Viola Davis

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Hello, everyone.
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Welcome to another episode of Good Hang. We have the
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best of the best. We have the GOAT. We have
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Viola Davis joining us. And man, we talk about so
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many fun things. We talk about growing up in Rhode
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Island and Boston and how we get rid of those accents.
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We talk about our mutual best friend, Meryl Streep. We
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talk about the time she jumped out of a plane.
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and all the swearing she did on the way down.
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And we talk about the new book that she co-wrote
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with James Patterson called Judge Stone, out now. So we're
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going to get into a lot of great stuff, and
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we're thrilled to have her here. And as we always do,
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we talk to someone at the beginning of the show
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that knows our guest or is a fan of our
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guest and has a question for us, and we talk
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well behind their back. And boy, we've got just a
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gem of a person here. Julius Tenen, Viola Davis's husband, partner,
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producing partner, incredible, loving, supportive, wonderful man who makes us
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all believe in love. He's the only spouse that we've
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allowed to be on the show so far, and the
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expectation is high. So I cannot wait to talk to Julius. Julius,
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thank you for joining us.
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Hi.
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Hi.
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Hello, Julius.
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Can you hear me?
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I can. Hey, Amy.
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Hi.
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It's such a pleasure to meet you.
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It's a pleasure to meet you, too. And I just
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want to say quickly that we love you. And you're
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always amazing and funny as hell and all that stuff. So,
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so nice to meet you. You too.
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Fabulous.
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Thank you so much. You're welcome. You got me blushing already.
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Thank you for saying that. I want you to know
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that we.
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I mean it.
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I mean it.
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Well, I can tell that about you. I think you
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say what you mean. You and Viola.
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Yes. Yes, we do.
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Thank you for that. So we do this thing at
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the beginning of whenever we interview someone, we talk to
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someone that knows them really well and we get a
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question for them. And we just talk well behind their back.
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And I want you to know you are the first
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spouse that we have spoken to among all of our guests.
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I feel honored.
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And I think it's because you two seem to actually
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really like each other.
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We kind of do. We kind of do. Yeah.
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Now, pleasure to meet you, Julius. You know, you're an actor, writer, producer.
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You're the president of Juvie Productions, which is the company
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that you and Viola and others run. And you've got
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amazing projects that you've done and are getting ready to do.
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But can I start by just asking you to take
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us back to the day that you and Viola met
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on set?
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Oh, wow. That was incredible. It was 1999. It was
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City of Angels. I was playing an anesthesiologist. She was
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nurse Lynette Peeler. And I was passing blood to her.
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And I was dating a girl at the time that
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I wasn't so happy with. And then so I said, wow,
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this lady looks like she could be somebody nice. I
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could maybe give my card to. So at the end
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of the day, I gave her my card and I
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had my shirt on. The story is, Viola said if
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my shirt had been off, she would have never called me.
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But I had my shirt on and I gave her
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my card and I said, hey, if you want to
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hang out, whatever, whatever, give me a call.
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Well, she did.
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A month later, she called me. I had literally forgot
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about it, but I hadn't forgot about her. So when
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I heard her voice, I went, hey. And then she
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invited me to a cast thing for the main cast
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because I was recurring on the show. And we went
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out on our first date almost 27 years ago. And
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here we are, 23 years married, coming up this summer.
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27 years this October. So it's been beautiful, but that's how,
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that's how it started.
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Oh, I love that story. And I love that you
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guys met just your typical way, just passing blood to
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each other.
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Yeah.
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Just passing the regular stuff, just passing blood. And she
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kind of fit in those, you know, she fit in
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those things pretty good. And I was like, Hmm, okay,
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let me give this girl my card. Yeah.
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I mean, what's so sweet about hearing the two of
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you talk about each other is you both met each
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other when you were coming up.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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What's it like to be, you know, two young actors
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working hard to make ends meet and, you know, being
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in love?
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Listen, it's tough. Listen, when I met Viola, she was
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scared to tell me she had bad credit. I said, hey, baby,
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it's OK. I got good credit. you know, but it was,
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it's one of those tough things, but you know, Amy,
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it's about supporting one another. You support one, the other
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one supports the other equally. And, uh, and that's what
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we did. We just went about kind of loving on
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each other and be happy for one another with whatever dropped,
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whatever happened. And so, uh, just so happened that Viola's
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career just really started to take off. And it's been
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a beautiful thing. And I'm glad to be a part
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of it. People say, how do you handle it? How
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do you do what you do? Whatever. I said, because
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I know who I am. For a man, it starts
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with you knowing who you are. I don't care how
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powerful your woman is or what she's doing. If your
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woman knows that you can handle yourself and that you
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know who you are, then she's going to go, wow, hey,
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my guy's good. And so that's the way Viola and
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I have rolled. So it's about me supporting her and
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vice versa. So it's just been easy for us.
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Oh, Julius!
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Everyone listening right now is just going, ah!
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Julius! I'm just going to play that on a loop.
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Well, thank you. And it is the truth.
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But you're right.
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You have to know who you are.
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You do.
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You're right.
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Especially in our business. Because we can be so competitive,
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even though we're not competing against each other. I'm a man.
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You're a woman, but we're not competing against each other,
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but we're in the same business. And sometimes that intersection,
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when one is elevating and the other is kind of
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like not, it can create a lot of different kind
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of weird kind of energy and things in a relationship.
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And so, listen, this is what we do. It's not
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who we are. This acting thing and all this, what
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we do, it's not who we are. So we figured
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that out early on. And so it's just been always
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easy because it's always been in support of one another.
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Well, it's a beautiful thing because you're reminding me of
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just the word self in the phrase self-esteem. It really
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is your own work to do always.
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Amy, I can say that I met Viola almost 27
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years ago. She's the same woman I met when I
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met her all those years ago. Hadn't changed a bit,
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but everything that's happened to her, she's still the same Viola.
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And I think that's what makes people just so drawn
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to Viola because she's so real and so authentic.
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Can we talk about The Woman King? Because congratulations on that.
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Thank you so much. What a... Yeah.
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What was that like making that together?
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It was a great journey. It was great to be
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able to do a movie like that because a movie
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like that hadn't been done in Hollywood ever.
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Yeah, that's right.
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And so to be able to do a movie like
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that and have it come out so beautiful, so... accepted
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by the audiences on a global scale, it meant a whole,
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whole lot to Viola and myself. And so we just
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went all in despite the challenges, despite not necessarily having
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enough money to make it, but still saying, you know what?
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Be damned. We're just going to go make it anyway
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because we know it's going to have a cultural impact
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and it's going to be long lasting. And as it
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turned out, AFI chose it that year to be one
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of the great films that was made that year. And
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so we're just so proud to have done that together
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and battling it out, you know, just battling it out,
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fighting for what you want, you know. As hard as
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it is, Amy, you just have to keep putting one
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foot in front of the other. If you want something,
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you have to go for it. And that's what Viola
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and I continually with our team, because I'm a big
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team guy.
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Well, I was going to say you're a football, ex-football player.
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I am an ex-football player.
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Did you ever coach?
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I never coached.
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Because you have a coach vibe.
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But I was, you know, I wanted to act. I
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was kind of like, I looked at, you know, my
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idols back in the day when I was thinking about
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acting and playing football. You know, it was Jim Brown,
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Bernie Casey, Fred Williamson, some of the old school guys
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from way back in the day when I was saying, shit,
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they can do it, I can do it. So, you know,
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that was kind of a thing. But I always loved
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the arts. I always loved it. It started with poetry
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and then, you know, obviously.
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Well, you have, you have, Julius, you have, you have
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a real coach vibe and you do something that I
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absolutely love, which is every other sentence you say my
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name and Boyd is at work. Every time he's in
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my name, I'm like, yes. He's talking to me. I
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love it so much.
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Okay.
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I'm sure you've got a sense now of what Viola
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likes to be asked and what she is asked constantly
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about and doesn't want to answer anymore. There's always these
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questions that people think they're asking for the first time
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or topics. Is there anything you would If you don't
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mind helping me out to make sure I don't get
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into an area or a question that she's like this again.
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Well, you know, I think it would be fun to
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ask her some questions about some of the funny moments
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that we had together. This one is ask her the
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origin of Zuni. OK. Ask her, say, Viola, what's this
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whole thing about Zuni? What is that thing? Well, let
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me just tell you a little bit. It's a animated
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Muppet cartoon that I grew up with. And the show
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was called Fireball XL5. And Zuni was one of the
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endearing characters. And they were going on space exploration. It
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was about that. And I was a kid. I loved
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that show. And so that's a pet name I gave Viola.
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I call her Zuni. And the reason I do, because
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I love Zuni so much and I love Viola. So
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that is so endearing to me. So when I'm calling
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her Zuni, it's not because of what Zuni looks like.
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It's because I love the hell out of Zuni.
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Okay, but I'm going to have to Google Zuni and
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see what Zuni is.
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Yeah, you've got to Google him real quick, and you'll see.
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Fireball XL5.
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Okay.
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And you'll see Zuni. But I love Zuni. So ask
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her about Zuni.
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Okay.
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Another thing is ask her about our first theatrical experience,
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Shadow of a Gunman.
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Ooh.
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You just went to a play, the Shadow of a
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Gunman thing. What is that? Give it to me. She'll
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tell you. It's kind of a funny story. You know,
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the regular questions about the business and all that. We
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can always talk about projects and stuff like that. And
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she's great to talk about that stuff. But she oftentimes
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doesn't like to talk about the mundane stuff that you
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have to answer a thousand times. But it always surprises me.
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She's always able to answer this stuff as if it
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was new. I'm like, how the hell do you do that, Viola?
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You know, like, yeah, I'm like, why are you doing that? Okay. Well,
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she was going to people like I can pull a
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rabbit out of my ass and I'm going, well, you
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kind of can.
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Well, Julius, I know, um, you guys, you're the best
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couple in the world and you're, we're not going to
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be able to interview any other spouse after this because
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you've set such a high bar. Well, And not like
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it's a competition, but you've won a gold medal in relationships.
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Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure being with
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you this morning.
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00:11:59.899 --> 00:12:00.279
Same.
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Love talking to you. Thank you so much for your time.
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00:12:02.620 --> 00:12:04.639
And it's such a pleasure. Thanks again.
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00:12:04.659 --> 00:12:05.279
You too.
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Okay. Take care. Bye. All right.
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See app for details. Viola Davis is here. I'm so,
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00:12:55.250 --> 00:12:56.330
so happy that you're here.
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Thank you. I'm happy to be here. I've been like
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not working for the longest time. Congrats. So I feel
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like it's, I feel like I'm coming out of hibernation.
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Yeah.
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And I'm like, holy shit, this is what I do.
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Well, I got to tell you, we got to start
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by saying you were the first EGOT we've had. And
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probably the last. I mean, let's get real. I mean,
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that we're very.
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00:13:17.179 --> 00:13:18.059
There's not a lot of us.
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No, there's like 18, 19.
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Uh-huh.
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I have to tell you that it wasn't until I
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won the Oscar for Fences and someone said, you're one
284
00:13:28.250 --> 00:13:31.149
step away from an EGOT. I never thought of it before.
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00:13:31.169 --> 00:13:33.090
So cool. I didn't think about it. It wasn't like
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00:13:33.269 --> 00:13:34.649
that sort of thing for me.
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00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:39.500
That's so cool. I mean, it's just, it is. And again,
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00:13:39.860 --> 00:13:42.659
not something anyone's like thinking about when they're starting out,
289
00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:45.850
but just It's cool. It's cool.
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00:13:45.889 --> 00:13:46.129
It is.
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00:13:46.210 --> 00:13:46.629
It's cool.
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00:13:46.730 --> 00:13:47.169
It's cool.
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00:13:47.190 --> 00:13:49.070
It's not going to be on my gravestone, Amy, but
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it's cool.
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00:13:49.720 --> 00:13:52.539
It is so cool. On my gravestone, it's going to
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00:13:52.559 --> 00:13:55.919
be that I interviewed you. You got winner. And also,
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00:13:55.960 --> 00:13:59.279
before we get started, I just got to say the Timmy, Timothee, Timothee,
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00:13:59.580 --> 00:14:02.950
Chalamet shout out was so cool.
299
00:14:03.490 --> 00:14:06.129
Oh, and my daughter was, that was it for her.
300
00:14:07.029 --> 00:14:09.909
She's 15. That was it. Timothee Chalamet, mama.
301
00:14:11.710 --> 00:14:14.149
I mean, good company to be in. And of course,
302
00:14:14.190 --> 00:14:16.480
we all agreed with him. But you spoke about it.
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00:14:16.529 --> 00:14:18.480
And I love what you said about how you loved
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his speech. What did you love about it? Because I
305
00:14:20.299 --> 00:14:22.600
did too. Like the essence of what he was saying
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00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:23.200
in that speech.
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00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:26.419
Well, what I loved about the speech is he has
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00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:33.679
a spirit of excellence. You know, some people... I always negotiate, Amy,
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00:14:33.740 --> 00:14:36.700
so if you feel like I take a long pause,
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00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:39.879
I'm just negotiating what I'm about to say so I
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00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:42.539
don't step on toes and I don't work ever again
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00:14:42.580 --> 00:14:45.990
in the industry. But some people don't have the spirit
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00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:49.669
of excellence. They have the spirit of mistaking their presence
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00:14:49.690 --> 00:14:55.289
for the event, for mediocrity, for just beauty. But it's
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00:14:55.429 --> 00:14:58.350
great that he had the spirit of excellence without putting
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00:14:58.389 --> 00:14:58.789
me in it.
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00:14:59.450 --> 00:14:59.610
Yeah.
318
00:14:59.769 --> 00:15:02.970
At all. I'm not saying that. But I love that
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00:15:03.029 --> 00:15:04.129
with young actors.
320
00:15:04.169 --> 00:15:10.320
Me too. And also I love when people are, I guess,
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00:15:10.840 --> 00:15:15.230
openly ambitious and in real time saying, I really want
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00:15:15.590 --> 00:15:18.190
to try to get the best out of myself and others,
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00:15:18.230 --> 00:15:19.129
like when they say it.
324
00:15:19.730 --> 00:15:23.730
Absolutely. Ambition too is different than ego.
325
00:15:23.889 --> 00:15:24.590
Yeah, that's right.
326
00:15:24.809 --> 00:15:27.580
And I saw the ambition in him and he happens
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00:15:27.620 --> 00:15:29.169
to be incredibly talented.
328
00:15:29.269 --> 00:15:29.500
Yes.
329
00:15:29.509 --> 00:15:33.019
So what is like, I like young people. Listen, just
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00:15:33.059 --> 00:15:35.500
like I love bad kids. I love a bad kid,
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00:15:35.740 --> 00:15:38.840
like a two-year-old bad kid. Someone who comes, you know,
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00:15:38.860 --> 00:15:41.100
I had a little bad kid at my wedding, my
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00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:44.710
first wedding. I had three ceremonies, Amy. But my first wedding,
334
00:15:44.850 --> 00:15:47.110
I had a little bad kid who stuck his whole
335
00:15:47.190 --> 00:15:49.450
finger in my cake. I thought it was the best
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00:15:49.509 --> 00:15:51.370
thing in the world. So I love a bad kid.
337
00:15:51.750 --> 00:15:54.190
But I also love young people who have an attitude.
338
00:15:54.429 --> 00:15:57.169
I do. Listen, the world is going to get at you.
339
00:15:57.190 --> 00:15:59.570
It's going to kick your ass, just leave you in
340
00:15:59.610 --> 00:16:03.019
the dumpster. So it's really great when you go out
341
00:16:03.059 --> 00:16:05.279
in the world and you have the chutzpah.
342
00:16:05.320 --> 00:16:05.559
Yes.
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00:16:05.700 --> 00:16:08.779
You have that self-possession, right? Yes. That's what I want
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00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:11.480
with my kid. I was so much of a good girl,
345
00:16:12.350 --> 00:16:16.110
you know, with shitty boyfriends who made me feel like shit.
