Actor Jaden Michael talks 'Colin in Black and White'
Actor Jaden Michael on playing young Colin Kaepernick in new Netflix show
The Netflix series 'Colin in Black and White' focuses on the life experiences that led Colin Kaepernick to become an internationally-known activist. Actor Jaden Mitchell plays the former quarterback's younger self, and he talked to Good Day's Paul Milliken about getting the call to be on the show and his experience working with Kaepernick.
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It’s a question that drives the new Netflix limited series "Colin in Black and White," and it’s also a question 17-year-old actor Jaden Michael was asking just a few short years ago.
"I’d heard his name in family gatherings and football nights with my family; just people talking about Colin Kaepernick, this great dual-threat quarterback, and I didn’t really even understand what they were saying," Michael said.
Little did he know then that one day, he’d end up playing Young Colin in "Colin in Black and White." The six-episode series, which is available now on the streaming platform and was co-created by Colin Kaepernick and Ava DuVernay, is narrated by the real Kaepernick and traces his journey from gifted athlete to world-famous activist.
Michael says scoring the role meant proving he could convincingly portray a three-sport athlete.
"I remember it was during quarantine, during COVID, and there was an athleticism test that I had to do," says the actor. "So, I called up my uncle. I was like, ‘Hey, can you guys come out with me for a few minutes and actually teach me that football stuff … you wanted to teach me five years ago?’"
The actor says it ended up taking months of daily training to get the athletic moves down. But sports is only part of the story told in "Colin in Black and White," which also stars Nick Offerman and Mary-Louise Parker as Kaepernick’s parents.
"You know, coming into it, I didn’t think I would learn so much," Michael says. "I saw Colin, and I saw his 2015 and 2014 career, so what more could I know? I saw him kneel, so what is there more to know about this person? And through watching his arc as a child, through watching his history, his roots, you really come to respect him so much more. Or, come to respect if you didn’t respect him at all."
The actor continues, "Those conversations about race and social injustice, they’re hard conversations to tackle. But approaching them from a child’s perspective is very edible almost, and easily consumed. I don’t feel like these conversations are thrown at you as you might expect in this show, but they’re there."
Click here for more information on "Colin in Black and White."
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