#NEWTON KNIGHT MOVIE#

In Free State Of Jones, however, Hood is killed off during a dramatic funeral-turned-ambush when Knight strangles him in a completely fabricated scene.įree State Of Jones also took certain liberties when it came to portraying Knight’s family life. In real life, McLemore was shot while staying at the home of state representative Amos Deason near Ellisville, Mississippi and although there’s no definitive proof Knight killed him, it’s widely believed he did. Though Elias Hood was partly inspired by a real person – Major Amos McLemore – the circumstances of his death were embellished in Free State Of Jones. Knight’s nephew Daniel (Jacob Lofland) who died in battle during the opening scenes is a fictional composite character, as are the escaped slave Moses Washington (Mahershala Ali) that joins Knight’s cause and Confederate Colonel Elias Hood (Thomas Francis Murphy).

#NEWTON KNIGHT MOVIE#

One major deviation from reality the movie made was in its inclusion of fictional characters.

Related: Mary Queen Of Scots True Story: What The Movie Gets Right & Changesĭespite the film’s real-life basis and its director’s extensive research, Free State Of Jones isn’t entirely historically accurate. Bynum’s The Free State Of Jones and The State Of Jones by Sally Jenkins and John Stauffer. Director Ross apparently spent years researching the film and referred to two main books on the subject of Newton Knight: Victoria E. Free State Of Jones follows Knight and his fellow rebels through the Civil War to the Reconstruction era and is intercut with a more contemporary plot from the 1940s that sees Knight’s great-grandson Davis Knight put on trial for miscegenation for marrying a white woman.

Newton knight