346
00:16:16.269 --> 00:16:20.450
And I was just still like worshiping at their feet. So, yeah,
347
00:16:20.509 --> 00:16:22.870
I like. I like attitude.
348
00:16:23.019 --> 00:16:24.679
Do you think that's an East Coast thing? Because we're
349
00:16:24.710 --> 00:16:27.250
both East Coast. I grew up in Boston. You're Rhode Island.
350
00:16:27.590 --> 00:16:29.370
You weren't born there, but you spent most of your
351
00:16:29.389 --> 00:16:30.149
time in Rhode Island.
352
00:16:30.169 --> 00:16:31.210
Okay, Boston. Yeah.
353
00:16:31.409 --> 00:16:33.509
And what's the difference between Boston and Rhode Island?
354
00:16:33.990 --> 00:16:34.309
Nothing.
355
00:16:34.330 --> 00:16:36.950
You still say Florida. You know, you park the car
356
00:16:36.990 --> 00:16:38.889
and your father and your father and your mother. Oh,
357
00:16:39.570 --> 00:16:43.450
my God. I eat grinders and cabinets. Okay, that's different.
358
00:16:43.470 --> 00:16:44.629
And drink from the bubbler.
359
00:16:44.950 --> 00:16:45.590
Oh, yeah, bubbler.
360
00:16:48.070 --> 00:16:52.179
The first time I said bubbler, Was at Cal Poly Pomona.
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00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:53.879
Which is a water fountain anywhere else.
362
00:16:53.960 --> 00:16:56.440
And I said, you know where the bubbler is? And
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00:16:56.700 --> 00:17:00.000
Guy literally, he stood there for the longest time. He
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00:17:00.039 --> 00:17:04.940
was like, what the fuck are you talking about? Totally.
365
00:17:05.089 --> 00:17:07.109
And he finally said the water fountain. I was like,
366
00:17:07.130 --> 00:17:09.009
water fountain with the statues?
367
00:17:10.170 --> 00:17:12.950
Well, did you say pocketbook instead of purse?
368
00:17:13.210 --> 00:17:14.539
Oh, no. Pocketbook all the way.
369
00:17:14.549 --> 00:17:15.170
Pocketbook.
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00:17:15.470 --> 00:17:16.769
And wicked good.
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00:17:16.869 --> 00:17:17.349
Wicked.
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00:17:17.450 --> 00:17:18.569
Everything is wicked good. Wicked.
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00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:21.180
I mean, my parents would, they would go into a bar.
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00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:22.609
They'd be like, can we have a beer? And they'd
375
00:17:22.619 --> 00:17:24.150
be like, Oh, you're from Boston. And they'd be like,
376
00:17:24.190 --> 00:17:27.849
how do you know? Just one word. There's a part
377
00:17:28.029 --> 00:17:30.250
of growing up on the East coast that gives you
378
00:17:30.269 --> 00:17:33.470
a directness that I, I wouldn't want to trade. I
379
00:17:33.630 --> 00:17:34.769
like that about people.
380
00:17:34.950 --> 00:17:35.230
Yes.
381
00:17:35.950 --> 00:17:38.670
But the other side of that coin can be like
382
00:17:38.710 --> 00:17:41.660
a roughness, like a, just a toughness and roughness.
383
00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:45.470
And you know, Amy, I'm black. So, um, comes with
384
00:17:45.490 --> 00:17:50.069
a different set of rules of roughness, you know? And so,
385
00:17:50.210 --> 00:17:54.619
you know, I came from plain spoken people. You know,
386
00:17:54.640 --> 00:18:00.660
I always say, it's like, I'm negotiating.
387
00:18:01.559 --> 00:18:03.700
Oh my God, I love the sound of your negotiating.
388
00:18:03.720 --> 00:18:06.019
We should put some music over it when you're thinking.
389
00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:08.380
Of what to say. Yeah, Tupac. You can put Tupac
390
00:18:08.460 --> 00:18:13.359
music over it. But I just remember visiting someone's at
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00:18:13.460 --> 00:18:16.400
one point and I took a bus and I got
392
00:18:16.440 --> 00:18:19.079
off the bus and I told my friend, well, make
393
00:18:19.140 --> 00:18:21.819
sure the person who's coming to pick me up, they
394
00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:26.890
know who I am. Okay. I waited there, Amy, 30 minutes,
395
00:18:27.609 --> 00:18:31.750
maybe longer waiting for the person to pick me up. Finally,
396
00:18:31.789 --> 00:18:34.289
I find them. I go to my friend and I said,
397
00:18:34.589 --> 00:18:36.750
why couldn't they find me? And he said, well, I
398
00:18:36.789 --> 00:18:40.529
described you. I said, well, how did you describe me? Oh,
399
00:18:40.589 --> 00:18:44.160
I just said you were cute and you had long hair. Amy,
400
00:18:44.500 --> 00:18:47.000
I'm black with long braids. I said, did you tell
401
00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:48.859
him I was black? I was the only black girl
402
00:18:48.900 --> 00:18:50.609
on the bus. He was like, oh, I didn't feel
403
00:18:50.630 --> 00:18:54.950
like I could say You know, but the thing with,
404
00:18:55.170 --> 00:18:57.890
when you're talking about plain spoken thing about black people,
405
00:18:58.029 --> 00:19:00.289
they call it as it is. You know, that black
406
00:19:00.309 --> 00:19:02.690
girl who come out and she got the tattoo on
407
00:19:02.910 --> 00:19:05.369
her left titty and she got one tooth coming out
408
00:19:05.390 --> 00:19:06.769
of her mouth. It's that girl.
409
00:19:07.109 --> 00:19:07.390
Yeah.
410
00:19:07.529 --> 00:19:11.190
So it's, it's that sort of plain spokenness I grew
411
00:19:11.250 --> 00:19:13.609
up with, with my mom and dad. They were that
412
00:19:13.670 --> 00:19:14.349
plain spoken.
413
00:19:14.369 --> 00:19:17.430
Well, you talk, I mean, you've spoken beautifully about your
414
00:19:17.450 --> 00:19:19.980
childhood growing up and the difficulties in it and the
415
00:19:20.019 --> 00:19:23.230
way that you've like, been processing it in real time
416
00:19:23.410 --> 00:19:25.609
as an adult now. And, but I think, and I
417
00:19:25.730 --> 00:19:26.910
don't know if this is the same for you as
418
00:19:27.049 --> 00:19:29.859
I get older, I start trying to look at my,
419
00:19:30.119 --> 00:19:32.940
my origin, the place of origin and figure out what
420
00:19:33.279 --> 00:19:35.859
gifts it gave me and what pain it gave me
421
00:19:35.900 --> 00:19:36.559
at the same time.
422
00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:37.019
Right.
423
00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:39.519
And there is this something about growing up in the
424
00:19:39.640 --> 00:19:42.440
East coast. I don't know that sticks with you. And
425
00:19:44.190 --> 00:19:46.130
I know this sounds silly, but like the accent that
426
00:19:46.150 --> 00:19:49.450
we just did, like the accent sticks around. I always
427
00:19:49.509 --> 00:19:53.940
say like, well, I'm angry or really excited, my accent
428
00:19:53.980 --> 00:19:55.039
comes out sometimes.
429
00:19:55.480 --> 00:19:56.019
Yeah.
430
00:19:56.039 --> 00:19:57.099
Does your accent?
431
00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:00.000
My accent comes out too, even when I'm acting.
432
00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:00.920
Yeah.
433
00:20:01.019 --> 00:20:05.009
Especially in an emotional scene. And it just surprises me.
434
00:20:05.130 --> 00:20:07.509
It'll jump out at me. And, you know, of course
435
00:20:07.569 --> 00:20:10.529
I went to a school. In New York, that kills
436
00:20:10.549 --> 00:20:11.210
your accent.
437
00:20:11.250 --> 00:20:11.450
Yeah.
438
00:20:12.190 --> 00:20:14.349
You'll get thrown out if you still have an accent
439
00:20:14.390 --> 00:20:17.130
at Juilliard by your fourth year. Right. And by my
440
00:20:17.190 --> 00:20:19.970
second year, they warned me and said, you cannot come
441
00:20:20.019 --> 00:20:23.180
back to the school until you fix up whatever the
442
00:20:23.259 --> 00:20:26.859
hell this is going on. And so I remember like
443
00:20:27.299 --> 00:20:31.700
every single day for two hours practicing how to say
444
00:20:32.269 --> 00:20:37.230
father instead of father. Father. And, you know, at Juilliard,
445
00:20:37.329 --> 00:20:40.130
when you speak, too, when you're walking around, they put
446
00:20:40.170 --> 00:20:43.390
a pencil in your mouth. During rehearsal, they put a
447
00:20:43.470 --> 00:20:46.210
pencil in your mouth to see where your tongue is
448
00:20:46.289 --> 00:20:51.619
when you're articulating your sentences. So I was traumatized into
449
00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:56.599
just catapulting that, not realizing that's a beautiful thing. Yeah.
450
00:20:56.640 --> 00:20:59.599
Have you ever gotten to play anyone with a, you know,
451
00:20:59.619 --> 00:21:02.539
with a Rhode Island accent or Boston accent and, like,
452
00:21:02.579 --> 00:21:03.079
let it rip?
453
00:21:03.099 --> 00:21:04.200
No, Amy.
454
00:21:04.220 --> 00:21:04.289
No.
455
00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:08.349
Nobody's writing a black girl from Rhode Island roles.
456
00:21:08.410 --> 00:21:10.089
Well, maybe we do a road trip.
457
00:21:10.170 --> 00:21:11.470
Maybe I need to write it.
458
00:21:11.589 --> 00:21:14.930
Maybe you need to write, I mean, I mean, you're,
459
00:21:15.589 --> 00:21:18.829
you're talking about going to Juilliard and you've talked a
460
00:21:18.869 --> 00:21:20.910
lot about it and your training there and like what
461
00:21:20.930 --> 00:21:24.630
you took from it. And before you got there, who
462
00:21:24.710 --> 00:21:27.480
told you, or when did you have that feeling of,
463
00:21:27.640 --> 00:21:29.819
I want to, I want to be an actor. It's,
464
00:21:30.769 --> 00:21:34.309
The reason why I ask, I'm the daughter of school teachers.
465
00:21:34.630 --> 00:21:36.789
No one I knew was an actor. I didn't know
466
00:21:36.869 --> 00:21:40.549
any actors. Of course, I knew famous people in movies
467
00:21:40.609 --> 00:21:42.049
and TV, but I didn't know that would be a
468
00:21:42.109 --> 00:21:45.950
job of mine. But I was in school plays, and
469
00:21:45.990 --> 00:21:48.059
people would come up and say, you were good.
470
00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:52.000
Yeah, exactly. You hung in there. And it surprises you, right?
471
00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:52.599
Yeah.
472
00:21:53.059 --> 00:21:58.019
But for me, it's gradual. So it's hard to pinpoint
473
00:21:58.119 --> 00:22:00.839
one person in one moment. But I swear to you,
474
00:22:01.319 --> 00:22:03.859
the more I think about it, I have to pinpoint
475
00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:07.619
the moment that we won the skit contest at Jenks
476
00:22:07.700 --> 00:22:11.859
Park when I was eight years old. Amy, that was it.
477
00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:12.380
Yeah.
478
00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:14.400
Because I was so shy.
479
00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:14.940
Yeah.
480
00:22:15.079 --> 00:22:16.740
You know, and brutally shy.
481
00:22:16.799 --> 00:22:17.079
Yeah.
482
00:22:17.160 --> 00:22:19.779
Like to the point where I couldn't speak in public.
483
00:22:20.180 --> 00:22:23.109
And so we did the skit. You know, and I
484
00:22:23.140 --> 00:22:26.170
played the ooey kid from That's My Mama. That's Ted Lang.
485
00:22:26.470 --> 00:22:28.130
I don't know if you remember that show. I don't
486
00:22:28.150 --> 00:22:29.750
want to age you or whatever.
487
00:22:29.769 --> 00:22:30.230
What show?
488
00:22:30.609 --> 00:22:33.130
It's called That's My Mama. Okay. And he was an
489
00:22:33.210 --> 00:22:35.470
ooey kid. He was a gossipy guy. Okay, okay, okay.
490
00:22:35.490 --> 00:22:40.150
And he would come and go, ooey, ooey. I got it.
491
00:22:40.299 --> 00:22:42.660
I got it. I'm here to report it. So I
492
00:22:42.700 --> 00:22:46.220
was an ooey kid. My sister Dolores was, what's his
493
00:22:46.279 --> 00:22:48.539
name from Let's Make a Deal? Montel.
494
00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:49.400
Oh, Monty Hall.
495
00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:52.460
Monty Hall. She was Monty Hall. Monty Hall. My sister
496
00:22:52.700 --> 00:22:57.069
Anita was Esther, Aunt Esther from Sanford and Son. And
497
00:22:57.109 --> 00:23:02.569
my sister Diane was Fred Sanford. Oh, my God. I
498
00:23:02.609 --> 00:23:05.009
think I have it in my book, but we created
499
00:23:05.029 --> 00:23:09.299
a game show sort of reality show where we had
500
00:23:09.319 --> 00:23:11.759
to come on and tell a story of how you
501
00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:14.420
saved a life. And whoever had the best story won
502
00:23:14.440 --> 00:23:15.259
a million dollars.
503
00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:18.500
What are you in the birth order of the sisters?
504
00:23:19.420 --> 00:23:22.240
Next to the youngest. I have one younger sister who
505
00:23:22.279 --> 00:23:23.920
was my baby.
506
00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:26.420
Yeah. So, wow.
507
00:23:26.440 --> 00:23:31.109
So three, so four girls in the same family rehearsing,
508
00:23:31.130 --> 00:23:33.150
like doing skits, doing comedy.
509
00:23:33.190 --> 00:23:37.890
Having rewrites. Yeah. Having rewrites. We had a little wardrobe
510
00:23:37.910 --> 00:23:43.410
budget of $ 2. 50. We'd go to Salvation Army or raid
511
00:23:43.450 --> 00:23:46.519
my mom's closet. The whole thing was, we did the
512
00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:50.490
skit contest because we were like, these fucking people in
513
00:23:50.589 --> 00:23:53.660
this town. Fuck her, fuck her. I mean, people who
514
00:23:53.839 --> 00:23:56.660
like were bullies, you know, and we were like, we're
515
00:23:56.680 --> 00:23:58.440
going to stick it to them. We're going to win
516
00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:03.019
the confidence. Once again, the self-possession and just being, and
517
00:24:03.259 --> 00:24:07.410
everyone in Central Falls was there. People were sitting on rocks.
518
00:24:08.029 --> 00:24:11.500
You know, the newspaper was there, Amy. And we won.
519
00:24:11.930 --> 00:24:12.309
Damn.
520
00:24:12.690 --> 00:24:16.369
That must have been so exciting. Viola, I mean, it's
521
00:24:16.390 --> 00:24:20.150
going to be hard for me to not talk about
522
00:24:20.190 --> 00:24:22.670
how great you are this whole time. To me, that
523
00:24:22.750 --> 00:24:27.049
story feels like when an athlete realizes like, oh, I'm
524
00:24:27.190 --> 00:24:30.500
naturally good at hitting a baseball or something. You know,
525
00:24:31.240 --> 00:24:35.680
you are so good at what you do.
526
00:24:35.700 --> 00:24:37.099
Well, I appreciate that.
527
00:24:37.339 --> 00:24:40.720
And the naturalness of what you do combined with your
528
00:24:41.400 --> 00:24:46.109
determination and skill, it's just so... I mean, I wish
529
00:24:46.150 --> 00:24:47.890
I could have a time machine and go back to
530
00:24:47.930 --> 00:24:51.039
that day and see you performing because I can only
531
00:24:51.119 --> 00:24:54.619
imagine that people pointed at you and said, wow.
