On May 16, 2016, Nichols, in an interview with "Vox"'s Gregory Ellwood, spoke of when development on "Loving" first began four years ago, he thought the film would help influence the Supreme Court's debate over same-sex marriage, in which Nichols stated, "[After the verdict came in] there was this idea that it was all going to be taken care of, and of course it's not ... You have religious liberty laws added and you soon realize that the Supreme Court can only do so much. The letter of the law sometimes gets it right. But it takes a long time for society to get it right, and that is what has always been surprising to me. We never got over that hurdle, and maybe we never will." Speaking at the press conference for the film in Cannes, on May 16, 2016, Negga spoke of her hopes that the issue addressed in the film will become part of a broader discussion. On May 20, 2016, during a Q&amp;A session at Cannes when asked of the film's focus, Nichols speaks of the topics of race and marriage inequality, wherein he states, "... the conversation about racism in the US is finally starting to get serious. That made me feel good that just by making this movie people are going to talk about inequality. Had I tried to make a movie that encompasses the civil rights movement, I would feel like a fraud."