"Fruitvale Station", produced by Oscar-winning actor Forest Whitaker, is based on the true story of Oscar Grant, a 22-year old Bay-area resident who was killed by transit police in 2009 in a case of police brutality.

In the film, director Ryan Coogler shows the day leading up to Oscar's death, focusing in particular on his relationships with his friends and family. Michael B. Jordan ("The Wire", "Friday Night Lights") plays Oscar Grant, Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer ("The Help") portrays Oscar's mother, and Melonie Diaz plays his girlfriend Sophina.

I recently had the chance to speak with Jordan and Diaz, who talked about what being a part of this project meant to them.

StageBuddy: Can you talk about getting to know Oscar through his family and friends?

Michael B. Jordan: Listening a lot to his mom and what she had to say as far as their relationship and how they treated each other, his interactions with Sophina, and especially where they were on that last day because of course there are ups and downs, spending time with his best friend at a barbeque or playing dominoes...they reminded me a lot of my friends back home and I'm from Jersey. What you find out is that there are different perspectives -- everyone had a different version of Oscar. He was a social chameleon; he blended in wherever he went.

StageBuddy: How much are your characters exactly like the real people?

Melonie Diaz: We didn't want to imitate a person, this is more of a representation of who Sophina is, and we both have a lot of things in common: we're both young women, incredibly strong, opinionated, but I'm not a mother. In terms of physicality she's really different from me, the way she chooses to wear her hair, her nails, there's a big difference there.

Jordan: Oscar and I have a lot of similarities, he's a people pleaser, he wanted to make everybody around him happy; it was a juggling act all the time with him and he just got tired after a while. Personally, I'm the same way with my family and friends, you always try to overextend yourself and put yourself last -- I think that's what happened to Oscar. I do have a quick temper too, it takes me a lot to get there, but when I'm there, I'm there! And Oscar is the same, but we just have different circumstances. I try to use my personal experiences and dissolve myself in becoming him, that's how I work sometimes.

StageBuddy: How did the story resonate with you?

Jordan: It could have been me. Oscar would have been 27 now, and I'm 26. He's from Oakland, and I'm from Newark, NJ. Oakland is the same kind of relation to San Francisco, the big city, which is the same as Newark to Manhattan. We have to get the train for functions, parades, encounters with the police, those situations could have easily escalated to a situation like Oscar Grant. So I saw a lot of similarities, our age, our routine; I saw the drug deals, all that stuff, and then the loss of life. You get tired of seeing those incidents over and over again, and you feel like you can't express yourself. This was my opportunity to express myself without being completely judged.

StageBuddy:  In the film you feel like it could have happened to anyone because he gets singled out for being African-American. Is there a lot of racism in the police force in who gets pulled over black vs. white? Did you have any personal experience like Oscar's or somebody close to you?

Diaz: There's an issue on how we choose to perceive and judge each other based on the color of our skin, or sexual orientation; there's a lot of hatred and unkindness that's happening right now, and this movie is a step forward bringing the social issues to the forefront of people's minds because clearly we all want to talk about it. I think there's something really special about it.

Jordan: As far as personal experience, I'm a young black male from Northern Jersey, I've had my run-ins with the cops. My friends and I have been harassed, pulled over, handcuffed on the side of the road, had my car towed, told my driver's license was suspended when it wasn't, had to walk home.  I mean you get pulled over 15 times in the course of two summers, then it sits with you after a while. I pulled from those experiences too, and that outlook on authority and cops. I don't think of it as a white vs. black thing; it's more of a cop thing. It could have been anybody, from any color or any race.

StageBuddy: Do you think that the film and the Oscar Grant case changed the police behavior as far as racism and unfair treatment?

Diaz: No. The fact that the police officer only spent half of the amount of time he should have been imprisoned is a clear fact that it's not changing. That's really sad to me that it's a theme on our society and our daily news. There should be something about how can we change that, and hopefully this movie can cause this conversation.

Jordan: I agree with her, I don't think there have been any changes whatsoever. Like you said this film can spark a conversation and how we treat one another and our value on life. It's like it doesn't matter who's on the other side of the trigger. You see what's happening in Chicago, the rapid loss of life is unheard of right now.

Diaz: What's happening in Chicago?

Jordan:  People are dying, like 4 or 5 a day, it's an epidemic.

Diaz: Is it all gun related?

Jordan: It's like guns, gangs, so where's the gun control in Chicago? It's because it's black on black, so people don't care as much. Then what happens in Connecticut, with all due respect, it's a whole big thing, and it's portrayed in a different light in the media. So you start looking at the bigger picture. We could go on and on about that.

StageBuddy: As a woman do you feel the "woman story" sometimes gets left out in this scenario as a mother, whether it's a man that goes to jail or a man dying? How do you feel about it and did you get a chance to speak to Sophina about that? Can you talk about that?

Diaz: Of course with Oscar's death, I think Sophina is an example of many women who are left behind, to raise their family and tell their kids about their father or their loved ones, so that's another tragedy. This hatred just rolls out to all this pain and loss, and that's something I really connected to, and I wanted to play a woman who goes through that journey. Oscar is affected by the three women in his life, and that makes him who he was; Sophina is like a lot of girls that I know, she's a great mom and she's tough, but she's not afraid to speak her mind, which was really refreshing to me to shed light on her because she knew him best and she wasn't afraid of him.

Jordan: He was afraid of her...

Diaz: There are a lot of women out there like that, and I think people are going to watch it and say "I know that girl."

StageBuddy: Do you still talk to them and where they are at right now? And what could have been if Oscar was still alive?

Diaz: In terms of Sophina and Oscar they were at this point where they really wanted to do right by each other and move out of the neighborhood, put her in a private school, get married, he was going to be really faithful, it's crazy to hear them talk about it. It was like they were at this crossroads where it could have been great, and you can't make this up, so that's what makes it even more devastating in terms of his death and what could have been.

Check out the film and a full interview with the director Ryan Coogler at StageBuddy.com!

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