532
00:24:55.640 --> 00:24:59.319
Well, I don't know if anyone pointed at me and said, wow,
533
00:24:59.380 --> 00:25:02.259
but I pointed at myself and I said, wow.
534
00:25:02.539 --> 00:25:06.950
And how do you go from there to Juilliard? How
535
00:25:07.029 --> 00:25:09.789
do you, you know what? We'll never know.
536
00:25:10.069 --> 00:25:10.690
You never know.
537
00:25:11.170 --> 00:25:13.910
But what do you, what do you audition with to
538
00:25:13.950 --> 00:25:14.849
get into Juilliard?
539
00:25:15.500 --> 00:25:20.460
I auditioned with Celie from Color Purple. Oh, God. That
540
00:25:20.500 --> 00:25:23.660
was my dramatic. And then I auditioned with a sort
541
00:25:23.680 --> 00:25:28.940
of comedy piece from, God damn it, I'm forgetting. Oh, boy.
542
00:25:29.420 --> 00:25:33.099
But it was sort of French comedy.
543
00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:34.980
Like a farce kind of thing?
544
00:25:35.160 --> 00:25:36.109
Uh-huh. Yeah.
545
00:25:36.809 --> 00:25:41.329
I mean, when you were doing Shakespeare- Do you have
546
00:25:41.369 --> 00:25:46.230
a way to memorize Shakespeare? How do you like to memorize?
547
00:25:48.299 --> 00:25:50.900
It's a process. So you have to figure out who
548
00:25:50.940 --> 00:25:53.519
you are, what you live for, all that other stuff
549
00:25:53.559 --> 00:25:56.140
that nobody ever wants to hear about, by the way.
550
00:25:56.299 --> 00:25:59.359
It's so boring. It really is. It's boring. It's a process.
551
00:25:59.400 --> 00:26:01.039
I know what you mean. But what is cool about
552
00:26:01.099 --> 00:26:01.220
it is.
553
00:26:03.980 --> 00:26:07.680
I think that the skill involves with the, you know,
554
00:26:08.180 --> 00:26:10.849
the hard work, which is the theme, I would say,
555
00:26:10.900 --> 00:26:13.670
of looking at your body of work and your life
556
00:26:13.930 --> 00:26:16.549
is that you just have never shied away from hard work.
557
00:26:16.990 --> 00:26:21.089
You've never run away from it. And memorizing is really hard.
558
00:26:21.769 --> 00:26:27.369
Memorizing is, you know what, memorizing is the least difficult
559
00:26:27.390 --> 00:26:28.049
part of acting.
560
00:26:28.420 --> 00:26:34.069
Oh, I think these days, I'm finding it so hard.
561
00:26:34.430 --> 00:26:38.089
You know, when you have another actor looking in your
562
00:26:38.130 --> 00:26:40.170
face and they're waiting for the line, now I'm big
563
00:26:40.190 --> 00:26:42.619
with this. And then, you know, that someone has dropped.
564
00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:46.200
I did this with Meryl Streep, you know, in doubt.
565
00:26:46.759 --> 00:26:49.119
She had a line. I had a line or whatever.
566
00:26:49.180 --> 00:26:52.750
And then nothing happened. I'm looking in her face, nothing.
567
00:26:53.170 --> 00:26:57.150
She's saying nothing. I'm saying nothing. It's obviously someone dropped
568
00:26:57.190 --> 00:27:00.430
the line. And then I realize she's the one who
569
00:27:00.450 --> 00:27:04.130
dropped the line. Oh my God. Thank God. Meryl Streep
570
00:27:04.190 --> 00:27:06.910
dropped the line. And so then we did it three
571
00:27:07.009 --> 00:27:10.259
more times, three more times that scene. She kept dropping
572
00:27:10.279 --> 00:27:13.519
the line. And in my brain, I was like, Say
573
00:27:13.539 --> 00:27:17.740
the fucking line. Of course. But I can't tell Meryl Streep,
574
00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:20.880
you forgot the line, Meryl. You keep forgetting the line.
575
00:27:21.140 --> 00:27:23.900
And finally, we did it. And she was like, why
576
00:27:24.039 --> 00:27:26.700
does something feel off? And I said, because you keep
577
00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:31.599
forgetting the line. You forgot the line, Meryl.
578
00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:34.420
And she's like, I'm not perfect.
579
00:27:34.480 --> 00:27:36.589
And then she just said, well, why didn't.
580
00:27:36.430 --> 00:27:42.660
You say something? And you did say something.
581
00:27:42.680 --> 00:27:43.700
Yeah, I did.
582
00:27:43.900 --> 00:27:49.609
But Shakespeare itself feels just like you really got to,
583
00:27:49.789 --> 00:27:51.890
I guess, your point, you got to just keep living
584
00:27:51.950 --> 00:27:52.710
in it, living in it.
585
00:27:52.750 --> 00:27:55.150
Well, here's the hardest thing about Shakespeare, too.
586
00:27:55.190 --> 00:27:55.549
Please.
587
00:27:56.490 --> 00:27:57.470
What the hell are you saying?
588
00:27:57.509 --> 00:27:59.750
What the fuck are you saying?
589
00:28:00.009 --> 00:28:05.970
What are you saying? And also the iambic pentameter. And also, boy,
590
00:28:06.170 --> 00:28:08.680
actors are going to kill me for this. But I
591
00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:12.059
went to Juilliard. And you don't want it to be boring.
592
00:28:13.779 --> 00:28:16.009
Listen, they're not going to kill you for that. Here's
593
00:28:16.029 --> 00:28:20.170
the thing about Shakespeare. All it is is people acting
594
00:28:20.250 --> 00:28:22.990
it and listening to it and going like this. And
595
00:28:23.009 --> 00:28:25.529
I'm like, you don't know what you're talking about. And
596
00:28:25.569 --> 00:28:26.670
we don't know what you're saying.
597
00:28:26.750 --> 00:28:29.559
Well, here's the thing, too. And if you don't know
598
00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:32.640
what they're saying, then they're not doing it correctly. Exactly.
599
00:28:32.700 --> 00:28:35.839
But you can't say, you know what? It's boring.
600
00:28:36.519 --> 00:28:37.039
I know.
601
00:28:37.079 --> 00:28:40.650
At Juilliard. I would fall asleep a lot. Oh, my God.
602
00:28:40.690 --> 00:28:42.710
I have a friend who it would piss her off.
603
00:28:42.890 --> 00:28:44.849
As soon as I was in the class, we'd have
604
00:28:44.869 --> 00:28:49.029
the greatest actors, greatest Shakespearean actors in the world come
605
00:28:49.069 --> 00:28:52.440
to the school. Within five minutes, I would be dead asleep.
606
00:28:52.759 --> 00:28:55.180
I would be knocked out with my lip hitting my lap.
607
00:28:55.700 --> 00:28:59.160
I mean, I would be knocked out. And to this day,
608
00:28:59.220 --> 00:29:01.779
she was like, I can't even believe you would do that.
609
00:29:02.220 --> 00:29:04.369
I can't believe you would do that. And I said,
610
00:29:04.450 --> 00:29:08.170
did it ever occur to you that it just... didn't
611
00:29:08.230 --> 00:29:12.950
excite me. But that's the thing with Shakespeare. You just
612
00:29:12.990 --> 00:29:14.799
don't want it to be boring because at the end
613
00:29:14.859 --> 00:29:17.359
of the day, here's the thing. It's just about people.
614
00:29:17.559 --> 00:29:19.180
It can be kings and queens.
615
00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:21.319
I mean, it's a soap opera most of the time,
616
00:29:21.380 --> 00:29:24.779
those plays. But is it, I mean, thank you for
617
00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:29.079
saying that because the thing about like art in general
618
00:29:29.259 --> 00:29:32.349
is if you don't figure out how to find a
619
00:29:32.380 --> 00:29:36.670
way in, sometimes you feel really strange when everybody else
620
00:29:36.750 --> 00:29:38.920
is in there and you're like, What is it? How
621
00:29:38.940 --> 00:29:39.930
come I can't connect?
622
00:29:40.680 --> 00:29:40.940
Yeah.
623
00:29:41.039 --> 00:29:43.180
But Amy, let me tell you something. We going down
624
00:29:43.220 --> 00:29:45.920
the road of talking by acting like it's real deep.
625
00:29:46.019 --> 00:29:48.759
People don't see it. I see it as deep. You
626
00:29:48.819 --> 00:29:50.980
see it as deep. Most people do not see it
627
00:29:51.059 --> 00:29:55.430
as deep because once again, it's about mistaking your presence
628
00:29:55.470 --> 00:29:56.069
for the event.
629
00:29:56.430 --> 00:29:57.470
Yeah, that's right.
630
00:29:57.750 --> 00:29:57.869
Yeah.
631
00:29:58.410 --> 00:30:00.990
I mean, my big thing are love scenes. I can't
632
00:30:01.089 --> 00:30:04.670
stand love scenes. I can't stand watching them. I can't
633
00:30:04.690 --> 00:30:08.809
stand doing them. I'm like, I finally said how to
634
00:30:08.849 --> 00:30:10.910
get away with murder. I'm not doing any more love
635
00:30:10.950 --> 00:30:14.029
scenes anymore. I mean, that's it. You write a love scene.
636
00:30:14.049 --> 00:30:18.039
I'm not doing it. Unless you give me a boyfriend
637
00:30:18.630 --> 00:30:19.640
who has a stomach.
638
00:30:21.640 --> 00:30:22.420
Wait, say more.
639
00:30:23.319 --> 00:30:26.319
A big gut. Yeah. And you know why?
640
00:30:26.339 --> 00:30:26.410
Why?
641
00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:27.000
Why?
642
00:30:27.730 --> 00:30:30.569
Because you'll actually write the scene. Yeah, that's right. It
643
00:30:30.609 --> 00:30:33.990
won't be about taking off the shirt and the six-pack abs.
644
00:30:34.089 --> 00:30:36.589
That's right. I mean, I'm watching. I did a scene
645
00:30:36.630 --> 00:30:40.690
with Billy Brown, who I love. Billy Brown loves everyone.
646
00:30:41.430 --> 00:30:42.569
And it's TV.
647
00:30:42.630 --> 00:30:42.829
Yeah.
648
00:30:43.359 --> 00:30:47.880
So Annalise Keating is in bed. Annalise Keating sort of
649
00:30:48.019 --> 00:30:50.559
sleeps with a lot of people, men, women. Yeah. Which
650
00:30:51.019 --> 00:30:54.119
cannot be any opposite for me. I mean, I'm like, oh,
651
00:30:54.140 --> 00:30:58.349
my God. So... And I'm in the bed, I'm laying
652
00:30:58.490 --> 00:31:01.980
down and everything. And then he gets up with his
653
00:31:02.160 --> 00:31:06.319
underwear and they, I mean, they literally just taking his
654
00:31:06.400 --> 00:31:10.039
underwear down, putting his makeup on and he's got his abs.
655
00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:13.660
And then they want him to walk into the bathroom
656
00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:16.009
and come out with, you know, one of those scrub
657
00:31:16.049 --> 00:31:19.609
brushes and slap it on his hand as if he's
658
00:31:19.650 --> 00:31:23.109
slapping my ass. So he's like, slap, slap, slap. As
659
00:31:23.150 --> 00:31:26.950
we're saying the dialogue. I'm in the scene, Amy, and
660
00:31:27.019 --> 00:31:32.059
I'm like, you gotta cut. You gotta cut. Please cut.
661
00:31:33.460 --> 00:31:35.920
Please, I can't. That's my nightmare. That's a nightmare.
662
00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:38.339
It's a frigging nightmare. That's a nightmare. So I said,
663
00:31:38.380 --> 00:31:40.960
if you write someone with a gut, maybe we won't
664
00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:44.000
be in bed. Maybe it'll be about everything else. And
665
00:31:44.019 --> 00:31:47.759
then when we finally kiss, it's like something that's organically happening.
666
00:31:48.339 --> 00:31:50.920
But right now, for me, a lot of love scenes,
667
00:31:50.980 --> 00:31:53.119
it's like, that's the time to go to the bathroom.
668
00:31:53.140 --> 00:31:53.259
Yeah.
669
00:31:55.140 --> 00:31:56.779
If you want to pick up, go to the bathroom.
670
00:31:56.799 --> 00:31:57.299
You come back.
671
00:31:57.559 --> 00:31:58.839
You haven't missed anything.
672
00:31:59.099 --> 00:31:59.559
Oh, my God.
673
00:31:59.579 --> 00:32:00.079
I feel you.
674
00:32:00.220 --> 00:32:03.079
I feel you. I've not done many, but the couple
675
00:32:03.119 --> 00:32:04.720
times it's been on the call sheet, I'm like.
676
00:32:05.019 --> 00:32:05.559
Oh, no.
677
00:32:06.140 --> 00:32:09.269
This is the worst day. And by the way, anybody
678
00:32:09.289 --> 00:32:12.210
that's like, ooh, I got a love scene today, red flag.
679
00:32:12.230 --> 00:32:19.450
I had to do a love scene with Tom Verica,
680
00:32:19.809 --> 00:32:23.410
who cannot be more lovely. How to Get Away with Murder,
681
00:32:23.529 --> 00:32:26.089
first love scene. Well, actually, my first love scene was
682
00:32:26.130 --> 00:32:30.730
with Billy Brown, and it got cut. And I'm so
683
00:32:30.779 --> 00:32:34.079
happy it got cut. Because we were having sex on
684
00:32:34.099 --> 00:32:38.099
my car in Philadelphia, and it was 12 degrees. Oh, God.
685
00:32:38.279 --> 00:32:41.589
I was terrified. First love scene of my life. But
686
00:32:41.619 --> 00:32:44.549
the second love scene, Tom Verica, who plays my husband,
687
00:32:44.609 --> 00:32:47.390
How to Get Away with Murder. So we're getting prepared
688
00:32:47.450 --> 00:32:51.500
for the love scene in the trailer. And the makeup
689
00:32:51.740 --> 00:32:54.349
artists are saying, so do you want anything to cover?
690
00:32:54.569 --> 00:32:55.809
I mean, I have stretch marks.
691
00:32:55.960 --> 00:32:56.109
Yeah.
692
00:32:56.569 --> 00:32:58.410
I mean, I got stretch marks everywhere. I got stretch
693
00:32:58.430 --> 00:33:00.509
marks on my ass. I got stretch marks on my arms.
694
00:33:00.549 --> 00:33:02.509
I got stretch marks everywhere. I'm just going to say it.
695
00:33:02.549 --> 00:33:05.190
We all do. And so I'm like, yeah, I want makeup.
696
00:33:05.470 --> 00:33:06.789
I want makeup on my arms.
697
00:33:06.950 --> 00:33:07.170
Yeah.
698
00:33:07.289 --> 00:33:10.349
I want makeup on my ass. And it's like, I
699
00:33:10.369 --> 00:33:14.289
got makeup on my ankles. Okay. He's getting makeup on.
700
00:33:14.309 --> 00:33:19.730
I mean, we're just basically spraying ourselves with makeup. Both
701
00:33:19.789 --> 00:33:23.390
of us terrified, okay? And then finally, I had the
702
00:33:23.490 --> 00:33:26.299
big aha moment. I said, Tom, this is what we're
703
00:33:26.319 --> 00:33:28.519
going to do. We're going to hold it up for
704
00:33:28.539 --> 00:33:29.440
the regular people.
705
00:33:29.460 --> 00:33:29.779
Yes.
706
00:33:29.839 --> 00:33:32.039
We're going to hold it up for the people out
707
00:33:32.099 --> 00:33:34.140
there who, you know, may have a little bit of
708
00:33:34.180 --> 00:33:39.079
something sticking out there or whatever. And there was makeup
709
00:33:39.289 --> 00:33:44.970
all over the sheets. Makeup all over the bed, you know.
