When Ashton Sanders and KiKi Layne first met, it wasn’t while the actors were preparing to play a young couple on HBO’s “Native Son,” set on Chicago’s South Side.
It was on the other side of the city in Lincoln Park, at DePaul University, when Sanders was a freshman and Layne was a junior.
“She was like this goddess that everyone would talk about at The Theater School,” Sanders said. The two had mutual friends, but were never classmates due to the age gap.
Still, Layne said there was a similar star-quality about then 17-year-old Sanders.
“I just remember thinking, ‘He’s just so cool, he just has this special kind of aura about him,’ ” Layne said.
So when the two linked up for “Native Son” — a film centered around Sanders’ Bigger Thomas, an afro-punk 20-year-old who gets a gig chauffeuring a wealthy white family — they were at ease.
“It worked a lot in our favor because we already had the basis of a friendship to work from,” said Layne, who plays Bessie, Bigger’s ride-or-die.
“It’s been very cool to have somebody come up with you that you kind of knew before this,” said Sanders. “Especially with ‘Native Son,’ it’s heavy material … but you know, it was fun to collaborate and be able to do a project like this with her.”
Heavy indeed. In this adaptation of Richard Wright’s 1940 novel, Bigger’s character “represents a black man’s fear and anxieties,” and radiates with dread as impulsive decisions make his trajectory seem more and more doomed.
But despite its publication nearly 80 years ago, the crux of the story rings it all too familiar in 2019, when the relationship between Chicago’s black and brown communities and the police department remains volatile.
“So many things that we witness Big going through are things that young black men and even young black women are going through as well,” said Layne.
“We’re still faced with the same issues that Richard Wright had written about in his book with being black in America,” Sanders said.
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Even before “Native Son,” the pair was looking out for one another, and cheering each other on.
After Sanders’ career was catapulted in 2016 by his heart-wrenching portrayal of Chiron in Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight,” Layne scored an audition with the star director for a role in “If Beale Street Could Talk,” and texted her friend to ask for his advice.
“I just told her to be prepared, to know the work always and to just be herself, that’s all you can do … the rest follows. But it all felt like it was supposed to happen, all of this,” Sanders said. The 23-year-old is currently filming a series about the inception of the Wu-Tang Clan for Hulu.
Since her role in “Beale Street,” Layne’s career has also taken off. She’s about to start filming for Netflix’s “The Old Guard,” an action movie based on the comic book, in which she stars opposite Charlize Theron.
Now 27, Layne said she credits her eight years in Chicago for a lot of her success.
“There’s a certain type of realness that’s in the city and even in the arts community. I am really thankful that I … got my start professionally in the Chicago theater scene,” she said. “I just feel like we’re committed to realness and preparation in a way that’s really special in that arts community. That’s something that I carry with me in all of my roles and my whole career.”
Though Sanders only spent two years in Chicago before leaving DePaul to play Chiron, he said the stint was transformative, and informed the way he played Bigger.
“Chicago was definitely where I would say I kind of grew into a man,” he said. “Chicago is supposed to be one of the most segregated cities. You can definitely feel that when you’re there, so a lot of growth through that, I would say.”
In the film, Bigger — with his green hair and painted leather jacket — is also confronted with growing up, and struggles in not knowing what he should be doing in life. As he makes the wrong choices, Bessie is forced to decide between what’s best for her and her relationship.
But unlike Bigger and Bessie, Sanders and Layne seem it have it all figured out, and are on track toward leading rewarding lives.
“This is a very controversial film, and as long as I’m stirring up this type of conversation, I did my job,” Sanders said.
