Viola Davis

[00:00] *music* [00:04] Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of Good Hang. We have the best of the best. We have the goat. We have Viola Davis joining us. [00:12] And man, we talk about so many fun things. We talk about growing up in Rhode Island and Boston and how we get rid of those accents. We talk about our mutual best friend, Meryl Streep. We talk about the time she jumped out of a plane. [00:26] and all the swearing she did on the way down. And we talk about the new book that she co-wrote with James Patterson called Judge Stone out now.

So we're going to get into a lot of great stuff and we're thrilled to have her here. And as we always do, we talk to someone at the beginning of the show that knows our guests or is a fan of our guests and has a question for us. And we talk well behind their back. And boy, we've got just a gem of a person. [00:56] producing partner, incredible, loving, supportive partner, [01:01] wonderful man who makes us all believe in love. He's the only spouse that we've allowed to be on the show.

[01:08] So far, and the expectation is high. So I cannot wait to talk to Julius. Julius, thank you for joining us. [01:15] Hi! [01:22] This episode of Good Hang is presented by Subaru. Some cars go the extra mile. Long-range Subaru hybrids take that to a whole new level. With up to 597 miles per tank in the Crosstrek Hybrid, a car that I've given my family, and up to 581 miles per tank in the Forester Hybrid. [01:41] Another car that I also enjoy. Subaru. Love goes the extra mile. Visit com slash hybrid to learn more.

Range based on EPA estimated combined fuel economy and a full tank of fuel. Actual mileage and range may vary. [02:05] Hello, Julius. Can you hear me? Hello. [02:08] I can. Hey, Amy. Hi, it's such a pleasure to meet you. It's a pleasure to meet you, too. And I just want to say quickly that we love you. And you're always amazing and funny as hell and full and... [02:22] All that stuff. So, so nice to meet you. Julius, thank you so much. You're welcome. You got me blushing already. Thank you for saying that.

I want you to know that we... I mean it. I mean it. Well, I can tell that about you. I think you say what you mean. You and Viola. Yes. [02:40] Yes, we do. Thank you for that. We you know, so we do this thing at the beginning of whenever we interview someone, we talk to someone that knows them really well and we get a question for them and we just talk well behind their back. And I want you to know you are the first spouse. [02:56] that we have spoken to among all of our guests.

I feel honored. And I think it's because you two seem to actually really like each other. We kind of do. We kind of do. [03:11] Now, pleasure to meet you, Julius. You know, you're an actor, writer, producer. You're the president of Juvie Productions, which is the company that you and Viola and others run. And you've got amazing projects that you've done and are getting ready to do. [03:25] But can I start by just asking you, um, [03:30] to take us back to the day that you and Viola met on set.

Oh, wow. That was incredible. It was 1999. It was City of Angels. I was playing an anesthesiologist. She was Nurse Lynette Peeler, and I was passing blood to her. And I was dating a girl at the time that I wasn't so happy with. And then so I said, wow, this lady looks like she could be somebody nice. I could maybe [03:58] Give my card to. So at the end of the day, I gave him my card and I had my shirt on. The story is, if my shirt had been off, she would have never called me.

But I had my shirt on and I gave him my card and I said, hey, if you want to hang out, whatever, whatever, give me a call. Well, she did. A month later, she called me. [04:16] I had literally forgot about it, but I hadn't forgot about her. So when I heard her voice, I went, hey. [04:22] And then she invited me to a cast thing for the main cast because I was recurring on the show. And we went out on our first date. [04:32] Almost 27 years ago. And here we are.

23 years married coming up this summer. 27 years this October. So it's been beautiful. But that's how it started. Oh, I love that story. And I love that you guys met just your typical way, just passing blood to each other. Yeah, just passing the regular stuff, just passing blood. And she kind of fit in those, you know, she fit in those things pretty good. [05:02] my car. [05:06] I mean, what's so sweet about [05:10] hearing the two of you talk about each other is you both met each other. [05:15] Um, when you were coming up.

Yeah. And what, what's it like to be, you know, two young actors, um, [05:24] working hard to make ends meet and, you know, being in love. Listen, it's tough. Listen, when I met Viola, she was scared to tell me she had bad credit. I said, hey, baby, it's OK. I got good credit. You know, but it was it's one of those tough things. But, you know, Amy, it's about supporting one another. One, the other one supports the other equally. And and that's what we did. We just went about kind of loving on each other and [05:54] And so it just so happened that Viola's career just really started to take off.

