'Mudbound' Cast Reflects on Racism in America: 'What Has Really Changed?'

"As a black man I always knew this stuff existed. It's just been in the shadows and... I think with our current administration, people aren't afraid to show their true colors," actor Frankie Smith told TooFab at the film's red carpet premiere at AFI Fest in Los Angeles last week.

"When we were filming, there was an unarmed black man that was killed by cops when we had to go to work that day and it did go back to: It's crazy that we have to wake up to news like this," Smith added. "This movie was set in the '40s [and] 70 years [later], what has really changed?"

"I hope [the movie teaches viewers] that history has unfortunately repeated itself and that we are not as progressive and forward as we'd like to think," Lucy Faust who plays Vera Atwood added. "You see this movie and you think, 'Oh my goodness. That just happened last week,' and it's really devastating."

The Dee Rees-directed film tells the story of a white man (Garrett Hedlund) and black man (Jason Mitchell) who face racism in rural Mississippi upon coming home from fighting side by side in World War II. The movie that is shot, written, directed and edited by all women also includes cast members Jason Clarke, Mary J. Blige and Carey Mulligan.

Hedlund didn't want to give too much away, but did tell TooFab that the movie has a happy ending that focuses on the central theme of love.

"I think that's somethin' refreshing that people have been really enjoying," Hedlund said.

"Mudbound" producer Kyle Tekiela said everything felt very real while filming, especially when they found out white supremacy rallies were occurring in America while they were shooting in actual sharecropper shacks.

"I mean, we were in the middle of a field and it felt like we were in 1940 in the Jim Crow south," Tekiela said. "It was just so visceral, and I think that played into everybody's mind state and it translated into the performances."

"Mudbound" is now in theaters and streaming on Netflix.