The last time many saw Arsema Thomas, she was playing a young Lady Danbury in Queen Charlotte. In her new film, however, she takes on a leading role while telling a story about Black love.
She Taught Love captures the story of sports agent Mali Thomas and actor Frank Cooper (Darrell Britt-Gibson), who fall in love despite imperfect circumstances. Cooper is used to booze, blow and women, while Mali is ill and facing death. The script caught Arsema’s attention because of the way Mali, a Black woman, was being portrayed.
“I think the intentionality of having a woman who looks like me lead a story like this is something that I was programmed to think would only happen 30 years in my career. Not because of my talent, but because of the systems that kind of keep this industry afloat,” she tells ABC Audio.
“To see that the way that [Darrell and director Nate Edwards] saw this woman was in 3D, and they gave me all of the flexibility and freedom to kind of mold her in my own way. It made it a no-brainer to kind of take on the challenge of every bit of the story,” Arsema continues. She also thinks the script was beautifully written and says she “was feeling all of the emotions” as she read it.
“It feels … like one of the most generous gifts to be able to live in a story that is just imbued in love,” she says of starring in She Taught Love. “You felt it, like, kind of like proliferate into the cast and crew so the entire set was this amazing place where we prioritized love as the #1 thing that we wanted to share and show and receive.”
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