And it's been a beautiful thing. And I'm glad to be a part of it. People say, how do you handle it? How do you do what you do? Whatever. I said, because I know who I am. Man, it starts with you knowing who you are. I don't care how powerful your woman is or what she's doing. If your woman knows that you can handle yourself and that you know who you are, then she's going to. [06:20] go, wow, hey, my guy's good. And so that's the way Viola and I have roles.

So it's about me supporting her and vice versa. So it's just been easy for us. Oh, Julius. Everyone listening right now is just going, ah! Julius! I'm just going to play that on a loop. Well, thank you. And it is the truth. But you're right. You have to know who you are. You do. You're right. [06:50] Because you can be so competitive, even though we're not competing against each other. I'm a man. [06:55] You're a woman, but we're not competing against each other, but we're in the same business. And sometimes that intersection, when one is elevating and the other is kind of like not, it can create a lot of different kind of issues.

[07:08] weird kind of energy and things in a relationship. And so, listen, this is what we do. It's not who we are. [07:17] This thing and all this, what we do, it's not who we are. So we figured that out early on. And so it's just been always easy because it's always been in support of one another. Well, it's a beautiful thing because you're you're reminding me of just the word self in the phrase self-esteem. It really is your own work to do always. Amy, I can say that I met Viola almost 27 years ago.

She's the same woman I met when I met her all those years ago. [07:47] the same viola. And I think that's what makes people just so drawn to viola because she's so real and so authentic. Can we talk about The Woman King? Because congratulations on that. Thank you so much. What a [08:00] Yeah. What was that like making that together? It was a great journey. It was great to be able to do a movie like that because a movie like that hadn't been done in Hollywood ever. That's right. And so be able to do a movie like that and have it come out so beautiful, so accepted by the audiences on a global scale.

It meant a whole, whole lot to Viola and myself. [08:30] But still saying, you know what? Be damned. We're just going to go make it anyway, because we know it's going to have a cultural impact and it's going to be long lasting. And as it turned out, you know, AFI chose it that year to be one of the great films that was made that year. And so we're just so proud to have done that together. And so. [08:50] And battling it out, you know, just battling it out, fight even in what you want, you know, as hard as it is, Amy, you just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

If you want something, you have to go for it. And that's what Viola and I continually with our team, because I'm a big team guy. Well, I was going to say you're a football, ex-football player. I am an ex-football player. Did you ever coach? [09:11] I never coached. Because you have a coach vibe. But I was, you know, I wanted to act. I was kind of like I looked at, you know, my idols back in the day when I was thinking about acting and playing football. You know, it was it was Jim Brown, Bernie Casey, Fred Williamson, some of the old school guys from way back in the day when I was saying, shit, they can do it.

I can do it. So, you know, that was kind of a thing. And but I always loved the arts. I always loved it. It started with poetry. And then, you know, obviously. [09:41] real coach five and you do something that I absolutely love, which is [09:44] Every other sentence, you say my name. And boy, does it work. Every time you say my name, I'm like, yes. He's talking to me. I love it so much. [09:57] Okay. I'm sure you've. [09:59] uh, you've got a sense now of what Viola likes to be asked and what she like is asked constantly about and doesn't want to answer anymore.

Like, you know, there's always these questions that are like, you know, people think they're asking for the first time or topics that, is there anything you would, if you don't mind helping me out to make sure I don't get into an area or a question that she's like, Oh, this again. Well, you know, I think it would be fun to ask her some questions [10:29] together. This one is ask her the origin of Zuni. Okay. Ask her, say, Viola, what's this whole thing about Zuni? What is that thing? Well, let me just tell you a little bit.

It's a animated Muppet cartoon that I grew up with. And the show was called Fireball XL5. And Zuni was one of the endearing characters. And they were going on space exploration. It was about that. And I was a kid. [10:59] name I gave Viola. I call her Zuni. And the reason I do, because I love Zuni so much and I love Viola. So that is so endearing to me. So when I'm calling her Zuni, it's not because of what Zuni looks like. It's because I love the hell out of Zuni.

