LISTEN: In an interview with GPB Morning Edition's Pamela Kirkland, actress Kerry Washington talks motherhood, action scenes, and why premiering Shadow Force in Atlanta means so much to her.

Kerry Washington as Kyrah in "Shadow Force."

Kerry Washington as Kyrah in "Shadow Force."

Credit: Juan Pablo Gutierrez/Lionsgate

Award-winning actor, producer and director Kerry Washington returned to Atlanta for the premiere of her new action film, Shadow Force, at the 2025 Atlanta Film Festival. The thriller follows Washington’s character, Syrah, a former government assassin who goes on the run to protect her son and husband, played by Omar Sy, after she becomes the agency’s next target.

Best known for her Emmy-nominated role as Olivia Pope on Scandal as well as Little Fires Everywhere and American Son, Washington’s latest marks her return to the action genre nearly two decades after Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Fantastic Four.

Washington spoke with GPB’s Pamela Kirkland about revisiting stunts, portraying a powerful yet vulnerable mother, and why premiering Shadow Force in Atlanta felt like coming home.

In her first action film in nearly two decades, actress Kerry Washington sits down with GPB’s Pamela Kirkland to discuss what it was like stepping back into an action role and what it means to premiere her newest film, Shadow Force, to Georgia audiences.

TRANSCRIPT:

Pamela Kirkland: It's Morning Edition; I'm Pamela Kirkland. The Atlanta Film Festival is underway, running through May 4, and one of this year's big premieres is Shadow Force, starring Kerry Washington. It's an action-packed story about a family on the run from a top-secret organization determined to hunt them down. While she was in town for the premiere, I sat down with her to talk about the film.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Kerry Washington: Thank you.

Pamela Kirkland: And I want to start by asking, you're screening the film Shadow Force at the Atlanta Film Festival.

Kerry Washington: Yes.

Pamela Kirkland: What does it mean to screen it here in Georgia? Especially a film that centers a global Black family.

Kerry Washington: Yeah, I love this town. I love being in Atlanta. I've had the privilege of working here a bunch. I mean, films like Confirmation and 6888 and our show, Reasonable Doubt, that my company Simpson Street produces, we film here in Atlanta, so we love this down. To be able to show Shadow Force here, where there is such a vibrant, strong Black community is thrilling for me because this is a film that even though it is a really fun, big splashy action adventure. It really is primarily a love story about a family, about a Black family and this couple, this transnational couple, this international global couple who break the rules and fall in love and then go on the run to protect their love.

Pamela Kirkland: Talk to me a little bit about your character, Kyrah. So she's an assassin first, mom second. Watching the film, it struck me that to leave your family to protect them is probably one of the most maternal things that you can do, but talk to me a little bit about your thinking and her mindset as a character.

Kerry Washington: It's interesting that you say she's an assassin first and a mom second, because I think she is in her life an assassin first, and then when she becomes a mom, she just — all she can think about is protecting her family. But that actually forces her back into being an assassin, because she has to do that to protect them. So it's interesting to me, and it's such a brave, courageous choice. I mean, I'm devastated and heartbroken because I'm away from my kids for like a week. And so it's almost incomprehensible, incomprehensible to wrap my head around the sacrifice that she's making, but it was a really beautiful challenge to take on as an actor.

Pamela Kirkland: And I'm sure people are familiar with some of your other works: Scandal, Unprisoned, Little Fires Everywhere. This is your first action movie in some time. What was it like getting back into that mindset?

Kerry Washington: It was really fun. I love action. I always talk about how my way into a character is really through the body. I feel like the physicality of a character really unlocks her for me. And so for this, you know, I got to start fight training months before we were filming. And actually the fight training was one of the ways that I think Omar and I really developed some of the chemistry that you see in the film, the competitive nature of our relationship, but also the synergy in the relationship because we trained together for months and we developed kind of different fight styles, but also we learned how to communicate and how to trust each other and how work together.

Pamela Kirkland: Was that a different kind of working relationship, just having that intimacy and that partnership?

Kerry Washington: It was. It was, because you know, when you're doing regular scene work with another actor, like if somebody gets something wrong, if they forget a line, like it might put you on your toes, but there's no real danger. But in fight training, like, if you don't do the right thing, somebody can really get hurt. And so you do really lean into having to trust each other and look out for one another and care for one another in the work.

Pamela Kirkland: And I have to ask you about Lionel Richie.

Kerry Washington: Yes! Lionel is like the fourth member of our family, it's like cousin Lionel. He's the soundtrack of our lives.

Pamela Kirkland: I know you're a huge fan. I noticed that Isaac and Kyrah's wedding song is "Truly." Was that always the plan? You're a producer on the movie.

Kerry Washington: It was always — it was written into the script that way. And then we just prayed that he would give us the rights to the music because it really did feel like the perfect person to be the soundtrack of our lives. Because we've loved Lionel for so long and he's had so many versions of his career from the Commodores to being a solo artist and, you know, all through the decades. So he really felt like the perfect match for this family. And when he said yes, it so thrilling.

Pamela Kirkland: What do you hope people take away from the film?

Kerry Washington: I think the thing, like I love that the film comes out Mother's Day weekend because I think the film really is an homage to modern parenting and kind of the crazy tightrope that we're all walking between trying to be fierce and strong as parents, but also really loving and gentle and protect our kids' joy, particularly in this time. I hope that when people — first of all, I hope people have fun when they watch it, that they laugh, that they cry. That's been the reaction so far, that people are like, "I cried twice" and "I laughed tonight." That makes me so happy. But I hope people leave the theater wanting to give the people they love most an extra squeeze.

Pamela Kirkland: Kerry Washington, thank you so much for joining me.

Kerry Washington: Thank you.

Pamela Kirkland: Shadow Force hits theaters Mother's Day weekend. The Atlanta Film Festival runs through May 4. This is GPB.

Tags: movie  atlanta film festival  Atlanta  Kerry Washington  action  Georgia  film