710
00:33:45.430 --> 00:33:48.390
You know, thank God my wig didn't come off, you know.
711
00:33:49.180 --> 00:33:50.680
and that was there's.
712
00:33:50.579 --> 00:33:53.259
Nothing sexy about it nothing when you do a love
713
00:33:53.299 --> 00:33:55.900
scene in my opinion there's nothing sexy about it it's
714
00:33:55.980 --> 00:33:59.990
just it's hard your search for the realness and things
715
00:34:00.009 --> 00:34:02.509
like the the way you're looking for the truth and
716
00:34:02.569 --> 00:34:05.109
things in your own life and in your work it
717
00:34:06.029 --> 00:34:09.809
it dovetails so beautifully with august wilson can you talk
718
00:34:09.869 --> 00:34:12.630
about your how you felt about doing his work and
719
00:34:12.690 --> 00:34:14.769
like well how important he is to you as a
720
00:34:14.769 --> 00:34:15.849
as a writer he's.
721
00:34:15.710 --> 00:34:19.619
Important because he writes about Black people. It's our cadences.
722
00:34:19.820 --> 00:34:22.880
It's my mom, my dad, my father. It's how we talked,
723
00:34:22.940 --> 00:34:25.880
you know. I listened to them, how I talked, you know.
724
00:34:26.539 --> 00:34:30.880
And that's the beauty of it because, you know, otherwise, listen,
725
00:34:30.920 --> 00:34:34.500
I went to Juilliard. We were doing George Bernard Shaw, Strindberg,
726
00:34:34.760 --> 00:34:38.519
you know, Chekhov, who I love, you know, Shakespeare. So
727
00:34:38.539 --> 00:34:42.429
I did Blanche DuBois. I mean, it was just a scene.
728
00:34:42.929 --> 00:34:46.030
But I have to do, if you've ever read Blanche DuBois,
729
00:34:46.409 --> 00:34:49.719
I could not be any different than Blanche DuBois. She's
730
00:34:49.760 --> 00:34:51.480
extremely fragile.
731
00:34:51.599 --> 00:34:51.840
Yeah.
732
00:34:52.659 --> 00:34:56.480
You know, fading beauty queen, you know, all of those things.
733
00:34:56.539 --> 00:34:59.989
So to see and to hear me, you know, take
734
00:35:00.050 --> 00:35:03.309
my deep voice and try to whittle it down and
735
00:35:03.369 --> 00:35:06.909
sound like a white Southern woman and doing all that.
736
00:35:07.010 --> 00:35:09.800
It was like, oh my, I can't do this. I mean,
737
00:35:10.139 --> 00:35:12.039
I shouldn't say I can't do it. I can do it.
738
00:35:12.349 --> 00:35:15.190
I can transform. I could do all of that. But then,
739
00:35:15.250 --> 00:35:17.969
you know, people in the audience have got to, you know,
740
00:35:18.329 --> 00:35:20.829
let me ignore the fact that this is a deep-voiced
741
00:35:20.909 --> 00:35:25.010
Black woman who is self-possessed and very grounded and is not.
742
00:35:25.510 --> 00:35:29.750
But with August Wilson, I don't have to do any
743
00:35:29.769 --> 00:35:33.409
of that. I still have to do the work. But
744
00:35:33.449 --> 00:35:35.920
I could do a work in a way that invites
745
00:35:35.980 --> 00:35:41.159
me in, you know. And that's the beauty of August Wilson.
746
00:35:41.800 --> 00:35:44.579
And you're nominated for a Tony three years after you
747
00:35:44.619 --> 00:35:47.119
got out of school for that? I mean, do you
748
00:35:47.139 --> 00:35:49.940
remember when you found out you were nominated? That must
749
00:35:49.960 --> 00:35:52.320
have been an incredible feeling.
750
00:35:53.059 --> 00:35:55.539
I found out I was nominated. You know, back in
751
00:35:55.579 --> 00:35:58.300
the day, back in the day when you had those
752
00:35:59.719 --> 00:36:03.869
answering machines that you had to call. You had to
753
00:36:03.909 --> 00:36:06.489
call the answering machine. I would call every single day
754
00:36:06.510 --> 00:36:08.929
to see if I had an audition. So I called.
755
00:36:09.369 --> 00:36:12.130
And my agent at the time said, Viola, you got
756
00:36:12.170 --> 00:36:17.849
a Tony nomination. Oh, my God. I ran to my
757
00:36:17.929 --> 00:36:21.949
parents' house. They don't know what a Tony Award is.
758
00:36:22.570 --> 00:36:24.289
And my little nieces and nephews, they don't know what
759
00:36:24.309 --> 00:36:26.730
the hell a Tony Award is. I ran in the house.
760
00:36:26.769 --> 00:36:29.280
I said, you guys. My little nieces and nephews that
761
00:36:29.320 --> 00:36:32.400
were in their diapers running around acting bad. Like I
762
00:36:32.460 --> 00:36:35.940
love bad kids. I ran in the house. I said,
763
00:36:35.960 --> 00:36:40.159
you guys. I got a Tony nomination. And they were,
764
00:36:41.179 --> 00:36:43.760
they started throwing themselves on the floor. They didn't know
765
00:36:43.780 --> 00:36:46.880
what the hell the Tony nomination was, but we all
766
00:36:46.940 --> 00:36:51.539
just jumped in. I mean, come on. Yeah. Amazing. Come on.
767
00:36:59.150 --> 00:37:03.150
You were a, very accomplished working actor on a lot
768
00:37:03.170 --> 00:37:06.849
of shows before a kind of America at large knew
769
00:37:06.889 --> 00:37:10.630
your name. You had a really substantial body of work.
770
00:37:11.510 --> 00:37:14.610
Do you feel like that allowed you, you know, it
771
00:37:14.630 --> 00:37:17.110
was just like that 10,000 hours idea that you worked
772
00:37:17.309 --> 00:37:22.050
really hard and often and kind of figured out that
773
00:37:22.090 --> 00:37:24.070
you worked in TV, you worked in film, you worked
774
00:37:24.139 --> 00:37:27.489
on stage. You like got to like feel confident in
775
00:37:27.530 --> 00:37:28.170
your skill.
776
00:37:28.530 --> 00:37:31.230
Yes. But once again, that's the task.
777
00:37:31.969 --> 00:37:32.110
Yeah.
778
00:37:32.130 --> 00:37:33.750
But it's not always everyone's route.
779
00:37:33.789 --> 00:37:37.739
No, I understand. Yeah. And I understand that. And therein
780
00:37:37.780 --> 00:37:38.559
lies the problem.
781
00:37:38.579 --> 00:37:38.780
Yeah.
782
00:37:39.599 --> 00:37:43.369
With the business that anyone feels like they can do it,
783
00:37:43.960 --> 00:37:46.860
you know, but there was never a time when I
784
00:37:46.900 --> 00:37:50.179
was at the Guthrie theater or working in Newton, Massachusetts.
785
00:37:50.219 --> 00:37:54.820
I worked in Newton, Massachusetts, um, I've worked everywhere. I've
786
00:37:54.860 --> 00:37:59.530
worked with everyone. Huntington Theater, ACT, Mark Taper Forum, Goodman Theater.
787
00:38:00.550 --> 00:38:03.809
I thought I had already made it. Yeah. I did.
788
00:38:04.070 --> 00:38:04.269
Yeah.
789
00:38:04.329 --> 00:38:06.969
You know, making your $ 6. 50 a week, and then you
790
00:38:06.989 --> 00:38:10.070
did your 10 weeks, and then you qualified for unemployment.
791
00:38:10.369 --> 00:38:12.809
So you got your unemployment, and sure, you called in
792
00:38:12.849 --> 00:38:16.239
that unemployment every Sunday, got that $ 3.
793
00:38:15.599 --> 00:38:15.920
50.
794
00:38:15.920 --> 00:38:19.519
I think it went up to $ 390 a week. I
795
00:38:19.579 --> 00:38:21.559
thought I'd already made it because I could say that
796
00:38:21.980 --> 00:38:24.880
I'm an actor. But you do have to put in
797
00:38:24.940 --> 00:38:27.869
those hours in order to have some level of a
798
00:38:27.929 --> 00:38:32.610
process because here's what I think whenever I do a job.
799
00:38:33.679 --> 00:38:36.340
This is my thing with actors. It's a little bit
800
00:38:36.360 --> 00:38:40.739
of my pet peeve. A little bit. Is this. If
801
00:38:40.780 --> 00:38:45.969
you have a criticism for a writer, you never have
802
00:38:45.989 --> 00:38:49.170
it for another actor. You don't criticize them. That's like
803
00:38:49.210 --> 00:38:52.309
a no-no. Okay? I don't care if it's a day player.
804
00:38:52.530 --> 00:38:56.349
You don't tell anyone how to act. That's the director's job. Oh,
805
00:38:56.429 --> 00:38:59.530
I love this. If you have a criticism of the work,
806
00:38:59.769 --> 00:39:01.690
if you say, you know, this scene is not working,
807
00:39:01.849 --> 00:39:04.739
you have to tell them why. And you have to
808
00:39:04.800 --> 00:39:10.469
know how to fix it. I will say, once again,
809
00:39:10.489 --> 00:39:13.969
I'm negotiating. I would say 98% of the time, people
810
00:39:14.010 --> 00:39:14.920
don't know how to fix it.
811
00:39:15.150 --> 00:39:19.170
Yeah. That's such a great point. Because I've often said
812
00:39:19.170 --> 00:39:24.050
that actors should spend a day being a writer getting
813
00:39:24.050 --> 00:39:25.719
notes from actors.
814
00:39:25.719 --> 00:39:25.920
Absolutely.
815
00:39:27.219 --> 00:39:31.539
The way that people give writers feedback is often appalling.
816
00:39:31.820 --> 00:39:34.440
It's like, this isn't, and not just actors, anybody, but
817
00:39:34.500 --> 00:39:39.079
like the way writers receive feedback is like dismissive. It's insulting.
818
00:39:39.460 --> 00:39:41.949
They don't have a fix. Like to your point, something
819
00:39:41.969 --> 00:39:44.210
they've worked really, really hard on, they hand it over
820
00:39:44.269 --> 00:39:46.190
and people just kind of like open it up and
821
00:39:46.369 --> 00:39:49.190
barely pay attention to it. They barely read it. They
822
00:39:49.210 --> 00:39:51.849
don't know the words. They don't, they don't, they're like
823
00:39:51.929 --> 00:39:55.199
challenging stuff before it's even tried out. And then conversely,
824
00:39:55.219 --> 00:39:59.460
I always say to writers, now, put on someone else's clothes.
825
00:39:59.659 --> 00:40:00.059
That's right.
826
00:40:01.800 --> 00:40:09.090
Go over there and scramble an egg while you remember
827
00:40:09.289 --> 00:40:12.630
two pages of dialogue while everyone you know is on
828
00:40:12.670 --> 00:40:15.449
the other side of the room drinking coffee, looking at you.
829
00:40:16.949 --> 00:40:17.550
And then we're even.
830
00:40:17.570 --> 00:40:21.929
Yeah, absolutely. Whenever you have to fix a script, Sometimes
831
00:40:22.170 --> 00:40:25.510
it's really not that deep to fix something. It could
832
00:40:25.550 --> 00:40:29.480
be a simple choice. But what happens is the filter
833
00:40:29.900 --> 00:40:32.059
that goes through is, okay, is it going to get
834
00:40:32.119 --> 00:40:34.340
more viewers? Are people going to want to see it?
835
00:40:34.400 --> 00:40:36.559
Is it going to turn on the 18 to 34-year-old
836
00:40:36.619 --> 00:40:39.239
boys who come see the movie? That's a big one, Amy.
837
00:40:39.860 --> 00:40:40.159
Oh, yeah.
838
00:40:40.579 --> 00:40:40.820
I mean.
839
00:40:40.860 --> 00:40:42.099
The boys. The boys.
840
00:40:42.460 --> 00:40:46.409
And also, will men care? Will men care about this project?
841
00:40:46.429 --> 00:40:48.409
Yeah, that was the woman king.
842
00:40:49.130 --> 00:40:51.800
Oh, yeah. I bet there was a lot of discussion
843
00:40:51.840 --> 00:40:53.900
about like, we want to make sure our men show up.
844
00:40:53.940 --> 00:40:56.070
And it's like, do we? Do we want to make
845
00:40:56.090 --> 00:41:00.250
Sherman show up? Like these days, me too. I've been like,
846
00:41:00.590 --> 00:41:01.849
maybe they don't come to this one.
847
00:41:01.869 --> 00:41:02.530
Yeah, exactly.
848
00:41:02.550 --> 00:41:04.949
How about we just make one? We just make one
849
00:41:05.010 --> 00:41:06.429
for us. Just one.
850
00:41:06.530 --> 00:41:10.090
I'm playing a goji warrior. I've just chopped off five
851
00:41:10.179 --> 00:41:13.199
men's heads in the first two minutes. And maybe it's
852
00:41:13.239 --> 00:41:17.099
just not for them. I mean, it's like a lot
853
00:41:17.159 --> 00:41:21.619
of the notes were, you know, less dirt and more lipstick.
854
00:41:22.300 --> 00:41:23.500
Are you freaking kidding me?
855
00:41:23.519 --> 00:41:24.039
Wild, wild.
856
00:41:24.980 --> 00:41:25.880
Are you kidding me?
857
00:41:26.019 --> 00:41:26.539
Wild.
858
00:41:26.559 --> 00:41:30.380
I'm playing an Agoge warrior and I'm thinking about lipstick?
859
00:41:32.079 --> 00:41:33.559
And eyelash extensions?
860
00:41:33.980 --> 00:41:36.940
That film, you are so badass in that film. That
861
00:41:37.320 --> 00:41:39.800
film is so beautiful. I loved it. You and your
862
00:41:39.840 --> 00:41:43.679
husband produced it together, generated it, made it for yourself.
863
00:41:44.010 --> 00:41:46.769
Such an example of like taking the currency that you
864
00:41:46.809 --> 00:41:50.190
had and using it and making that project. And the
865
00:41:50.230 --> 00:41:52.570
thing I wanted to ask you about, The Woman King.
866
00:41:52.590 --> 00:41:52.769
Mm-hmm.
867
00:41:54.679 --> 00:41:57.630
And for people that don't know, it's, you know, based
868
00:41:58.010 --> 00:42:00.550
on a real story for people that don't know about.
869
00:42:01.030 --> 00:42:03.010
Could you explain what it was based on?
870
00:42:03.010 --> 00:42:08.030
It's based on the Agogea tribe of warriors in Dahomey
871
00:42:08.409 --> 00:42:11.920
in Benin, West Africa in like 1854. And they were
872
00:42:12.159 --> 00:42:15.559
all female army unit that would go out and fight
873
00:42:15.639 --> 00:42:19.750
neighboring tribes and fight. You know, Yoruba tribes. Now, you know,
874
00:42:19.789 --> 00:42:23.860
the controversy is there was a lot of controversy, you know,
875
00:42:23.900 --> 00:42:28.820
involved with the Agogeo warriors because they would have slaves. Okay.
876
00:42:29.099 --> 00:42:32.920
I think ultimately that is what maybe people had problems with.
877
00:42:33.059 --> 00:42:36.139
And the other problem is, you know, it was an
878
00:42:36.369 --> 00:42:38.909
all black cast, mostly female cast.
879
00:42:38.929 --> 00:42:39.210
Mm-hmm.
880
00:42:40.349 --> 00:42:43.760
Mostly without getting into it because there will never be
881
00:42:43.820 --> 00:42:47.860
enough time in the world. Dark skinned females who have
882
00:42:47.980 --> 00:42:51.239
muscles and who are taking men down. I mean, I
883
00:42:51.340 --> 00:42:53.739
trained for five hours a day and I was the
884
00:42:54.019 --> 00:42:58.900
oldest mother freaking warrior in the movie. So we trained
885
00:42:59.000 --> 00:43:01.969
five hours a day for months, hand to hand combat.