Okay. But I'm going to have to Google Zuni and see what Zuni. Yeah, you got to Google them real quick and you'll see Fireball XL5. Okay. And you'll see Zuni. But I love Zuni. So ask her about Zuni. Okay. Another thing is ask her about our first theatrical [11:29] Shadow of a Gunman. Just say, you and Julius went to a place, the Shadow of a Gunman thing. What is that, Viola? Give us, let us know. She'll tell you. It's kind of a funny story. You know, the regular questions about the business and all that.

We can always talk about projects and stuff like that. And she's great to talk about that stuff. But she oftentimes doesn't like to talk about the mundane stuff that you have to answer a thousand times. But it always surprises me. She's always able to answer this stuff as if it was new. I'm like, how the hell you do that, Viola? [11:59] You know, yeah, I'm like, why are you doing that? OK, well, she was going to people like I can pull a rabbit out of my ass. And I'm going, well, you kind of can.

Well, Julius, I know. [12:12] You guys... [12:13] You're the best couple in the world, and we're not going to be able to interview any other spouse after this because you set such a high bar. [12:23] Well. [12:26] And not like it's a competition, but you've won a gold medal in – [12:30] relationships. Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure being with you this morning. Same. Love talking to you. Thank you so much for your time and such a pleasure. Thanks again. You too. Okay. Take care. Bye. All right. Listen up.

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See you out for details. [13:30] that you're here. I'm happy to be here. I've been like not working for the longest time. Congrats. I feel like it's I feel like I'm coming out of hibernation. Yeah. And I'm like, holy shit, this is what I do. Well, I got to tell you, we got to start by saying you were the first EGOT we've had. [13:46] And probably the last. I mean, let's get real. I mean, that was very. There's not a lot of us. No, there's like 18, 19. Uh-huh, uh-huh. I have to tell you that it wasn't until I won the Oscar for Fences and someone said, you're one step away from an EGOT.

I never thought of it before. So cool. I didn't think about it. It wasn't like that sort of thing for me. Oh, that's so cool. I mean, it's just, it is. And again, not something anyone's like. [14:15] thinking about when they're starting out, but just. It's cool. It's cool. It is. It's cool. It's cool. It's not going to be on my gravestone, Amy, but it's cool. It is so cool. On my gravestone, it's going to be that I interviewed you. You got a winner. And also, before we get started, I was going to say the Timmy, Timothee, Timotay, Chalamet shout out was so cool.

Oh, and my daughter was, that was it for her. She's 15. That was it. Timothee Chalamet, mama. [14:45] I mean, good company to be in. And of course, we all agreed with him. But you spoke about it. And I love what you said about how you loved his speech. What did you love about it? Because I did too. Like the essence of what he was saying in that speech. Well, because what I loved about the speech is he has a spirit of excellence. You know, some people... [15:04] Mm-hmm. [15:05] I always negotiate, Amy.

So if you feel like I take a long pause, I'm just negotiating what I'm about to say. So I don't step on toes and I don't work ever again in the industry. But some people don't have the spirit of excellence. They have this spirit of mistaking their presence for the event, for mediocrity, for just beauty. But it's great that he had the spirit of excellence without putting me in it. [15:33] At all. I'm not saying that. But I love that with young actors. Me too. And I also I love when people are um [15:43] I guess openly ambitious and in real time saying, I really want to try to get the best out of myself and others like when they say it.

Absolutely. I love that. Ambition, too, is different than ego. Yeah, that's right. And I saw the ambition in him. And he happens to be incredibly talented. Yes. So what is like I like young people. Listen, just like I love bad kids. I love a bad kid, like a two year old bad kid. [16:13] little bad kid at my wedding, my first wedding, I had three ceremonies, Amy. But my first wedding, I had a little bad kid who stuck his whole finger in my cake. I thought it was the best thing in the world.

So I love a bad kid. But I also love young people who have an attitude. I do. The world is going to get at you. It's going to kick your ass, just leave you in the dumpster. So it's really great when you go out in the world and you have the chutzpah. You have that self-possession, [16:43] I was so much of a good girl, you know, with shitty boyfriends who made me feel like shit. And I was just still like worshiping at their feet. So, yeah, I like attitude. Do you think that's an East Coast thing?

