‘It brought the area to its knees’

Ryan Coogler talks about his new film, which won prizes at Sundance and Cannes.

In this Wednesday, June 19, 2013 photo, Ryan Coogler, director of the film, "Fruitvale Station," poses for a portrait at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Coogler’s first dramatic Show more

How common is Oscar Grant’s story?

The idea of being shot by a police officer while you’re unarmed is much more prevalent in black males than it is in anybody else. Statistically, the most likely cause of death for African-American males, from age 15 to 35, is homicide, especially with a gun, whether that’s another black male that’s killing or a police officer.

What research informed your screenplay?

When I started, the script was only from legal documents, things people said in the trial from all sides. I then got access to the family and was able to talk to them about things that Oscar told them in the time they spent with him.

Could you account for all his movements?

There was a small gap, which is time Oscar spent by himself and there I took some dramatic licence with a scene I added, which was him with the dog [that gets killed].

What was the impact of Grant’s death?

It brought the Bay area to its knees. Everybody talked about it. People were in the streets marching and protesting in Oakland. And anywhere people caught the BART, they knew about this case. Outside of the Bay area, not many people knew.

Did mobile footage of the incident filmed by witnesses and uploaded online help raise awareness?

It played a huge role. You can still see what happened to Oscar on YouTube, from different angles.

How did his family react to watching the film?

Obviously it was tough for them because they were seeing things that not all of them knew about Oscar. And it was just very tough to relive that day, because it was not that long ago that it happened. But they were very positive and said very kind things about the film and about the ­performances.