886
00:43:02.889 --> 00:43:05.550
I have to tell you, though, with that movie, without
887
00:43:05.929 --> 00:43:08.809
getting too much into it, because there's a lot about
888
00:43:08.849 --> 00:43:09.429
that movie.
889
00:43:09.469 --> 00:43:09.630
Yeah.
890
00:43:10.429 --> 00:43:12.579
That was like very important to me.
891
00:43:12.590 --> 00:43:12.769
Yeah.
892
00:43:13.469 --> 00:43:16.570
I didn't think it was a big deal for women
893
00:43:17.599 --> 00:43:18.579
to be warriors.
894
00:43:18.719 --> 00:43:19.019
Right.
895
00:43:20.380 --> 00:43:22.480
I didn't think that it was a big deal to
896
00:43:22.539 --> 00:43:27.440
have a title like the woman King, because first of all,
897
00:43:27.460 --> 00:43:30.260
there's a lot of Kings who are women in Africa.
898
00:43:30.300 --> 00:43:33.800
They actually called Kings. I didn't know that that was
899
00:43:33.820 --> 00:43:39.150
going to be a controversy until we did it. I
900
00:43:39.210 --> 00:43:42.730
thought this is, Badass. I mean, I would take my
901
00:43:43.130 --> 00:43:47.190
toy machete home to practice with my husband. I mean,
902
00:43:47.389 --> 00:43:49.710
not around my husband because he would say, oh, V,
903
00:43:49.989 --> 00:43:53.829
this is a lot. But I just didn't know it
904
00:43:53.869 --> 00:43:56.570
was a big deal until we started shooting it. And
905
00:43:56.630 --> 00:43:59.670
there was, you know, can we make your curls looser
906
00:43:59.730 --> 00:44:05.610
and more pretty? Could we do eyelash extensions? Maybe a
907
00:44:05.650 --> 00:44:11.900
different title, you know? This whole sort of watering.
908
00:44:11.280 --> 00:44:13.050
Down of what it means to be. Yes, this idea
909
00:44:13.090 --> 00:44:15.110
of just don't forget to stay soft.
910
00:44:15.429 --> 00:44:15.730
Yeah.
911
00:44:16.150 --> 00:44:19.550
Like while you're the hardest warrior ever, don't forget to
912
00:44:19.570 --> 00:44:22.570
be a little bit cute and soft because God forbid
913
00:44:22.869 --> 00:44:25.610
you just step into your full power.
914
00:44:26.250 --> 00:44:30.380
Absolutely. And God forbid that you don't turn me on.
915
00:44:30.519 --> 00:44:30.900
That's right.
916
00:44:31.329 --> 00:44:32.809
That you don't look sexy.
917
00:44:32.829 --> 00:44:33.230
That's right.
918
00:44:33.590 --> 00:44:37.349
And, you know, it sort of leads into the whole
919
00:44:37.449 --> 00:44:40.610
thing of the value of beauty, you know?
920
00:44:40.690 --> 00:44:41.110
That's right.
921
00:44:41.550 --> 00:44:45.179
I mean, I'm definitely like at 60 years old, I
922
00:44:45.280 --> 00:44:49.480
feel fabulous because I am one of those women. I
923
00:44:49.519 --> 00:44:53.239
got that done and over with very, very early in life.
924
00:44:54.000 --> 00:44:57.079
You know, I feel for the beautiful women who were
925
00:44:57.159 --> 00:44:59.159
younger and now they're older and they walk in the
926
00:44:59.199 --> 00:45:00.360
room and no one's looking.
927
00:45:00.079 --> 00:45:03.010
At Yeah, that's tough when your beauty is your number
928
00:45:03.090 --> 00:45:05.039
one currency because it goes away fast.
929
00:45:05.159 --> 00:45:05.739
Exactly.
930
00:45:05.960 --> 00:45:09.079
It's really fickle. But I will say, and you spoke
931
00:45:09.119 --> 00:45:11.179
about this when you were doing The Woman King, like
932
00:45:11.659 --> 00:45:15.139
the way in which you created this new relationship to
933
00:45:15.159 --> 00:45:18.340
your body in your 50s. I think a lot of women,
934
00:45:18.380 --> 00:45:19.559
I know a lot of women, I know I speak
935
00:45:19.579 --> 00:45:22.429
for myself, you start to really take, you really kind
936
00:45:22.469 --> 00:45:24.349
of look and you say, okay, this is my one body.
937
00:45:24.809 --> 00:45:27.750
I really, you know, the ways in which I got
938
00:45:27.769 --> 00:45:30.719
to kind of put it in the, on the back
939
00:45:30.760 --> 00:45:32.739
burner in my twenties and thirties, I really have to
940
00:45:32.780 --> 00:45:35.159
pay attention to it now. And I've joked on here,
941
00:45:35.199 --> 00:45:37.960
like we got to eat 85 grams of protein and
942
00:45:37.980 --> 00:45:42.130
we have to lift weights. But you did that. You, what,
943
00:45:42.610 --> 00:45:44.590
what did you learn about yourself when you were training
944
00:45:44.650 --> 00:45:45.949
five hours a day? And.
945
00:45:46.489 --> 00:45:48.989
You know what, Amy, it was the first time I
946
00:45:49.030 --> 00:45:53.949
could walk into a room with that, um, uh, It
947
00:45:53.989 --> 00:45:56.900
was a leather sort of shirt I had on, armor
948
00:45:56.960 --> 00:45:59.719
that I had on, and so my stomach was exposed.
949
00:46:00.239 --> 00:46:02.260
It was the first time I could walk on the
950
00:46:02.460 --> 00:46:06.050
field and in a room and totally be in my body.
951
00:46:06.789 --> 00:46:10.289
You know, there is something about the female body, what
952
00:46:10.389 --> 00:46:14.090
you're sort of conditioned to believe about it, that it's
953
00:46:14.130 --> 00:46:15.469
got to be beautiful, right?
954
00:46:15.510 --> 00:46:15.670
Yeah.
955
00:46:15.889 --> 00:46:20.139
So it's got to be thin and beautiful. And the why...
956
00:46:20.579 --> 00:46:23.800
And the how it has to be beautiful is always
957
00:46:23.940 --> 00:46:26.280
tied to male desirability.
958
00:46:26.320 --> 00:46:26.780
That's right.
959
00:46:27.360 --> 00:46:30.250
It's never tied to being capable.
960
00:46:30.550 --> 00:46:32.010
It's tied to a shrinking.
961
00:46:32.449 --> 00:46:33.429
Yeah, exactly.
962
00:46:33.550 --> 00:46:37.989
Shrinking and not being capable, not being strong, not being,
963
00:46:38.190 --> 00:46:40.329
you know, it's never ours.
964
00:46:40.730 --> 00:46:40.969
Yeah.
965
00:46:41.710 --> 00:46:46.679
And so even in the practicing, I was going to
966
00:46:46.739 --> 00:46:49.619
lie a little bit. I was going to lie a
967
00:46:49.659 --> 00:46:50.159
little bit.
968
00:46:50.199 --> 00:46:51.989
Well, I hope it was a little tiring. Like, I
969
00:46:52.030 --> 00:46:53.110
hope you were days where you were like.
970
00:46:53.119 --> 00:46:54.250
No, no, no. This is what the lie was.
971
00:46:54.289 --> 00:46:54.650
Okay.
972
00:46:54.869 --> 00:46:56.889
This is what the lie was, Amy. Okay.
973
00:46:56.989 --> 00:46:58.929
Cue music for negotiating.
974
00:46:58.989 --> 00:47:05.710
Yeah, cue, cue, you know, Hit Em Up by Tupac.
975
00:47:06.670 --> 00:47:09.159
I was going to say, you know, if, you know,
976
00:47:09.179 --> 00:47:13.559
just to, in the practicing, because we would do an
977
00:47:13.659 --> 00:47:14.699
hour of weightlifting.
978
00:47:14.719 --> 00:47:14.900
Woo.
979
00:47:14.900 --> 00:47:18.949
30 minutes of running on the treadmill at 10.0. Oh, no.
980
00:47:19.230 --> 00:47:21.989
I've done 10.0. That is a disaster.
981
00:47:22.010 --> 00:47:23.610
And it was a disaster.
982
00:47:23.730 --> 00:47:27.760
Wait, 30 minutes straight of 10.0? Like, was it sprints?
983
00:47:28.059 --> 00:47:28.480
Sprints.
984
00:47:28.940 --> 00:47:29.679
God damn it.
985
00:47:29.699 --> 00:47:32.159
And then three and a half hours. I mean, by
986
00:47:32.199 --> 00:47:34.500
the end. I mean, and you saw all these young girls.
987
00:47:34.519 --> 00:47:37.039
They'd have a little sweat on their bodies. I would
988
00:47:37.079 --> 00:47:39.809
sweat out three, four shirts a day. So I would
989
00:47:39.849 --> 00:47:42.050
go to choreo for three and a half hours. And
990
00:47:42.090 --> 00:47:46.159
you're taken down. Oh, my God. Eight, seven dudes at
991
00:47:46.199 --> 00:47:49.420
the same time, okay? Eight, seven dudes. What I was
992
00:47:49.460 --> 00:47:52.820
going to say is, you know, it was so great
993
00:47:52.920 --> 00:47:55.480
because then I could really tap into the part of
994
00:47:55.559 --> 00:47:59.960
me that I never tapped into before. That's bullshit. I
995
00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:02.500
was always that girl that wanted to kick someone's ass.
996
00:48:02.619 --> 00:48:03.000
Yeah.
997
00:48:03.039 --> 00:48:06.639
And probably did a couple of times. But it gave
998
00:48:06.679 --> 00:48:07.809
me permission to do it.
999
00:48:08.079 --> 00:48:08.860
Yes.
1000
00:48:09.440 --> 00:48:16.619
And there was one guy, huge, 6'4. to 60. I mean,
1001
00:48:16.739 --> 00:48:21.400
come on. That's exciting. And I felt like I could
1002
00:48:21.440 --> 00:48:21.789
do it.
1003
00:48:21.909 --> 00:48:22.860
Yeah, yeah.
1004
00:48:22.929 --> 00:48:25.090
Now, whether I could do it or not in real life,
1005
00:48:25.409 --> 00:48:27.829
who knows? But the feeling like I could.
1006
00:48:28.130 --> 00:48:31.929
You have stood toe-to-toe with such amazing actors, Denzel. talked
1007
00:48:31.949 --> 00:48:35.750
about Meryl, you worked with Chadwick. When you're in that
1008
00:48:35.829 --> 00:48:39.329
zone with people that good and you're like, what is it?
1009
00:48:39.449 --> 00:48:42.070
I guess, I guess I'm like, I'm asking you like,
1010
00:48:42.150 --> 00:48:44.480
what's it like to be in the World Series?
1011
00:48:44.500 --> 00:48:50.900
Yes, exactly. And not pissing your pants. Well, with Meryl,
1012
00:48:50.940 --> 00:48:53.219
that was it. Yeah, I mean, she's the best.
1013
00:48:53.239 --> 00:48:54.920
She's so great and funny.
1014
00:48:54.940 --> 00:48:59.119
She's great and funny and cool. And cool. Meryl. It's
1015
00:48:59.159 --> 00:49:01.389
like you could be that great and that cool.
1016
00:49:01.530 --> 00:49:03.489
Well, you're like that too. That's why you guys are
1017
00:49:03.530 --> 00:49:07.429
so good because you're so good that you don't have
1018
00:49:07.469 --> 00:49:10.519
to be assholes because you know how good you are.
1019
00:49:10.570 --> 00:49:11.969
And you know there's assholes out there.
1020
00:49:12.010 --> 00:49:15.570
Yes, because they're not that good. We won't mention them.
1021
00:49:15.590 --> 00:49:17.630
Or I should say they're not being led by insecurity.
1022
00:49:17.670 --> 00:49:20.199
So you and Meryl meet, of course, you guys. are
1023
00:49:20.239 --> 00:49:22.199
friends and respect each other because.
1024
00:49:22.079 --> 00:49:25.179
You're both so good. I followed her everywhere.
1025
00:49:26.179 --> 00:49:26.579
On set?
1026
00:49:27.199 --> 00:49:30.119
On set. I mean, to the point where it was like,
1027
00:49:30.909 --> 00:49:33.809
you know when you say to yourself, okay, tomorrow I'm
1028
00:49:33.829 --> 00:49:35.869
not going to do that because I don't think it
1029
00:49:35.889 --> 00:49:38.829
made her, it didn't make her feel comfortable. Because at
1030
00:49:38.949 --> 00:49:42.070
one point, She would never admit this. She probably doesn't
1031
00:49:42.110 --> 00:49:45.000
remember it, but she was going to set and I
1032
00:49:45.039 --> 00:49:48.079
was trying to keep her from going to set because
1033
00:49:48.440 --> 00:49:50.760
I was too excited. So I was like, so how's
1034
00:49:50.800 --> 00:49:52.969
it going? She was like, oh, good. So I'll see
1035
00:49:52.989 --> 00:49:55.170
you later. She was going up the stairs. And then
1036
00:49:55.190 --> 00:49:59.050
I was like, so it's going good, right? So, so
1037
00:49:59.090 --> 00:50:00.960
the day was really good and you could, you know,
1038
00:50:01.000 --> 00:50:03.260
when someone's trying to do something and you're stopping them
1039
00:50:03.300 --> 00:50:05.820
from doing it and they don't feel like they don't
1040
00:50:05.860 --> 00:50:07.940
want to be rude to you by going, shut the
1041
00:50:07.960 --> 00:50:09.760
fuck up. I got to get to set. So she
1042
00:50:09.780 --> 00:50:12.429
was being really nice. And I said, okay, so I'll
1043
00:50:12.449 --> 00:50:12.989
see you later.
1044
00:50:13.010 --> 00:50:13.170
Right.
1045
00:50:13.190 --> 00:50:15.969
So I work next week. So I worked next week
1046
00:50:16.090 --> 00:50:19.369
and you know, she was like, yeah, yeah. So that
1047
00:50:19.409 --> 00:50:21.389
was the first day. And then I was like, I'm
1048
00:50:21.429 --> 00:50:24.159
not going to do that tomorrow. So I'm not going
1049
00:50:24.179 --> 00:50:25.079
to do that tomorrow.
1050
00:50:25.539 --> 00:50:26.820
I went, Oh, yeah.
1051
00:50:26.909 --> 00:50:30.559
I mean. And with Seth sitting there. And then I'm
1052
00:50:30.619 --> 00:50:35.820
staring at her. And I'm really shy. She's not that shy.
1053
00:50:35.840 --> 00:50:38.820
She's sort of shy, but not that shy. So then
1054
00:50:38.980 --> 00:50:42.739
I don't, because I'm not good with small talk. And
1055
00:50:42.800 --> 00:50:47.920
I go, longest pause. And then I said, can I
1056
00:50:47.960 --> 00:50:53.679
get you some tea? And she said, no, baby, no,
1057
00:50:53.699 --> 00:50:55.079
you don't have to get me any tea. And I
1058
00:50:55.119 --> 00:50:55.699
was like, oh.
1059
00:50:56.219 --> 00:50:56.519
Okay.
1060
00:50:59.699 --> 00:51:03.429
So I couldn't think of anything else. I kept staring, staring.
1061
00:51:03.699 --> 00:51:05.849
And you could tell, you know, when you stare, you
1062
00:51:05.869 --> 00:51:08.849
could tell she was really trying to be gracious. And
1063
00:51:08.889 --> 00:51:11.429
the only thing I could come up with, I was like,
1064
00:51:12.170 --> 00:51:18.590
you got beautiful skin. I actually said that to Meryl Streep.
