MadameNoire Remembers Actor Michael K. Williams Through His Incredible Body Of Work

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12 Years A Slave (2013)

MADAMENOIRE reported several years ago, that playing the character of Robert in 2013’s 12 Years A Slave was unimaginably taxing on Williams. The actor shared a particularly rough day of filming, 

There was a scene unfortunately it didn’t make the film…We were shooting this scene where my character Roberts is being dragged to the slave ship and he was revolting, he was frailing, he was going crazy. Around the fifth time that we shot it, Steve yelled cut and something came over me I don’t know what it was…I fell to the ground, I couldn’t stop crying and screaming…I couldn’t even get up off the floor. It was surreal

The stunt coordinator he got on the floor with me, white man and he cradled me in his arms, and he rocked me and he kept saying, ‘It’s okay Mike let it out, let it out.’ And I screamed at the top of lungs, for what must’ve seemed like 15, 20 minutes. Like a cloud passed over me and I got up..I was like okay let’s go. I think what happened to me was that I was given a glimpse into what out ancestors must’ve went through.