The Lost Holliday, a new film written and directed by Jussie Smollett, intimately explores grief and its many effects.

It tells the story of Jason Holliday, who, after the death of his husband, Damien Holliday (Jabari Redd), is left not only to pick up the pieces but interact with his deceased partner’s estranged mother, Cassandra Marshall, played by Vivica A. Fox. The result is a grounded, poignant film that, though at times, neglects opportunities for technical flair, is full of heart and passion.

Clearly, this film was a labor of love, and its creators were fully committed to Jason and Damien’s story and the larger narrative about a new family forging out of loss. It’s a particularly close topic to Smollett, who in an interview with Blavity’s Shadow and Act, shared that the film has been a passion project rooted back to his early days on Empire.

“It was eight years in the making,” he shared. “My father passed away almost 10 years ago, and I don’t think a lot of people know he passed away the very first day that Empire first aired on television. So grief was something that I was dealing with for some time, on top of the fact I was playing a character whose father was dying in the first season of Empire; when I was shooting that, my father was in real life.”

He recounted the complexities of his feelings at the time, noting “the confusion of being sad in one moment, but then also wanting to feel joy, and be happy about successes that you’re having, and then also feeling guilty about feeling happy about those successes.”

The idea for The Lost Holliday came to him at a Christmas party.

“I was thinking of my mom, who married my father when she was in her early 20s, and she was, you know, she’s a Black woman, and he was a Russian, Polish, Jewish man, and her joining that family and the difficulties that she went through,” he said. “I won’t share too much because that’s her story to tell, but then, after he passed, her relationship with his mother blossomed. And that dynamic was always really interesting to me.”

The idea continued to grow from there, and after working with Fox on Empire, he implored her to join the project. She agreed and served as an executive producer on the project. She told us it was a no-brainer supporting her TV “nephew,” and the film’s family representation drew her to the project.

“Even though the LGBTQ+ — I’m sorry if I don’t know all the initials — is represented in this film, it wasn’t like a driving force. We didn’t have the stereotypes of gay people, and that’s what I loved more than anything else — seeing them as just two men that were in a relationship, going through its trials and changes. They had adopted a little girl who was so loved and full of love. I’m just glad the representation is of family. The family may not look like your exact family, but it still represents family.”

Redd echoed her sentiments.

“What I love most about this project is that you see the wholeness and no separation as far as family,” he said. “You really do see the family coming together, whether it’s our two leading men, the lesbian relationship that’s depicted. You really see the wholeness and the connection and the importance of family and love.”

Family and love are at the core of this story, but Smollett noted identity and how we acquire it through love are also components of the film.

“For me, what I wanted to show through this film is all that we are all of the ways that we love,” he said.

Redd shared his takeaway from The Lost Holliday and what audiences should expect after viewing it.

“My takeaway from this story is find your purpose, and maximizing it,” he said. “No matter what that looks like for you, do what you’re called to fully in the time you have left.”

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