Because we're both East Coast. I grew up in Boston. You're Rhode Island. You weren't born there, but you spent most of your time in Rhode Island. Okay, Boston. Yeah. And what's the difference between Boston and Rhode Island? Nothing. You still say Florida. [17:13] Oh, my God. I eat grinders and cabinets. Okay, that's different. And drink from the bubbler. Oh, yeah, bubbler. [17:21] The first time I said bubbler was at Cal Poly Pomona. Which is a water fountain anywhere else. And I said, you know where the bubbler is? And Guy literally, he stood there for the longest time.

He was like... [17:35] What the fuck are you talking about? Totally. And he finally said the water fountain. I was like, water fountain with the statues? [17:44] Well, did you say pocketbook instead of purse? Oh, no. Pocketbook all the way. Pocketbook. Pocketbook. And wicked good. Wicked. Wicked good, man. Everything is wicked good. I mean, my parents, they would go into a bar. They'd be like, can we have a beer? And they'd be like, oh, you're from Boston. And I'd be like, how do you know? Well, just one word. [18:05] that I wouldn't want to trade.

I like that about people. Yes, absolutely. [18:10] But the other side of that coin can be like a roughness, like just a toughness and roughness. And, you know, Amy, I'm black. So it comes with a different set of rules of roughness. Yeah. You know, and so, you know, I came from. [18:26] Plain spoken people. Yeah. You know, I always say it's like it's like I'm negotiating. Oh, my God. I love the sound of your to go. We should put some music over it when you're thinking. Yeah. Tupac. You can put Tupac.

But I just remember visiting someone's at one point and I took a bus and I got off the bus and I told my friend, well, make sure the person who's coming to pick me up. [18:56] Okay. I waited there, Amy. [19:00] 30 minutes. [19:01] maybe longer, waiting for the person to pick me up. Finally, I find them. I go to my friend and I said, why couldn't they find me? And he said, well, I described you. I said, well, how did you describe me? Oh, I just said you were cute.

[19:16] And you had long hair. Amy, I'm black with long braids. I said, did you tell him I was black? I was the only black girl on the bus. He was like, oh, I didn't feel like I could say that. You know, but the thing with where you're talking about plain spoken thing about black people, they call it as it is. You know, that black girl who come out and she got the tattoo on her left titty and she got one tooth coming out of her mouth. It's that girl. [19:46] my mom and dad.

They were that plain spoken. Well, you talk, I mean, you've spoken beautifully about your childhood growing up and the difficulties in it and the way that you've like been processing it in real time as an adult now. And, but I think, and I don't know if this is the same for you as I get older, I start trying to look at my, my origin, the place of origin and figure out what gifts it gave me and what pain it gave me at the same time. Right. And there is [20:16] with you.

[20:17] And I know this sounds silly, but like the accent that we just did, like the accent sticks around. I always say like when I'm angry or really excited, my accent comes out sometimes. Yeah. Does your accent? My accent comes out too, even when I'm acting. Yeah. Especially in an emotional scene. Interesting. And it just surprises me. It'll jump out at me. And, you know, of course, I went to a school in New York that kills your accent. Yeah. [20:47] still have an accent at Juilliard by your fourth year. Right.

And by my second year, they warned me and said, you cannot come back to the school until you [20:56] Fix up whatever the hell this is going on. And so I remember like every single day for two hours practicing how to say father instead of father. Father. And, you know, at Juilliard, when you speak to it, when you're walking around, they put a pencil in your mouth. Mm hmm. [21:16] During rehearsal, they put a pencil in your mouth to see where your tongue is when you're articulating your sentences. So I was traumatized into just catapulting that, not realizing that's a beautiful thing.

Yeah. Have you ever gotten to play anyone with a... [21:33] you know, with a Rhode Island accent or Boston accent and like let it rip. [21:38] No, Amy. Nobody's writing a black girl from Rhode Island roles. Well, maybe we do a road trip. Maybe I need to write it. Maybe you need to. I mean, I mean, you're what you're talking about going to Juilliard and. [21:52] You've talked a lot about it and your training there and what you took from it. And before you got there, who told you or when did you have that feeling of, I want to be an actor?