1065
00:51:19.010 --> 00:51:23.809
I love you. And then finally my husband, who was like, V,
1066
00:51:24.289 --> 00:51:26.409
did you tell that woman that you love her work?
1067
00:51:27.250 --> 00:51:30.329
You didn't tell that woman you love her work? I said, well, Julius,
1068
00:51:30.449 --> 00:51:32.820
I just, she said, when I get to that damn set,
1069
00:51:32.860 --> 00:51:34.260
I'm going to tell her that I love her work.
1070
00:51:34.460 --> 00:51:37.480
And I'm going to tell her that she is your
1071
00:51:37.539 --> 00:51:41.340
favorite actress. I said, don't say that. And Julius finally
1072
00:51:41.400 --> 00:51:44.699
came to the set and he said, Viola loves you
1073
00:51:44.800 --> 00:51:47.469
so much. And you are so beautiful, Meryl. You are
1074
00:51:47.590 --> 00:51:52.760
such a wonderful actress. She blushed. She was like, oh, Julie.
1075
00:51:54.099 --> 00:51:58.179
Well, I have met Julius and Julius is something else.
1076
00:51:58.789 --> 00:52:00.969
Do you find, I mean, I know I find that
1077
00:52:01.010 --> 00:52:03.630
sometimes in my life people want me to be funny
1078
00:52:03.730 --> 00:52:06.309
and they're a little disappointed when I'm not quite bringing it.
1079
00:52:06.869 --> 00:52:11.269
Do you feel conversely that sometimes people assume that you're
1080
00:52:11.309 --> 00:52:15.739
going to like exchange in something very deep and serious
1081
00:52:15.840 --> 00:52:19.269
with them and you just want to laugh all the time? Amy,
1082
00:52:20.739 --> 00:52:23.539
Because I feel like what I'm learning about you is
1083
00:52:23.579 --> 00:52:26.820
that you love to joke around and laugh.
1084
00:52:27.489 --> 00:52:29.969
Oh, but I mean, I can't really even joke around
1085
00:52:30.110 --> 00:52:32.539
like I want because I'm dirty with it.
1086
00:52:33.150 --> 00:52:33.889
Fantastic.
1087
00:52:34.210 --> 00:52:37.610
Why can't you do it? Oh, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no, no.
1088
00:52:37.630 --> 00:52:40.789
You don't want to go down like that, Amy. No,
1089
00:52:40.889 --> 00:52:42.480
you don't want to go down. I'm dirty with it.
1090
00:52:42.489 --> 00:52:44.369
Who did you love growing up?
1091
00:52:44.750 --> 00:52:48.190
Oh, the first one. Who did you love? Moms Mabel.
1092
00:52:48.349 --> 00:52:48.789
Oh, yeah.
1093
00:52:48.909 --> 00:52:49.989
And she was dirty, dirty.
1094
00:52:50.190 --> 00:52:50.750
So dirty.
1095
00:52:51.530 --> 00:52:55.159
I would play that album over and over again. Flip Wilson.
1096
00:52:55.340 --> 00:52:55.579
Yes.
1097
00:52:55.639 --> 00:52:56.420
Over and over again.
1098
00:52:56.460 --> 00:52:57.079
Red Fox.
1099
00:52:57.159 --> 00:52:57.940
Red Fox.
1100
00:52:58.260 --> 00:53:00.719
Over and over again. So dirty. The dirtier, the better.
1101
00:53:01.039 --> 00:53:01.280
Yeah.
1102
00:53:01.920 --> 00:53:02.780
We can't go there.
1103
00:53:03.000 --> 00:53:03.260
Yeah.
1104
00:53:03.980 --> 00:53:04.719
So funny.
1105
00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:05.840
Yeah. Yeah.
1106
00:53:05.860 --> 00:53:07.489
So you would play those records when you were.
1107
00:53:07.510 --> 00:53:08.429
Oh, I would.
1108
00:53:08.510 --> 00:53:08.829
Yeah.
1109
00:53:08.969 --> 00:53:13.710
And you know why, too? Because they told stories. And
1110
00:53:14.329 --> 00:53:17.929
come on, the original. dirty of the dirtiest of the
1111
00:53:18.010 --> 00:53:22.320
funniest is Richard Pryor. Whenever I feel down, I play
1112
00:53:22.380 --> 00:53:26.480
that live in concert over and over and over again.
1113
00:53:26.500 --> 00:53:29.599
Oh my God. That's just the best. And he talks
1114
00:53:29.639 --> 00:53:32.179
about his kids. One part where he talks about his
1115
00:53:32.239 --> 00:53:34.400
kids and how he doesn't know how to swim. And
1116
00:53:34.420 --> 00:53:37.280
every time he gets into the pool, he's drowning. He's
1117
00:53:37.320 --> 00:53:41.239
basically drowning. And his kids are like, he's so funny.
1118
00:53:41.539 --> 00:53:43.300
And he's like, you motherfuckers.
1119
00:53:43.380 --> 00:53:47.369
I'm drowning. You know, it's like, I love that.
1120
00:53:47.710 --> 00:53:47.949
Okay.
1121
00:53:48.010 --> 00:53:51.050
Now I want to get to your book before we finish, because,
1122
00:53:51.820 --> 00:53:56.119
you know, your relationship to writing is an interesting one
1123
00:53:56.179 --> 00:53:58.119
to me. I mean, I'm sure you have, you know,
1124
00:53:58.500 --> 00:54:00.360
we talked about it earlier, this idea of like when
1125
00:54:00.380 --> 00:54:02.780
you're acting and you're writing and you're working with writers
1126
00:54:02.820 --> 00:54:04.860
and what that kind of writing looks like. And then
1127
00:54:04.880 --> 00:54:07.159
there's the different kind of version of writing when you're
1128
00:54:07.199 --> 00:54:11.320
writing a book, when you're writing fiction. And when you're
1129
00:54:11.340 --> 00:54:14.429
writing a memoir, at which your memoir was a huge hit,
1130
00:54:14.550 --> 00:54:18.809
you won the Grammy, that was your EGOT, was your,
1131
00:54:19.829 --> 00:54:21.409
when you did the recording of it, when you read
1132
00:54:21.449 --> 00:54:25.190
your book on tape. And that book came out a
1133
00:54:25.230 --> 00:54:28.130
while ago. And I'm curious, you know, when we write
1134
00:54:28.170 --> 00:54:30.530
about our stories and then they go out into the
1135
00:54:30.570 --> 00:54:35.849
world and everybody gets to kind of read them and
1136
00:54:35.929 --> 00:54:40.570
process them. Have you ever heard from anyone? from your
1137
00:54:40.630 --> 00:54:42.010
past after that book came out?
1138
00:54:42.489 --> 00:54:46.489
I hear from various ones all the time. My fourth
1139
00:54:46.550 --> 00:54:49.309
grade teacher in fourth grade, I have the story in
1140
00:54:49.349 --> 00:54:51.730
my book that was, and I actually went back to
1141
00:54:51.769 --> 00:54:55.449
my fourth grade class to the actual classroom, but my
1142
00:54:55.510 --> 00:54:59.739
fourth grade, that was almost the height of my dysfunction,
1143
00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:06.900
my dysfunctional life. But in the book, um, it still
1144
00:55:06.940 --> 00:55:09.659
has a lot of shame for me. Um, I would
1145
00:55:09.699 --> 00:55:13.500
go to school, I would smell so bad. I mean,
1146
00:55:14.199 --> 00:55:17.630
there are no words for it, okay? And this teacher
1147
00:55:17.670 --> 00:55:22.389
that I had that I loved, I loved her, Mrs. Cody.
1148
00:55:22.989 --> 00:55:27.320
She sent pictures to my sister, who was a school,
1149
00:55:27.380 --> 00:55:29.679
she was a school teacher in Central Falls. She sent
1150
00:55:29.800 --> 00:55:33.659
all these pictures that she had saved of me. Wow.
1151
00:55:33.679 --> 00:55:37.110
I have no pictures of my childhood. She saved these
1152
00:55:37.170 --> 00:55:40.179
pictures and she saved some of my writing.
1153
00:55:40.619 --> 00:55:40.980
Wow.
1154
00:55:41.679 --> 00:55:46.099
And in one of the pictures, I was at a
1155
00:55:46.139 --> 00:55:50.530
museum looking at this sculpture and all the kids were
1156
00:55:50.610 --> 00:55:53.269
behind me who were in my class. But I was
1157
00:55:53.349 --> 00:55:57.409
looking at the sculpture and my mouth was gapped open
1158
00:55:57.610 --> 00:56:03.599
in awe. And I thought to myself, you captured something
1159
00:56:03.679 --> 00:56:06.019
in me that I didn't know I had in me.
1160
00:56:08.000 --> 00:56:12.940
Was already that when something was beautiful, when something was
1161
00:56:13.059 --> 00:56:18.670
created that I would have no connection to otherwise, I
1162
00:56:18.809 --> 00:56:23.570
saw it? That was in one of the pictures. And
1163
00:56:23.610 --> 00:56:26.710
she told my sister that she never forgot me as
1164
00:56:26.789 --> 00:56:30.820
a student. And she was the one who actually told
1165
00:56:30.860 --> 00:56:32.719
me that I needed to go to the nurse one
1166
00:56:32.760 --> 00:56:35.719
day because I smelled so bad that my mom had
1167
00:56:35.760 --> 00:56:38.719
to get some soap and hot water. And you need
1168
00:56:38.739 --> 00:56:41.750
to wash yourself because the odor is too much. She
1169
00:56:41.769 --> 00:56:44.210
was a teacher who told me that. And I loved her.
1170
00:56:44.469 --> 00:56:48.949
That's why it hurt so bad. See, once again, the paradox, right?
1171
00:56:48.969 --> 00:56:50.929
Yeah, she's looking out for you.
1172
00:56:51.650 --> 00:56:54.469
Feeling shame. She's the one who I felt shamed me.
1173
00:56:54.489 --> 00:56:57.320
She didn't really shame me. Do you know what I'm saying?
1174
00:56:58.079 --> 00:56:59.000
But that was a big one.
1175
00:56:59.210 --> 00:57:01.389
I mean, it feels like writing has been something that's
1176
00:57:02.150 --> 00:57:04.250
been a big thing that you've wanted to do for
1177
00:57:04.269 --> 00:57:07.449
a long time. And then you write, you've now co-written
1178
00:57:07.489 --> 00:57:10.880
a book with James Patterson. It's on my shelf.
1179
00:57:12.139 --> 00:57:13.639
It's right here. Judge Stone.
1180
00:57:13.980 --> 00:57:15.500
Judge Stone. Book is out.
1181
00:57:16.039 --> 00:57:17.059
Yeah.
1182
00:57:17.159 --> 00:57:17.619
What is it about?
1183
00:57:18.480 --> 00:57:22.739
It is about a 13-year-old girl named Nova who has
1184
00:57:22.780 --> 00:57:26.630
an abortion, who gets raped and has an abortion. in
1185
00:57:27.829 --> 00:57:32.909
Union Springs, Alabama. Alabama has the strictest abortion laws. And
1186
00:57:33.130 --> 00:57:37.469
the doctor who performs the abortion is now on trial
1187
00:57:37.570 --> 00:57:42.639
for murder. So it is definitely to kill a mockingbird.
1188
00:57:42.840 --> 00:57:48.039
It is just, it's pulsating. It's all of those things. But,
1189
00:57:48.440 --> 00:57:51.739
you know, Even like To Kill a Mockingbird, which, you know,
1190
00:57:51.760 --> 00:57:55.440
the courtroom was sating, you know, Tom Robinson, may yell
1191
00:57:55.480 --> 00:58:00.980
at you all. It was just heart-stopping, right? But the
1192
00:58:01.059 --> 00:58:05.739
characters within it were just as memorable as the trial.
1193
00:58:06.360 --> 00:58:09.400
That's what I feel about, you know, Judge Stone. And
1194
00:58:09.460 --> 00:58:10.860
James Patterson is like.
1195
00:58:11.559 --> 00:58:13.219
Viola, you can do anything and.
1196
00:58:13.699 --> 00:58:15.920
No, I can't. I can't, you know.
1197
00:58:15.960 --> 00:58:17.039
Tell us what you can't do.
1198
00:58:17.380 --> 00:58:17.460
Oh.
1199
00:58:18.829 --> 00:58:21.429
I can't bake. Okay. You know.
1200
00:58:21.530 --> 00:58:22.590
You could probably learn.
1201
00:58:22.610 --> 00:58:26.489
I have a 15-year-old at home. It's like, it's just me.
1202
00:58:26.900 --> 00:58:29.440
And you're probably out of the teen years.
1203
00:58:29.519 --> 00:58:30.860
No, I'm right in the middle of it. I got
1204
00:58:30.900 --> 00:58:32.039
a 15 and a 17-year-old.
1205
00:58:32.099 --> 00:58:32.960
Oh, I have a 15-year-old.
1206
00:58:33.000 --> 00:58:33.199
Yeah.
1207
00:58:33.360 --> 00:58:37.199
There's no easier way to feel uncool than when your kid,
1208
00:58:37.340 --> 00:58:39.440
your teen kid looks at you like, what?
1209
00:58:39.900 --> 00:58:40.659
I'm not cool.
1210
00:58:40.920 --> 00:58:43.320
No, but you're not supposed to be cool to your kid.
1211
00:58:43.360 --> 00:58:44.860
If you're cool to your kid, that's weird.
1212
00:58:44.960 --> 00:58:48.059
I know. think so. It's like, I'm not cool. It is.
1213
00:58:48.280 --> 00:58:51.320
Nobody wants to be the parent that like hangs with
1214
00:58:51.360 --> 00:58:54.170
their kids and like their kids are like, wow, your
1215
00:58:54.269 --> 00:58:55.449
mom is so cool.
1216
00:58:55.469 --> 00:58:58.789
I don't want to go to an escape room.
1217
00:58:59.309 --> 00:59:01.690
You don't have to. You don't have to.
1218
00:59:01.710 --> 00:59:04.030
I tried to. That's why I jumped out of a plane.
1219
00:59:04.110 --> 00:59:07.949
I tell people I jumped out of a plane in Oahu, Hawaii.
1220
00:59:07.969 --> 00:59:11.860
I jumped out of a plane to be cool for
1221
00:59:11.889 --> 00:59:13.909
my daughter. I did, Amy.
1222
00:59:14.320 --> 00:59:16.539
What year was this? Just recently?
1223
00:59:16.940 --> 00:59:22.440
I was 57, 56, 56, 57. So I'm 60 now. Yeah.
1224
00:59:22.760 --> 00:59:25.559
What did you think of jump? What was it like?
1225
00:59:26.039 --> 00:59:29.849
Did you, was it awful? It seems awful. It truly
1226
00:59:29.889 --> 00:59:34.289
seems like awful. No, I'm not jumping out of a plane.
1227
00:59:34.309 --> 00:59:37.489
I jumped out of a plane because we had the
1228
00:59:37.690 --> 00:59:42.219
most awesome nanny. When I say awesome, it's like everyone
1229
00:59:42.280 --> 00:59:48.000
else's great nanny and ours was like God, okay? She
1230
00:59:48.039 --> 00:59:53.340
jumped out of the plane. You know, you're jumping in
1231
00:59:53.380 --> 00:59:55.300
tandem with someone who's talking like.
1232
00:59:55.400 --> 00:59:56.860
I was going to say, you're jumping in tandem with
1233
00:59:56.880 --> 00:59:58.440
someone you met like yesterday.
1234
00:59:58.500 --> 00:59:59.039
Yesterday.
1235
00:59:59.179 --> 01:00:01.039
And he was like, so, Viola, you know, you're a
1236
01:00:01.039 --> 01:00:03.679
great actor. So what do you like better, theater or film?
1237
01:00:03.719 --> 01:00:05.320
And I want to say, shut the fuck up.
1238
01:00:05.380 --> 01:00:12.340
You're like, focus, Zach. My favorite movie is The Parachute Working.
