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Here's What Nate Parker and the 'Birth of a Nation' Cast Say to Anyone Planning to Boycott Their Film

The Birth of a Nation was the breakout debut of January’s Sundance Film Festival. Nate Parker’s critically acclaimed drama about slave rebellion leader Nat Turner was acquired by Fox Searchlight for a record-breaking $17.5 million and pegged as an early Oscar favorite.

In August however, a 1999 rape case involving the actor-writer-director and his co-writer Jean Celestin resurfaced. Parker, who was acquitted of charges in 2001, confronted his past in interviews with Variety and Deadline, but scrutiny intensified when it was revealed that his accuser had committed suicide in 2012. Amid the controversy, potential viewers online and in the media (like New York Times columnist Roxanne Gay) said they planned on skipping the movie because of Parker.

At this month’s Toronto International Film Festival, where Birth screened to two standing ovations, Yahoo Movies asked Parker and the cast what their message would be to those who’ve said they won’t see the film in light of recent revelations.

“I would say there are 400-plus people that have worked on this film,” Parker said (watch above). “I think [it has] healing qualities for our country. I think there’s a conversation that needs to be had.”

Related: Nate Parker at ‘The Birth of a Nation’ Press Conference: ‘This Is a Forum for the Film’

Costar Gabrielle Union echoed those sentiments. “This movement is bigger than Nate Parker,” she said. “It’s bigger than me, it’s bigger than any one individual we have in this film.”

Just days prior to the film’s arrival in Toronto, Union penned a powerful op-ed in the Los Angeles Times in which she said she had found herself “in a state of stomach-churning confusion” over the news about Parker’s past. The actress is a survivor of sexual assault herself, and in Birth of a Nation, she has a wordless cameo as a slave who is raped.

“I took the role because it dealt with sexual assault and sexual violence,” she said. “It’s such a sensitive and deep and painful subject matter, that the movie’s going to be too painful for some people to support. And we respect that, and we understand wholeheartedly.”

The Birth of a Nation opens Oct 7.