The reason I ask, I'm the daughter of school teachers. No one I knew was an actor. I didn't know any actors. I didn't, like, of course, I knew famous people in movies and TV, but I didn't know that would be a job of mine. [22:17] But I was in school plays and people would come up and say, [22:21] You were good. Yeah, exactly. You know, like you hung in there. And it surprises you, right? Yeah. But for me, it's gradual. So it's hard to pinpoint one person in one moment. But I swear to you.

[22:35] The more I think about it, [22:37] I have to pinpoint the moment that we won the skit contest at Jenks Park when I was eight years old. [22:45] Amy, that was it. Yeah. Because I was so shy. Yeah. You know, and brutally shy. Yeah. Like to the point where I couldn't speak in public. And so we did the skit, you know, and I played the kid from That's My Mama. That's Ted Lang. I don't know if you remember that show. I don't want to aid you. [23:15] that man who reported.

So I was a kid. My sister Dolores was, what's his name from Let's Make a Deal? Montel. Oh, Monty Hall. Monty Hall. She was Monty Hall. My sister Anita was Esther, Aunt Esther from Sanford and Son. And my sister Diane was Fred Sanford. Oh my God. I think I put, I have it in my book, but we created a game show, sort of reality show where we had to come on [23:45] a story of how you saved a life. And whoever had the best story won a million dollars. What are you in the birth order of the sisters?

Next to the youngest. I have one younger sister who was mine. [23:57] Baby. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, wow. So, three, so four girls in the same family rehearsing, like doing skits, doing comedy. Having rewrites. Yeah. You know, having rewrites. We had a little wardrobe budget of $2.50. We'd go to Salvation Army and, you know, or raid my mom's closet. The whole thing was we did the skit contest because we were like, they... [24:23] Fucking people in this town. Fuck her, fuck her. I mean, people who like were bullies. Yeah. You know, and we were like, we're going to stick it to them.

We're going to win the confidence. Yeah. Once again, the self-possession and just being and everyone in Central Falls was there. People were sitting on rocks. You know, the newspaper was there, Amy. Yeah. And we won. [24:46] Damn, that must have been so exciting. Viola, I mean, it's going to be hard for me to not [24:52] talk about how great you are this whole time. To me, that story feels like when an athlete realizes like, [25:00] oh, I'm naturally good at hitting a baseball or something, you know, you are... [25:08] so good at what you do.

Well, I appreciate that. And the naturalness of what you do combined with your [25:15] determination and skill. It's just... [25:18] So, I, [25:20] I mean, I wish I could have a time machine and go back to that day and see you performing because I can only imagine that people... [25:27] pointed at you and said, wow. Well, I don't know if anyone pointed at me and said, wow, but I pointed at myself and I said, wow. And, [25:37] How do you go from there to Juilliard? How do you... You know what?

We'll never know. You never know. But what do you audition with to get into Juilliard? I audition with... [25:51] Sealy from Color Purple. Oh, God. That was my dramatic. And then I auditioned with a sort of comedy piece from, God damn it, I'm forgetting. Oh, boy. But it was sort of French comedy. Like a farce kind of thing? Uh-huh. Yeah. I mean, when you were... [26:13] doing Shakespeare, do you have a way to memorize Shakespeare? How do you like to memorize? [26:22] It's a process. So you have to figure out who you are, what you live for, all that other stuff that nobody ever wants to hear about, by the way.

It's so boring. It really is. I know what you mean. But what is cool about it is... [26:38] I think that the skill involves with the [26:41] You know, the hard work, which is the theme, I would say, of looking at your body of work and your life is that you just have never shied away from hard work. You've never run away from it. Oh, thank you. And memorizing is really hard. Memorizing is, you know what, memorizing is the least difficult part of acting. Oh, I think these days, I'm finding it so hard.

[27:11] You're a actor looking in your face and they're waiting for the line. Now I'm big with this. And then you know that someone has dropped. I did this with Meryl Streep, you know, in doubt. She had a line. I had a line or whatever. And then nothing. I'm looking in her face. Nothing. She's saying nothing. I'm saying nothing. It's obviously someone dropped the line. Yeah. And then I realize. [27:33] She's the one who dropped the line. Oh, my God. Thank God. Melor Figgins, she dropped the line. And so then we did it three more times, three more times that scene.

