Sing Sing the movie, released in July 2024 is set to make a re-release on January 17, 2025, following the star Colman Domingo‘s Academy Award nomination. Domingo was nominated by the Oscars for Best Actor, recognizing his performance in Rustin. The spark around his name has seemingly been cause for more Academy conversation around his films. After watching his performance in Sing Sing, we can confirm that this buzz is well deserved.
Sing Sing follows Divine G, played by Domingo, in the Sing Sing Correctional Facility after he was imprisoned for a crime that he did not commit. But this movie isn’t the typical prison drama, as Domingo emphasizes—instead, this film is all about purpose and humanity as it is based on a true story. Divine G starts a theatre program, and alongside a cast of inmates, they put on performances that help them get in touch with their inner emotions and get out of their mental prisons.
What’s so special about this film is that the cast is made up of actual inmates from Sing Sing who were in Divine G’s Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) theatre program. John Divine G Whitfield himself was also featured in this film, which made this true story all the more special. It was everyone’s debut film and they were so thrilled to be a part of such a meaningful project in such a big way. Their talent was undeniable; the audience was so lucky that they were able to move from the RTA to the big screen in order for everyone to witness their art.
Clarence Maclin, who plays himself, Divine Eye, in the movie, seemed especially grateful to be there and hopes to be in films in the future. Sean “Dino” Johnson shared a similar sentiment, but adds that, “[this film] was a labor of love,” and emphasized how special it was that the audience felt so touched by it.
In conversation with Bradley Cooper, Domingo shared insider information about the filming process. This masterpiece was filmed in the 18-day span that Domingo had available between his shoots for The Color Purple and Rustin— for which he was nominated for an Oscar. Many of the scenes were left up to the passion that the actors felt compelled by in filming, and some scenes were even only filmed once.
Spoiler Alert; skip to the next paragraph if you’re not ready: In the end of the film, when Divine G is released from prison, it is Divine Eye who is waiting to pick him up. The scene where the two friends greet each other was only shot once and from one angle, which was a risk that paid off. The scripts for this scene were re-written constantly, but felt too wordy at first. Based on the ideas from the scripts, this scene was essentially improvised. You can feel the emotion radiating off both of the characters through their hugging at the end of this film, which neatly wraps up such a compelling journey.
If you have yet to see Sing Sing because you missed its two-week run in theaters when it first came out, make sure you check it out in theaters when it re-releases on Jan. 17. If you can’t wait, it’s streaming on Netflix now— watch it before Domingo potentially receives a nomination for his fabulous performance!
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