The six-part series “Amend: The Fight for America” is heralded as “a powerful, multimedia journey through American history that encourages viewers to wonder what a ‘United States’ really means.”
Netflix is going to tackle the 14th Amendment with the help of Will Smith.
On February 17th, the streaming service will debut a six-part doc series titled Change: The Fight for America, that the Suicide Squad star as producer and host. The one-hour episodes will examine the amendment, which in 1868 promised “freedom and equal protection for all persons.”
The series, which also counts former Nightly show star Larry Wilmore as executive producer, with a rotation of recognizable faces, including Mahershala Ali, Diane Lane, Samuel L. Jackson, Pedro Pascal and Yara Shahidi. That group will deliver speeches and writings from the most passionate advocates and enemies of the Amendment (think Frederick Douglass, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Ruth Bader Ginsburg). Also mixed: Insights from a slew of contemporary experts and opinion leaders. Modify is billed as “a powerful, multimedia journey through American history that encourages viewers to wonder what a ‘United States’ really means.”
“We live in unprecedented times as a society, as a country and as a human family. I believe cultivating personal and historical understanding is the necessary spark that ignites the flames of much-needed compassion and healing, ” Smith said in a statement announcing the news on Monday. justice and equality for all. I think a deeper understanding of the 14th amendment is a crucial starting point. Our hope with this series is to illuminate the beauty that is America’s promise and to share a message of connection and shared humanity so that we can better understand and celebrate our different experiences as Americans and progress towards the promised true. promote equality. to all persons under the 14th amendment. I am grateful to Netflix and the phenomenal group of people who came together both in front of and behind the camera to help us tell this story. “
That group includes creators Robe Imbriano and Tom Yellin and directors Kenny Leon and Reinaldo Marcus Green, along with fellow executive producers Terence Carter, Jana Babatunde-Bey, Jamal Watson, Jonna Mclaughlin and Angus Wall. Amend is produced by Westbrook Studios, The Documentary Group, Wilmore Films and MakeMake Entertainment.
‘I hope families can watch Modify together and make the series a compelling conversation starter, ”said Wilmore. Everything we’ve seen in America in recent years is about what black people and other marginalized groups have always wanted: to make sure that we really part of America and have everything that is promised to us by the constitution. I think it would be really great if Modify has helped people to better understand how special the bond can be between each of us and our country. “
While Smith will always be best known as the face of tent poles, in recent years he has begun to dip his toes into the political conversation. In fact, in 2015, he was so shocked by the spitting out of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump that he allegedly toyed with getting involved himself. “When I look at the political landscape, I think there might be a future ahead of me,” he said THR then. “This is the first year I’ve been so outraged that I can’t sleep, you know? So I feel like at some point, in the near future, I’ll have to give my voice to the conversation. way. “