She kept dropping the line. And in my brain, I was like. [27:47] say the fucking line. Of course. But I can't tell Meryl Streep, you forgot the line. Right. Right. You keep forgetting the line. And finally we did it. And she was like, why does something feel off? And I said, because you keep forgetting the line. [28:04] You forgot the line, Meryl. And she's like, I'm not perfect. And then she, no, she just said, well, why didn't you say something? [28:17] But but the the the Shakespeare itself feels just like you really got to, I guess your point, you got to just keep living in it, living in it.

Here's the hardest thing about Shakespeare, too. Please. What the hell are you saying? What are you saying? And what are you saying? And also the iambic pentameter and also. [28:39] boy, actors are going to kill me for this. But I went to Juilliard. And you don't want it to be boring. [28:47] Listen, they're not going to kill you for that. Here's the thing about Shakespeare. [28:51] All it is is people acting it and listening to it and going like this. And I'm like, you don't know what you're talking about. And we don't know what you're saying.

Well, here's the thing, too. And if you don't know what they're saying, then they're not doing it correctly. Exactly. But you can't say, you know what? [29:09] It's boring. [29:10] I know. And Julie are... [29:12] I would fall asleep a lot. Oh, my God. I have a friend who it would piss her off. As soon as I was in the class, we'd have the greatest actors, greatest Shakespearean actors in the world come to the school. Within five minutes, I would be dead asleep. I would be knocked out with my lip hit in my lap.

I mean, I would be knocked out. And to this day, she was like, I can't even believe you would do that. I can't believe you would do that. And I said, did you ever did it ever occur to you that it just happened? [29:42] Didn't excite me. [29:45] But that's the thing with Shakespeare. You just don't want it to be boring because at the end of the day, it's a thing. It's just about people. It can be kings and queens. I mean, it's a soap opera most of the time, those plays.

But, I mean, thank you for saying that because the thing about, like, art in general is if you don't figure out how to find a way in, sometimes you feel really strange when everybody else is in there and you're like, what is it? How come I can't connect? [30:15] But Amy, let me tell you something. We're going down the road of talking by acting like it's real deep. People don't see it. I see it as deep. You see it as deep. Most people do not see it as deep because once again, it's about mistaking your presence for the event.

Yeah, that's right. I mean, my big thing are love scenes. I can't stand love scenes. I can't stand watching them. I can't stand doing them. [30:45] scenes anymore. I mean, that's it. You write a love scene. I'm not doing it. Unless you, [30:50] You give me... [30:51] A boyfriend. [30:52] who has a stomach. [30:54] Wait, say more. [30:57] A big gut. Yeah. And you know why? Why? [31:02] Because you'll actually write the scene. [31:04] It won't be about taking off the shirt and the six pack abs. That's right. I mean, I'm watching.

I did a scene with Billy Brown, who I love. Billy Brown loved everyone. And it's TV. Yeah. So Annalise Keating is in bed. [31:20] Annalise Keating is sort of sleeps with a lot of people, men, women, which cannot be any opposite for me. I mean, I'm like, oh, my God. So and I'm in the bed, I'm laying down and everything. And then he gets up with his underwear and they I mean, they're literally just taking his underwear down, putting his makeup on. And he's got his abs. [31:50] and slap it on his hand as if he's slapping my ass.

So he's like slap, slap, slap. [31:57] As we say in the dialogue. [32:00] I'm in the scene, Amy, and I'm like, you gotta cut. You gotta cut. Please cut. [32:07] That is, that's my nightmare. That's a nightmare. It's a frigging nightmare. That's a nightmare. So I said, if you write someone with a gut, maybe we won't be in bed. Maybe it'll be about everything else. And then when we finally kiss, it's like something that's organically happening. But right now for me, [32:24] A lot of love scenes, it's like, that's the time to go to the bathroom.

[32:29] If you want to pick up, go to the bathroom. You come back. You haven't missed anything. Oh, my God. I feel you. I feel you. I've not done many. But the couple times it's been on the call sheet, I'm like, oh, no. This is the worst day. And by the way, anybody that's like, ooh, I got a love scene today, red flag. [32:49] I have to do a love scene with – [32:52] Thank you. [32:52] Tom Verica, who cannot be more lovely. How to Get Away with Murder. First love scene.

