Kevin Willmott (born August 31, 1959) is an American film director and screenwriter. He is known for work focusing on black issues including writing and directing Ninth Street, C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America, and Bunker Hill.
His The Only Good Indian (2009) was a feature film about Native American children at an Indian boarding school and the forced assimilation that took place. In Jayhawkers (2014), he followed the life of Wilt Chamberlain, Phog Allen and the 1956 Kansas Jayhawks basketball team. Willmott has collaborated with Spike Lee, with whom he shared an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for BlacKkKlansman.
Biography Willmott grew up in Junction City, Kansas, and received a BA in Drama from Marymount College. He received a M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from New York University. He has worked as a screenwriter and film director, known for work related to African-American history and contemporary issues. In 2017, Willmott taught classes in a bulletproof vest in protest of the ability of students and staff to carry concealed weapons on the campus.
He won the Best Director award at the American Indian Film Festival for The Only Good Indian. Willmott's next film, Jayhawkers, received funding through Kickstarter, a crowdsourcing website.
In 2019, Willmott won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film BlacKkKlansman. He and Spike Lee again collaborated in writing Da 5 Bloods, released worldwide digitally on June 12, 2020.
Wilmott is a professor of film at the University of Kansas.
Personal life Willmott is Catholic, and has cited Jesuit priest Daniel Berrigan as an influence in his life and work.
Filmography Crew Film Year Title Crew position 1999 Ninth Street Director, writer, producer 2004 C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America Director and writer 2008 Bunker Hill Director, writer, and producer The Only Good Indian Director and producer 2013 Destination: Planet Negro Director and writer Jayhawkers Director, writer, and producer 2015 Chi-Raq Writer 2018 BlacKkKlansman Writer 2020 Da 5 Bloods Writer The 24th Director and co-writer 2020 William Allen White: What's the Matter with Kansas? Director and writer
Television Year Title Crew position 2000 The '70s Writer 2005 High Tech Lincoln Producer
Acting Year Title Role 1999 Ninth Street Huddie2003 The Fascist of X-Mart Narrator The Search for Inflata-boy Expert Das Bus The Buppy 2004 C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America Extra 2009 Next Caller God (voice) 2010 AIR: The Musical The Detective2013 Destination Planet Negro Dr. Warrington Avery Unit 12 Bill Swaan 2014 Jayhawkers Dowdall Davis 2015 Lena Laine Ryan 2016 From Ashes to Immortality Dr. Frank Ryan 2017 The Profit Doctor 2019 The Computer Lab The Futurist (1 episode)2021 Rainbow Boulevard The Narrator (voice) The Funny Guy Kevin Weston
References
External links
On Story – A Conversation with Kevin Willmott