1239
01:00:14.739 --> 01:00:17.559
And look at that. That's yummy mommy volcano right there.
1240
01:00:17.599 --> 01:00:20.280
And that erupted in. I don't fucking want to get
1241
01:00:20.400 --> 01:00:23.159
out of this volcano. And then they roll the curtain
1242
01:00:23.239 --> 01:00:25.670
up and they say, okay, so let's go.
1243
01:00:26.010 --> 01:00:29.570
That's cool. I mean, Viola, that's a badass that you
1244
01:00:29.590 --> 01:00:29.949
did that.
1245
01:00:30.150 --> 01:00:32.829
I will never do it again. Although it was a
1246
01:00:33.170 --> 01:00:36.159
terrific experience. I told my daughter that. as I was
1247
01:00:37.119 --> 01:00:40.010
falling down. Cause she said, mama, if you die, can
1248
01:00:40.030 --> 01:00:43.110
I have your wigs and your money? So I'm falling down.
1249
01:00:44.309 --> 01:00:47.260
So I'm falling down. I'm falling down. And I told her,
1250
01:00:47.489 --> 01:00:51.409
don't listen to mama. Don't listen to me. I think
1251
01:00:51.730 --> 01:00:56.489
every cuss word that I could possibly imagine. I mean,
1252
01:00:56.550 --> 01:00:59.559
it was coming out of my mouth. You have no idea.
1253
01:01:03.079 --> 01:01:05.179
but i did it because of molly did it you
1254
01:01:05.199 --> 01:01:07.400
did it because of molly and you.
1255
01:01:07.239 --> 01:01:09.480
And julius we talked about your husband a little bit
1256
01:01:10.659 --> 01:01:14.559
you guys have like when you do stuff together and
1257
01:01:14.599 --> 01:01:19.010
you um talk publicly together you laugh a lot you
1258
01:01:19.070 --> 01:01:20.210
laugh a lot.
1259
01:01:20.090 --> 01:01:22.750
And you laugh amy you.
1260
01:01:22.710 --> 01:01:25.949
Have fun i mean look you're your relationship is very
1261
01:01:26.050 --> 01:01:28.110
aspirational and I don't want to project upon it because
1262
01:01:28.690 --> 01:01:32.130
I know everyone's relationship is their own private, you know,
1263
01:01:32.429 --> 01:01:34.449
a relationship is like a country with its own set
1264
01:01:34.469 --> 01:01:36.130
of rules and you don't really know it unless you
1265
01:01:36.170 --> 01:01:39.070
live there. But what it seems like is you have
1266
01:01:39.090 --> 01:01:41.570
the best relationship ever and you have a wonderful marriage
1267
01:01:41.610 --> 01:01:43.199
and beautiful loving partner.
1268
01:01:43.219 --> 01:01:46.559
It's fantastic. It drives me crazy. I drive him crazy
1269
01:01:46.619 --> 01:01:49.559
and want to hit him. But then I, the love
1270
01:01:49.579 --> 01:01:52.619
of my life. Yeah. You know, he's just the love
1271
01:01:52.659 --> 01:01:53.340
of my life.
1272
01:01:53.500 --> 01:01:53.760
Yeah.
1273
01:01:54.360 --> 01:02:00.730
And when I say laugh, no, Amy, I mean, just
1274
01:02:00.969 --> 01:02:04.829
he is a character. And every time he comes up
1275
01:02:04.889 --> 01:02:08.639
in public, he puts the brave, the mask and everything on.
1276
01:02:09.039 --> 01:02:14.880
But the guy is absolutely hysterical. I mean, and does
1277
01:02:14.980 --> 01:02:18.710
the oddest things that for me, there's a little bit
1278
01:02:18.750 --> 01:02:22.889
of me that says, Is he crazy? He could be crazy.
1279
01:02:22.909 --> 01:02:26.489
I mean, he lost his salt. He couldn't find his
1280
01:02:26.610 --> 01:02:32.269
saltine crackers one day. Saltine damn crackers. And he was
1281
01:02:32.349 --> 01:02:36.150
convinced that someone broke into our house, was living in
1282
01:02:36.269 --> 01:02:40.969
our attic, and had stolen his saltine crackers. And so
1283
01:02:40.989 --> 01:02:45.409
I was like... Why are you walking around the house
1284
01:02:45.440 --> 01:02:50.320
with a baseball bat? V, I can't find my saltine crackers, V.
1285
01:02:51.820 --> 01:02:54.059
I said, well, did you look in the cabinet behind
1286
01:02:54.079 --> 01:02:58.639
the tuna fish? Yeah, and there was four packages, V.
1287
01:02:58.900 --> 01:03:02.179
Now there's only three packages left. V, there's someone in
1288
01:03:02.219 --> 01:03:05.619
that attic. And here's for me what for me is
1289
01:03:05.780 --> 01:03:11.409
about love. I was like, oh, my God. He's crazy, V.
1290
01:03:12.510 --> 01:03:17.590
there's someone living in the attic. And what did I do?
1291
01:03:17.849 --> 01:03:20.250
I grabbed my baseball bat too. And we looked for
1292
01:03:20.269 --> 01:03:23.110
the person together in the attic until I finally found
1293
01:03:23.130 --> 01:03:27.079
the salting crackers near the tuna fish. And it's just like,
1294
01:03:27.940 --> 01:03:30.880
I love it. I know.
1295
01:03:30.960 --> 01:03:33.820
I mean, your love is very, very special.
1296
01:03:33.960 --> 01:03:38.030
And then talking about his mom and just the stories.
1297
01:03:38.070 --> 01:03:39.869
He's another one that could tell.
1298
01:03:39.909 --> 01:03:42.650
Well, we talked to him before your interview. And I
1299
01:03:42.710 --> 01:03:45.250
want you to know he's the only spouse we've talked to.
1300
01:03:47.150 --> 01:03:48.610
We do a thing where we kind of talk well
1301
01:03:48.659 --> 01:03:50.519
behind somebody's back before they come in and I get
1302
01:03:50.539 --> 01:03:53.960
a question to ask our guest. And Julius was the
1303
01:03:54.019 --> 01:03:57.039
only spouse we wanted to talk to because we were like,
1304
01:03:57.079 --> 01:03:59.280
first of all, they seem like they really like each other.
1305
01:04:01.590 --> 01:04:05.349
But he spoke so beautifully, of course, about you, Viola.
1306
01:04:05.570 --> 01:04:09.530
But he also speaks to a bigger idea of what women,
1307
01:04:10.130 --> 01:04:13.489
a lot of women, yearn for and hope for, which
1308
01:04:13.550 --> 01:04:16.530
is that somebody really sees them. Like somebody sees them
1309
01:04:16.789 --> 01:04:19.110
in real time and celebrates their wins.
1310
01:04:19.250 --> 01:04:21.030
Oh, yeah. He does.
1311
01:04:21.289 --> 01:04:23.909
He does. You seem like you do that for each other.
1312
01:04:24.460 --> 01:04:25.400
Oh, yeah, totally.
1313
01:04:25.480 --> 01:04:28.679
And again, a simple thing to say, but sometimes hard
1314
01:04:28.699 --> 01:04:31.090
to find like that. Do you think that is the
1315
01:04:31.119 --> 01:04:33.590
secret to why you have been together so long is
1316
01:04:33.690 --> 01:04:35.969
the way you do that for each other?
1317
01:04:36.150 --> 01:04:39.070
You know, by the time I met Julius, I absolutely
1318
01:04:39.170 --> 01:04:42.329
understood what love is. You know, first of all, I
1319
01:04:42.349 --> 01:04:44.769
thought he was cute. You know, I thought he had
1320
01:04:44.809 --> 01:04:48.420
a tight ass. I'm not going to lie to you, Amy. Yeah, don't. Yeah,
1321
01:04:48.599 --> 01:04:49.480
he had a tight ass.
1322
01:04:49.500 --> 01:04:49.719
So cute.
1323
01:04:49.739 --> 01:04:51.820
He was a football player. So cute.
1324
01:04:51.960 --> 01:04:53.440
You guys were actors on a set.
1325
01:04:53.460 --> 01:04:53.739
Yeah, I know.
1326
01:04:53.760 --> 01:04:55.539
He was handing you blood. You were in a hot
1327
01:04:55.579 --> 01:04:56.679
nurse's outfit. Yeah.
1328
01:04:56.760 --> 01:04:59.469
Yeah, jackpot. And I was like, he's really cute. And
1329
01:04:59.510 --> 01:05:04.429
I was really lonely. And so that was it, of course.
1330
01:05:04.690 --> 01:05:06.929
I mean, I just, with him, it was. And I
1331
01:05:07.030 --> 01:05:10.219
prayed for a football player type dude, you know. And
1332
01:05:10.360 --> 01:05:11.619
it was him.
1333
01:05:12.019 --> 01:05:12.199
Yeah.
1334
01:05:12.840 --> 01:05:17.199
And, but you know what got me with him is-
1335
01:05:18.329 --> 01:05:21.809
He told me his story because he's a talker. But
1336
01:05:21.849 --> 01:05:26.389
he told me his whole story from the getty up. Cool. Everything.
1337
01:05:26.630 --> 01:05:27.050
Good and bad.
1338
01:05:27.070 --> 01:05:31.130
Straight note chaser. You know, he raises kids on his own.
1339
01:05:31.210 --> 01:05:34.809
He's been married, you know, all of those things. It just,
1340
01:05:35.389 --> 01:05:39.269
and for me, it opened me up. He's just a dude.
1341
01:05:39.409 --> 01:05:41.889
He's been wired right. He has.
1342
01:05:42.369 --> 01:05:46.230
Well, he has three really weird questions for me to
1343
01:05:46.349 --> 01:05:50.940
ask you. I know he's great in every way, but
1344
01:05:51.119 --> 01:05:52.460
I don't understand these questions.
1345
01:05:54.480 --> 01:05:54.920
Julius.
1346
01:05:55.340 --> 01:05:55.860
Julius.
1347
01:05:56.039 --> 01:06:02.590
One of them is, ask her about Zuni. Who is Zuni,
1348
01:06:02.949 --> 01:06:05.590
and can I Google it? Because Julius was talking about
1349
01:06:05.610 --> 01:06:06.949
a TV show that he grew up with that I've
1350
01:06:07.010 --> 01:06:07.630
never heard of.
1351
01:06:07.929 --> 01:06:12.119
Power XL5. What? Oh, no, Amy. Zuni.
1352
01:06:12.199 --> 01:06:12.480
Amy.
1353
01:06:13.420 --> 01:06:16.079
It's a cartoon with puppets that he watched when he
1354
01:06:16.119 --> 01:06:18.889
was a kid. Wow. Do you see Zuni?
1355
01:06:18.929 --> 01:06:19.489
Hold on.
1356
01:06:19.840 --> 01:06:20.800
Z-U-N-I?
1357
01:06:21.820 --> 01:06:22.239
Okay.
1358
01:06:22.360 --> 01:06:23.380
You see Zuni now?
1359
01:06:23.840 --> 01:06:24.840
With the giant head?
1360
01:06:25.280 --> 01:06:26.000
Yeah, you see that?
1361
01:06:26.019 --> 01:06:27.039
Let's see, let's see, let's see.
1362
01:06:27.280 --> 01:06:30.659
And you pressed in the images of it? Let's see. Yeah, images.
1363
01:06:30.699 --> 01:06:34.010
Let's see, where's Zuni? Okay, Zuni.
1364
01:06:34.690 --> 01:06:36.130
Z-O-O-N-I-E.
1365
01:06:36.230 --> 01:06:37.590
Oh, Z-O-O-N-I-E.
1366
01:06:37.630 --> 01:06:40.550
That's right. I'm a classic spelling something wrong.
1367
01:06:40.659 --> 01:06:43.539
For you listeners, Zuni looks like.
1368
01:06:43.889 --> 01:06:45.949
Who's Zuni look? No, I'm going to tell you who
1369
01:06:45.969 --> 01:06:52.139
Zuni look like. We were laying in bed and Julia said, V,
1370
01:06:52.400 --> 01:06:55.059
you know who you look like? As soon as I
1371
01:06:55.099 --> 01:06:57.539
met you, I was like, she make me feel all
1372
01:06:57.619 --> 01:07:00.840
warm and fuzzy inside. She remind me of somebody I know.
1373
01:07:01.719 --> 01:07:03.050
And then I thought about it.
1374
01:07:03.699 --> 01:07:04.159
Zuni.
1375
01:07:04.639 --> 01:07:07.809
You look like Zuni. That's who you all be, Zuni.
1376
01:07:08.170 --> 01:07:11.570
And this is the show that he would watch every Saturday.
1377
01:07:11.769 --> 01:07:13.989
He was the only one in this family who wanted
1378
01:07:14.030 --> 01:07:14.500
to watch it.
1379
01:07:14.530 --> 01:07:16.630
I can't believe the show. It looks like it's dolls
1380
01:07:16.690 --> 01:07:17.250
and puppets.
1381
01:07:17.429 --> 01:07:19.769
Dolls and puppets. And he was the only one who
1382
01:07:19.809 --> 01:07:21.989
wanted to watch it. None of his brothers and sisters
1383
01:07:22.030 --> 01:07:26.639
wanted to watch it. They say, Mom, Julius, we don't
1384
01:07:26.659 --> 01:07:28.519
want to watch Zuni. And his mom would say, Zuni.
1385
01:07:28.760 --> 01:07:32.539
Let that damn boy watch his Zuni. That's all you
1386
01:07:32.599 --> 01:07:36.219
talk about, Lee Lee. Zuni, Zuni, Zuni, damn Zuni. Watch
1387
01:07:36.239 --> 01:07:38.119
that damn Zuni and get your ass out of the
1388
01:07:38.139 --> 01:07:40.900
house after you watch that Zuni. So Zuni.
1389
01:07:41.340 --> 01:07:42.659
I remind him of Zuni.
1390
01:07:42.679 --> 01:07:44.360
Big lips and big eyes.
1391
01:07:44.480 --> 01:07:48.230
It's almost like a little ferret meets a sloth meets a.
1392
01:07:48.900 --> 01:07:52.480
Amy, no. Amy. It's cute, though. Zuni's cute. That's messed up. No,
1393
01:07:52.519 --> 01:07:55.599
Zuni is messed up. I call him Ferdinand because he
1394
01:07:55.639 --> 01:07:57.309
looks exactly like Ferdinand.
1395
01:07:57.670 --> 01:07:58.570
Ferdinand the Bull?
1396
01:07:58.690 --> 01:07:59.929
Yeah, we name people.
1397
01:08:00.110 --> 01:08:01.550
He looks just like Ferdinand.
1398
01:08:04.030 --> 01:08:06.630
Okay, the other question he wanted me to ask you is,
1399
01:08:07.260 --> 01:08:13.530
ask her about Shadow of a Gunman. He's setting you
1400
01:08:13.570 --> 01:08:14.380
up for some stories.
1401
01:08:14.469 --> 01:08:16.279
Oh, he's setting me up. It was one of our
1402
01:08:16.319 --> 01:08:20.180
first dates. He said, V, you want to come? If
1403
01:08:20.239 --> 01:08:22.100
you know him, you would know that this is a
1404
01:08:22.260 --> 01:08:25.939
great imitation of Julius. V, one of my friends is
1405
01:08:25.979 --> 01:08:28.659
doing Shadow of a Gunman. You know that play. You
1406
01:08:28.699 --> 01:08:31.680
know that Irish play, Sean O'Casey, Shadow of a Gunman,
1407
01:08:32.079 --> 01:08:36.140
in some small theater off Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Santa Monica.