Well, actually, my first love scene was with Billy Brown in the... [33:02] And it got cut. And I'm so happy it got cut because we were having sex on my car in Philadelphia. It was 12 degrees. I was terrified. First love scene in my life. But the second love scene, Tom Verica, who plays my husband, Hanukkah, we were murdered. [33:20] So we're getting prepared for the love scene. [33:23] Thank you. [33:23] In the trailer. [33:24] And the makeup artists are saying, so do you want anything to cover? I mean, I have stretch marks.

Yeah. I mean, I got stretch marks everywhere. I got stretch marks on my ass. I got stretch marks on my arms. I got stretch marks everywhere. I'm just going to say it. We all do. And so I'm like, yeah, I want makeup. I want makeup on my arms. Yeah. I want makeup on my ass. And it's like. [33:44] I got makeup on my ankles. Okay. He's getting makeup on. I mean, we're just basically spraying ourselves with makeup. Both of us terrified. Okay. And then finally I had the big aha moment.

I said, Tom, this is what we're going to do. We're going to hold it up for the regular people. Yes. We're going to hold it up for the people out there who, you know, may have a little bit of something sticking out there or whatever. And, [34:11] And, [34:12] There was makeup all over the sheet, makeup all over the bed, you know, you know, thank God my wig didn't come off, you know, and that was nothing sexy about it. Nothing. When you do a love scene, in my opinion, there's nothing sexy about it.

It's just it's hard. [34:42] August Wilson. Can you talk about how you felt about doing his work and how important he is to you as a writer? Well, he's important because he writes about [34:51] Black people. It's our cadences. It's my mom, my dad, my father. It's how we talked, you know, how I listened to them, how I talked, you know. And that's the beauty of it. Because, you know, otherwise, listen, I went to Juilliard, we were doing George Bernard Shaw, Strindberg, you know, Chekhov, who I love, you know, Shakespeare.

So I did Blanche DuBois. [35:15] I mean, it was just a scene. But I have to do, if you've ever read Blanche DuBois, I could not be any different than Blanche DuBois. She's extremely fragile. Yeah. [35:26] you know, fading beauty queen, you know, all of those things. So to see [35:32] And to hear me, you know, take my deep voice and try to whittle it down and sound like a white Southern woman and doing all that. It was like, oh, my, I can't do this. I mean, I shouldn't say I can't do it.

I can do it. I can transform. I could do all of that. But then, you know, people in the audience have got it. You know, let me ignore the fact that this is a deep voice black woman who is self-possessed and very grounded and is not. [36:03] I don't do any of that. Yeah. I still have to do the work. [36:07] But I could do it work in a way that invites me in. [36:11] You know, and that's the beauty of that's the beauty of August Wilson. And you're nominated for a Tony three years after you get out of school for that.

I mean, do you remember when you found out you were nominated? That must have been an incredible feeling. [36:27] I found out I was nominated. You know, back in the day, back in the day when you had those answering machines that you had to call. [36:37] You had to call the answering machine. I would call every single day to see if I had an audition. So I called and my agent at the time said, Viola, you got a Tony nomination. Oh, my God. [36:50] I ran to my parents' house. [36:54] They don't know what a Tony Award is.

And my little nieces and nephews, they don't know what the hell a Tony Award is. I ran in the house. I said, you guys. My little nieces and nephews, they were in their diapers, running around, acting bad. Like I love bad kids. I ran in the house. I said, you guys. [37:11] I got a Tony nomination and they were, they started throwing themselves on the floor. They didn't know what the hell the Tony nomination was, but we all just jumped in. I mean, come on. Yeah. Amazing. Come on. [37:31] you were a

[37:34] very accomplished working actor on a lot of shows before a kind of America at large knew your name. You had a really substantial body of work. Do you feel like that allowed you, you know, it was just like that 10,000 hours idea that you worked really hard and often and kind of figured out [37:56] You worked in TV, you worked in film, you worked on stage. You like got to like feel confident in your skill. Yes. But once again, that's the task. Yeah, but it's not always everyone's root. No, I understand.

