Loretta Devine has been in Hollywood for three decades. We’re accustomed to seeing her play roles where she is either a mother or a woman chasing after some man — that was until Mara Brock Akil cast her in this season’s Being Mary Jane as Cece McDonald, an extortionist. Fresh off BMJ she stars in the upcoming film Caged No More alongside Kevin Sorbo, Alan Powell and Cassidy Gifford.
Caged No More is the story of Aggie (Devine), a housekeeper willing to do anything to save two girls who’ve been kidnapped by their father and sold into human trafficking overseas. Aggie helped raise the two girls as her own when the girls’ parents passed away so she feels as if they’re her own.
“It’s an incredible character,” she says in the exclusive clip. “It’s something I haven’t had the chance to play before. It’s a character that has a lot of feelings.”
BWIH Video: Loretta Devine on Favorite Film and Roles
Director Lisa Arnold shot the film in Baton Rouge, which was a first for Devine. “I think my career has been my huge adventure,” she says. Devine says her character is driven. She made a promise to the parents to save the girls so she intends to keep her words.
Devine admits she didn’t know as much about human trafficking as she does now.
“The thing that’s so moving is that it could be your daughter,” she says. “It could happen to a lot of the young girls who may see it.”
Check out the clip as Caged No More hits theaters on January 22.