.
- The battle scenes were filmed in Covington, Louisiana.
- The filmmakers received 7,000 photos and resumes from people wanting to participate as extras.
- Yvonne Smith, a descendant of Newton Knight, appeared as an extra in the film.
- The floor in the medical tent was covered in blood. The fake blood was diluted with water to increase the coverage area and make the floor look more slippery. Filming had to be done without delay, as the floorboards quickly absorbed the diluted mixture.
- This is the second joint project between Matthew McConaughey and Jacob Lofland after Jeff Nichols’ drama 'Mud' (2012).
- Brendan Gleeson was supposed to appear in a cameo role in the film, but he was unable to participate in the filming due to commitments to other projects.
- A certain Christopher David McNight, a descendant of Newton Knight, the role played by Matthew McConaughey, appeared in the mass scenes of the film. Knight was McNight's great-great-great-grandfather. McNight, a resident of Lake Charles, Louisiana, heard about the film's shooting and applied to be an extra.
- Actor Kensley Kice is the only African American native of Soso (Jones County, Mississippi) who is a descendant of Newton Knight. He played one of the soldiers in the film. By sheer chance, Kice managed to talk to director Gary Ross after filming the battle scene. Moreover, fate brought him together with Matthew McConaughey during a break in filming, to whom Kice told why it was so important for him to star in this film – it's a story about his family and his homeland.
- The front doors of the Jones County Sheriff's Department vehicles are labeled “Free State of Jones”.
- Historian Rudy Leverett, author of “Legend of the Free State Jones,” who attempted to downplay the rebellion and portray Newton Knight as a common bandit, is the great-great-grandson of Amos McLemore, a Confederate Army major tasked with capturing Knight and his followers. McLemore fell by Knight’s hand.
- One of the producers stated in an interview that at one point he considered naming the film “Free State of Randy,” but ultimately decided that “Free State of Jones” sounded better.
- Keri Russell and Christopher Berry starred together in Matt Reeves' science fiction action film "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" (2014).
- Thomas Murphy and Christopher Berry starred together in Steve McQueen's historical drama "12 Years a Slave" (2013).
- One of the producers once admitted in an interview that they initially wanted Steve Homer ("The Incredible Adventures of Barney the Dinosaur", 1998) to direct the film, but he had to decline due to commitments to other projects.
- Victoria Burnham, the author of the novel "Free State of Jones: The Longest Civil War in Mississippi," played the role of a nurse in the film. She is the one sitting in the medical tent near the soldier with a shoulder wound, reading Psalm 26 (27 in Masoretic numbering).
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