Ava DuVernay’s Full Circle Family Moment Filming ‘Selma’

Director Ava Duvernay’s full circle moment on the set of ‘Selma.’

Ava DuVernay, David Oyelowo, Oprah Winfrey

Selma director Ava DuVernay was on home soil while directing the Martin Luther King Jr. biopic on location in Montgomery, Alabama. Ava’s father grew up in Montgomery during the civil rights movement, and her parents still live right outside the city.

While visiting Ava on set, he was immediately taken back to that time in his life. “He just steps into downtown Montgomery, which has been transformed into 1965. [There’s] a lot of turmoil and history around that that’s very toxic to people that are from there,” he says. “And so to see his daughter, a black woman, say, ‘cut’ [and] everyone stops. And ‘action’ and everyone starts… He’s talked to me about how big a moment that was for him.”

Tune in Sunday, January 4, at 9/8c.