Sing Sing star opens up on power of art and playing himself in prison drama
Clarence 'Divine Eye' Maclin is an alumnus of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts programme at Sing Sing high security prison.
One of the most impressive break-out film performances of the year is undoubtedly the outstanding debut turn from Clarence 'Divine Eye' Maclin in acclaimed drama Sing Sing, which recently arrived in UK cinemas and is already being positioned as a major awards contender.
The film spotlights the true story of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) programme, which has seen many people at the titular maximum security prison take part in a range of theatrical productions and of which Maclin himself is an alumnus.
Maclin stars alongside several other former members of the scheme – as well as a pair of Oscar nominees in Colman Domingo and Paul Raci – and during an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com he revealed that it was his decision to star as a version of himself.
"It was a choice that Greg [Kwedar, director] and Clint [Bentley, co-writer] had given me," he explained. "They said, we can make up a character for you and give them a fictitious name, or you could just use your own name and be your own character, and I chose to use my own name.
"I guess it was my own arrogance," he laughed. "You know, I didn't think anyone ever did that!"
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Of course, while Maclin had had plenty of stage experience beginning with his work in the RTA programme, screen acting is a very different prospect, and he said he was "picking everybody's brain" about the filmmaking process – not least Domingo and Raci from whom he said he learned various "treasures".
"When I was in prison, in the theatre where we were working, there's poor acoustics and there's a poor sound system," he said. "So to be effective, I had to project very loudly – even my whispers in the scene would have to be loud, because we gotta make sure the guy in the last seat over there can hear every word.
"So what I learned from Colman Domingo, Paul Raci and other guys is that instead of having to project it out so loudly and bring it out so widely, bring it in closer, bring it in and pull more yourself out."
The film ends with a staggering statistic that proves just how successful the programme is: of all the people who have taken part over the years, the five-year reoffending rate upon release is under 5 per cent – compared to a national average in the US of over 60 per cent.
Of course, this speaks to the healing power of art, something which Maclin hopes audience members can take way from the experience of watching the film.
"I do hope that they see that – the math can never lie. The math doesn't lie," he explained. "Individuals who invest in themselves, either with education or mainly with the arts, bringing the arts into a person's life changes them.
"That's the message that I want to be let out, that arts are effective," he added. "Any medium of art, because I've experienced them all. I like working with ceramics. I like making ceramic masks. I like drawing, I like painting. And all of these things feed my spirit every time I do them.
"So if that point right there could be taken from the masses, and then put that back into our kids, put that artistic urge, that artistic thing that feeds our nature and our souls – put that into the children, man and let's let them be great. Let's see them be great."
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He added that while it has been "beautiful" to see some awards hype around the film and his own performance, it's the "healing" nature of the project which means the most by far.
"It's really about healing the world, healing our country, healing our people," he said.
"What's been most rewarding for me during this whole thing is that a lot of people are reconnecting with individuals that they have lost contact with, that are in prisons. A lot of people have people [they know] in prison that they lost connection with for whatever reason and they come up to me and say, 'You know what? I want to take another look at that, I'm going to go visit, and I'm going to try to invest and pour some hope in them'.
"And that's really rewarding to me, because there's a lot of people in prison that need that. They need somebody to say, 'Yo, listen, I believe in you, and I think you can do it.' And, you know, you put just a little bit of hope in people and I promise you will see a different person."
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As for what's next for Maclin, he has big plans to follow his debut film role with plenty of other projects.
"I want to do a Western next," he said. "I want to do a Western. I want to do some sci-fi, and then I want to put on a nice suit and tie and glasses and do a movie that calls for that."
And he added: "I want to do more films, and I want to do more screenplays, but I would like for the things I do to have a healing quality, to have a message. I don't care whether I play a villain, a good guy or whatever, but the overall message should be something that that's geared towards healing."
Sing Sing is now showing in UK cinemas. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
