‘The Hate U Give’ Cast and Filmmakers On Bringing the Powerful, Moving YA Novel to the Big Screen

Angie Thomas’ ‘The Hate U Give’ has been a publishing phenomenon, and the film adaptation directed by George Tillman Jr., looks to follow in its footsteps. Rotten Tomatoes' Jacqueline Coley sat down with Tillman Jr., Thomas, and the cast of the film – which tells the complicated story of the aftermath of a police shooting of an African American teenage boy – as the movie was premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival. Castmembers Amandla Stenberg, Algee Smith, Sabrina Carpenter, K.J. Apa, Dominique Fishback, and Lamar Johnson, who play teenagers in the film, discussed their generation’s embrace of social activism, while Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, and Anthony Mackie, who play parents and adults, considered what the film has to teach the children and teenagers in their lives.