1408
01:08:36.739 --> 01:08:39.140
So we go to see Shadow of a Gunman. And
1409
01:08:39.199 --> 01:08:41.159
I'm walking in going, oh, we're going to go see
1410
01:08:41.180 --> 01:08:44.239
some theater. And so we go to this theater, we
1411
01:08:44.300 --> 01:08:46.390
walk in and I'm like, okay, let's sit in the
1412
01:08:46.439 --> 01:08:49.689
front 99 seats. No one's at the theater. So I said,
1413
01:08:49.710 --> 01:08:50.609
let's sit.
1414
01:08:50.470 --> 01:08:50.869
In the front.
1415
01:08:50.909 --> 01:08:53.250
He was like, uh-uh, we ain't sitting in the damn front.
1416
01:08:53.270 --> 01:08:55.430
Let's sit all the way in the back. Let's sit
1417
01:08:55.489 --> 01:08:57.770
up there in the back. I was like, but Julius,
1418
01:08:57.810 --> 01:08:59.279
we're all the way in the back. He said, V,
1419
01:08:59.270 --> 01:09:01.039
let's sit in the front. sit up in the back.
1420
01:09:01.239 --> 01:09:03.560
We sit up in the back. He's got the chair
1421
01:09:03.600 --> 01:09:06.100
near the wall. As soon as the curtains go up,
1422
01:09:06.550 --> 01:09:10.159
he's dead asleep. The only reason why he wanted to
1423
01:09:10.199 --> 01:09:12.300
sit on the wall is to take a nap all
1424
01:09:12.340 --> 01:09:14.319
throughout the play. And the only time he woke up
1425
01:09:14.399 --> 01:09:16.539
is when he thought some sex scene was going to happen.
1426
01:09:16.779 --> 01:09:19.680
He woke up for two seconds. He woke up for
1427
01:09:19.720 --> 01:09:22.779
two seconds thinking he was going to see some good goodness,
1428
01:09:22.880 --> 01:09:25.539
as we call it. And nothing happened. It was the
1429
01:09:25.619 --> 01:09:29.109
worst production in the world. And oh, my God. Oh,
1430
01:09:29.119 --> 01:09:31.520
my God. And then afterwards, he went up to his
1431
01:09:31.600 --> 01:09:36.170
friend and he said, I love that performance. You were fair.
1432
01:09:36.250 --> 01:09:38.590
And you know, when you did that thing, that thing
1433
01:09:38.609 --> 01:09:41.229
you did, I was like, Julius, you slept through that
1434
01:09:41.250 --> 01:09:42.729
whole damn performance.
1435
01:09:46.829 --> 01:09:49.979
Well, are you guys watching, listening? Are you, are you, what,
1436
01:09:50.039 --> 01:09:52.319
what's making you laugh these days? Where do you get
1437
01:09:52.359 --> 01:09:52.859
your comedy?
1438
01:09:53.550 --> 01:09:53.949
In bed.
1439
01:09:53.970 --> 01:09:57.369
Yes, with each other. With each other, it sounds like.
1440
01:09:57.590 --> 01:09:59.550
Oh, my God, with his imitations.
1441
01:09:59.590 --> 01:09:59.989
Yes.
1442
01:10:00.329 --> 01:10:06.949
I mean, no, Amy, like, I mean, just absolutely hysterical. Yeah.
1443
01:10:07.090 --> 01:10:08.329
I'm telling you.
1444
01:10:08.350 --> 01:10:11.350
It's so fun to hear how you guys like to play.
1445
01:10:12.189 --> 01:10:12.829
Oh, yeah.
1446
01:10:12.869 --> 01:10:14.970
Like, it's like, it really feels like there's, like, young
1447
01:10:15.029 --> 01:10:17.789
versions of you, like, healed young versions of you.
1448
01:10:18.069 --> 01:10:18.449
I mean.
1449
01:10:18.479 --> 01:10:19.069
Together. Yeah.
1450
01:10:20.270 --> 01:10:24.630
This morning, we were just talking when we first got together,
1451
01:10:25.090 --> 01:10:26.750
and they wanted me to do the play that I
1452
01:10:26.810 --> 01:10:29.729
won my first Tony Award for, King Hedley.
1453
01:10:29.770 --> 01:10:29.989
Yeah.
1454
01:10:30.470 --> 01:10:32.590
But I remember when I was offered the role, and
1455
01:10:34.069 --> 01:10:36.729
I said, I don't know if that role is good
1456
01:10:36.789 --> 01:10:39.329
enough for me, Julius. First of all, can I just
1457
01:10:39.350 --> 01:10:41.789
tell you, I never talk like this. So the fact
1458
01:10:41.829 --> 01:10:44.149
that I remember talking like this shows you that I'm
1459
01:10:44.170 --> 01:10:47.609
full of shit. So I said... Julius, that role is
1460
01:10:47.630 --> 01:10:49.300
not good enough for me. And he's sitting in the
1461
01:10:49.340 --> 01:10:51.840
living room. He's just listening to me. He just got
1462
01:10:51.880 --> 01:10:54.180
out of the shower. I said, this role is not
1463
01:10:54.220 --> 01:10:56.619
good enough for me. And, you know, they think I'm
1464
01:10:56.640 --> 01:10:57.899
going to go to New York and they think I'm
1465
01:10:57.920 --> 01:10:59.619
going to do A, B, and C. And they think
1466
01:10:59.640 --> 01:11:01.430
I'm going to do that role. I need the lead role.
1467
01:11:01.789 --> 01:11:05.289
I need to get the lead role. And he's listening, listening, listening.
1468
01:11:05.569 --> 01:11:08.649
And then there's a pause. And I said, so what
1469
01:11:08.670 --> 01:11:12.220
do you think, Julius? He said, this is what I think, Vee.
1470
01:11:13.220 --> 01:11:15.079
You need to take your ass to New York and
1471
01:11:15.100 --> 01:11:17.699
you need to do that damn play. Because here's the thing.
1472
01:11:17.960 --> 01:11:22.100
You ain't got no damn job. And we not bringing
1473
01:11:22.149 --> 01:11:23.930
in any damn money. So you need to go on
1474
01:11:23.970 --> 01:11:26.670
and take your ass to New York and do that play.
1475
01:11:27.029 --> 01:11:30.869
And we talk about that all the time. You know,
1476
01:11:30.909 --> 01:11:31.810
those moments.
1477
01:11:31.850 --> 01:11:32.170
Yes.
1478
01:11:32.409 --> 01:11:35.050
You know, of when I told him for the first
1479
01:11:35.130 --> 01:11:38.550
time that I had the most horrific credit. Yeah. And
1480
01:11:38.609 --> 01:11:41.670
I was about to cry. I said my credit score
1481
01:11:41.710 --> 01:11:45.569
was 500. And I kept that as a secret because
1482
01:11:45.609 --> 01:11:50.289
he was so organized and together and responsible, you know?
1483
01:11:50.850 --> 01:11:54.689
And I said, Julius, I have to tell you something.
1484
01:11:54.729 --> 01:11:59.739
He said, okay, B, go ahead. Tell me. I said, Julius,
1485
01:12:01.359 --> 01:12:04.739
I have bad credit. And he said, I knew your
1486
01:12:04.800 --> 01:12:07.340
black ass had bad credit from the moment I met you.
1487
01:12:07.890 --> 01:12:09.989
I could tell by the way you dressed and everything.
1488
01:12:10.029 --> 01:12:12.770
You were all over the damn place. That's okay. I
1489
01:12:12.829 --> 01:12:14.569
know you're starting to cry. Come over here. We use
1490
01:12:14.609 --> 01:12:16.739
my credit. Don't worry about it. I knew your black
1491
01:12:16.840 --> 01:12:19.699
ass had bad credit. And that was it. Wow. Like
1492
01:12:19.720 --> 01:12:22.340
moments like that. Yeah. Of levity. Yes.
1493
01:12:22.460 --> 01:12:23.140
Levity.
1494
01:12:23.520 --> 01:12:24.420
Levity of.
1495
01:12:24.779 --> 01:12:25.500
Safety.
1496
01:12:25.800 --> 01:12:27.460
Safety. Of connection.
1497
01:12:27.520 --> 01:12:28.020
Yes.
1498
01:12:29.159 --> 01:12:32.210
You know, the freedom that I had to tell him
1499
01:12:32.289 --> 01:12:36.300
I had bad credit. But also how honest. He helped
1500
01:12:36.340 --> 01:12:39.930
me build from there. That's the thing. That was my
1501
01:12:39.989 --> 01:12:43.409
big thing. I finally found it. Someone who makes your
1502
01:12:43.449 --> 01:12:44.010
life better.
1503
01:12:45.149 --> 01:12:45.689
That's love.
1504
01:12:46.390 --> 01:12:46.970
I think so.
1505
01:12:47.069 --> 01:12:47.810
Yeah.
1506
01:12:47.970 --> 01:12:49.829
That's what a healthy relationship looks like.
1507
01:12:50.069 --> 01:12:50.729
And a tight ass.
1508
01:12:50.810 --> 01:12:56.939
And a tight ass. To end our convo today, what's
1509
01:12:56.979 --> 01:12:59.689
the best thing about being in your 60s? It's the
1510
01:12:59.789 --> 01:13:02.350
next decade up for me. And I mean, I've been
1511
01:13:02.529 --> 01:13:05.090
loving my 50s more than my 40s and more and
1512
01:13:05.130 --> 01:13:09.210
more and more. What are you loving about your 60s?
1513
01:13:10.550 --> 01:13:15.640
In your 60s, your life is yours. That's the best
1514
01:13:15.699 --> 01:13:19.600
part of it. Your life is yours. You realize that,
1515
01:13:20.020 --> 01:13:23.979
you know, it's a quote that it's been running through
1516
01:13:24.020 --> 01:13:28.380
my mind is I know it's sort of morbid, but
1517
01:13:28.520 --> 01:13:32.319
on your last day on earth, the definition of hell
1518
01:13:32.380 --> 01:13:37.319
is your last day on earth, who you became meets
1519
01:13:37.380 --> 01:13:43.680
the person you could have become. I feel that that's sixties, man.
1520
01:13:44.640 --> 01:13:48.680
The sixties is I'm going to become that woman because
1521
01:13:48.840 --> 01:13:51.819
all that bullshit that I was told in the past
1522
01:13:51.880 --> 01:13:53.779
that You know, I had to make a certain amount
1523
01:13:53.800 --> 01:13:56.659
of money or to be smart enough or pretty enough
1524
01:13:56.720 --> 01:14:00.550
or thin enough or whatever. None of that shit means shit.
1525
01:14:00.979 --> 01:14:01.270
Yeah.
1526
01:14:02.170 --> 01:14:05.609
My life right now is about who I love, who
1527
01:14:05.670 --> 01:14:11.770
loves me, and what I leave behind. That's it. It
1528
01:14:11.850 --> 01:14:17.149
is clean. And it's given me a certain level of bravery, too. Now,
1529
01:14:17.189 --> 01:14:19.119
if I could put some hormones in there, that would
1530
01:14:19.300 --> 01:14:22.399
be beautiful. That's amazing.
1531
01:14:22.960 --> 01:14:24.680
It makes me really look forward to what's ahead.
1532
01:14:25.199 --> 01:14:28.390
Yeah, well, it's the other stuff too, but we won't
1533
01:14:28.430 --> 01:14:28.770
talk about that.
1534
01:14:28.779 --> 01:14:31.789
We won't talk about that. We'll deal with that when
1535
01:14:31.829 --> 01:14:36.409
it comes. Viola Davis, it means so much that you
1536
01:14:36.449 --> 01:14:39.930
did this. I mean, thank you for being here today
1537
01:14:40.069 --> 01:14:42.510
and for talking to me and for doing the show.
1538
01:14:42.529 --> 01:14:43.010
It's wonderful.
1539
01:14:45.239 --> 01:14:47.140
Absolutely adore you and your work.
1540
01:14:47.260 --> 01:14:48.300
Well, I love you too.
1541
01:14:48.359 --> 01:14:50.020
And I'd love to move in with you and your husband.
1542
01:14:50.159 --> 01:14:52.079
It won't be weird. I'll just be a roommate.
1543
01:14:52.699 --> 01:14:54.600
But don't go into the attic and don't eat the
1544
01:14:54.659 --> 01:14:55.619
saltine crackers.
1545
01:14:55.640 --> 01:14:56.180
I'm sorry.
1546
01:14:56.199 --> 01:14:58.220
Because you may get the baseball bat on your head.
1547
01:14:58.260 --> 01:14:58.819
Don't steal the crackers.
1548
01:14:58.840 --> 01:15:00.239
I'm sorry I live in your attic and I'm sorry
1549
01:15:00.300 --> 01:15:02.920
I steal your husband's saltines, but I get hungry up there,
1550
01:15:02.960 --> 01:15:04.960
but I want to listen to the two of you.
1551
01:15:05.039 --> 01:15:06.199
Thank you so much for coming.
1552
01:15:06.220 --> 01:15:07.770
It really means a lot. Thank you, Amy.
1553
01:15:09.890 --> 01:15:14.539
Thank you so much, Viola. You're incredible and so good
1554
01:15:14.560 --> 01:15:16.899
at what you do. And it was so wonderful to
1555
01:15:16.939 --> 01:15:21.329
talk to you. Thank you for stopping by. For this
1556
01:15:21.390 --> 01:15:22.109
Polar Plunge.
1557
01:15:23.880 --> 01:15:25.699
One person we didn't get a chance to talk to
1558
01:15:25.720 --> 01:15:29.319
Viola about that I know she highly reveres and was
1559
01:15:29.350 --> 01:15:33.409
deeply influenced by was the actress Cicely Tyson. And so
1560
01:15:33.670 --> 01:15:36.430
I just wanted to say her name here because I
1561
01:15:36.449 --> 01:15:39.189
know Viola has spoken about her and got to work
1562
01:15:39.229 --> 01:15:42.050
with her on many projects, including in How to Get
1563
01:15:42.069 --> 01:15:45.970
Away with Murder. But do yourself a favor. And if
1564
01:15:46.010 --> 01:15:51.189
you haven't seen Cicely Tyson's work, it spans an incredible time.
1565
01:15:51.920 --> 01:15:55.279
amount of time in in American history she lived to
1566
01:15:55.279 --> 01:15:58.159
96 and um many of us got to know her
1567
01:15:58.279 --> 01:16:02.619
when she um played um Kunta Kinte's mother in Roots
1568
01:16:03.399 --> 01:16:05.810
um but Cicely at that point had been working on
1569
01:16:06.010 --> 01:16:07.949
on the stage for a very long time and she's
1570
01:16:07.989 --> 01:16:12.430
just been in an incredible wide variety of television and
1571
01:16:12.470 --> 01:16:17.369
movies and is a really terrific actress and was one
1572
01:16:17.430 --> 01:16:22.689
of uh one of our Hollywood legends so um Check
1573
01:16:22.729 --> 01:16:25.670
her stuff out, I guess. Plunge into Cicely Tyson and
1574
01:16:25.710 --> 01:16:29.619
her work. And Viola Davis, we love you. We can't
1575
01:16:29.779 --> 01:16:32.359
wait to see what you're doing next. So thanks so
1576
01:16:32.390 --> 01:16:34.649
much for joining us and see you soon.
1577
01:16:34.689 --> 01:16:34.890
Bye.
1578
01:16:36.800 --> 01:16:39.640
You've been listening to Good Hang. The executive producers for
1579
01:16:39.659 --> 01:16:43.020
this show are Bill Simmons, Jenna Weiss-Berman, and me, Amy Poehler.
1580
01:16:43.300 --> 01:16:45.569
The show is produced by The Ringer and Paper Kite.
1581
01:16:45.869 --> 01:16:49.750
For The Ringer, production by Jack Wilson, Kat Spillane, Kaya McMullen,
1582
01:16:49.949 --> 01:16:53.810
and Alea Zanaris. For Paper Kite, production by Sam Green,
1583
01:16:54.109 --> 01:16:57.720
Joel Lovell, and Jenna Weiss-Berman. Original music by Amy Miles.