Yeah. And I understand that. And therein lies the problem. Yeah. [38:13] with the business that [38:16] Anyone feels like they can do it, you know. [38:19] But there was never a time when I was at the Guthrie Theater or working in Newton, Massachusetts. I worked in Newton, Massachusetts. [38:27] I've worked everywhere. I've worked with everyone. Huntington Theatre, ACT, Mark Tate Perform, Goodman Theatre. [38:34] I thought I'd already made it. Yeah. [38:37] I did. Yeah. You know, making your six fifty a week and then you did your 10 weeks and then you qualified for unemployment.

So you got your unemployment and you call in that unemployment every Sunday. Got that three fifty. I think it went up to three three hundred ninety dollars a week. I thought I'd already made it because I could say that I'm an actor. But you do have to put in those hours in order to have some level of a process. [39:08] This is my thing with actors. It's a little bit of my pet peeve. [39:12] a little bit, is this. [39:14] If you have a criticism, [39:17] for a writer. You never have it for another actor.

You don't criticize them. That's like a no, no. Okay. I don't care if it's a day player. You don't tell anyone how to act. That's the director's job. But if you have a criticism of the work, if you say, you know, this scene is not working, you have to tell them why. [39:38] And you have to know how to fix it. [39:41] I will say. [39:44] Once again, I'm negotiating. I would say 98% of the time people don't know how to fix it. Yeah. [39:50] That's such a great point because I've often said, [39:54] that actors should spend a day being a writer, getting notes from actors, because the way that people give writers feedback is often appalling.

It's like, this isn't, and not just actors, anybody, but like the way writers receive feedback is like dismissive. It's insulting. They don't have a fix. Like to your point, something they've worked really, really hard on. They hand it over and people just kind of like open it up and barely pay attention to it. [40:24] They don't they don't they they're like challenging stuff before it's even tried out. And then conversely, I always say to writers now put on someone else's clothes. That's right. Go over there and scramble an egg while you remember two two pages of dialogue while everyone, you know, is on the other side of the room drinking coffee, looking at you.

[40:54] Sometimes it's really not that deep to fix something. It could be a simple choice. But what happens is the filter changes. [41:04] that goes through is, okay, is it going to get more viewers? Are people going to want to see it? Is it going to turn on the 18 to 34-year-old boys who come see the movie? That's a big one, Amy. Oh, yeah. I mean. The boys. The boys. And also, will men care about this project? And it's like, I don't know. Yeah, that was the woman king. Oh, yeah.

I bet there was a lot of discussion about, like, we want to make sure our men show up. And it's like, do we? Do we want to make sure men show up? Like, these days, me too. [41:34] I've been like, maybe they don't come to this one. Exactly. How about we just make one? We just make one for us. Just one. I'm playing a goji warrior. I've just chopped off five men's heads in the first two minutes. And maybe it's just not for them. I mean, it's like a lot of the notes were, you know, less dirt and more lipstick.

Are you freaking kidding me? Wild. Are you kidding me? Wild. [42:04] Lipstick? [42:06] an eyelash extension. That film, you are so badass in that film. That film, [42:11] Film is so beautiful. I loved it. You and your husband produced it together, generated it, made it for yourself. Such an example of like taking the currency that you had and using it and making that project. And the thing I wanted to ask you about the Woman King is, and for people that don't know, it's, you know, [42:31] based on a real story for people that don't know about, could you explain what it was based on?

It's based on the Agogia tribe or warriors in Dahomey in Benin, West Africa in like 1854. And they were all female army unit that would go out and fight neighboring tribes and, you know, Yoruba tribes. Now, you know, the controversy is, is there was a lot of controversy, you know, [43:01] Mm-hmm. [43:14] Mostly without getting into it because there will never be enough time in the world. Dark skinned females who have muscles and who are taking men down. I mean, I trained for five hours a day and I was the oldest mother freaking warrior in the movie.

[43:32] So we train five hours a day for months, hand-to-hand combat. I have to tell you, though, with that movie, without getting too much into it, because there's a lot about that movie. Yeah. [43:44] That was like very important to me. Yeah. [43:47] I didn't think it was a big deal. [43:50] For women. [43:51] to be warriors. Right. [43:54] I didn't think that it was a big deal to have a title title. [43:58] Like the woman king. Mm-hmm. [44:00] Because first of all, there's a lot of kings who are women in Africa.

They're actually called kings. [44:07] I didn't know that that was going to be a controversy. [44:10] Until we did it. [44:12] Hmm. I thought this is bad ass. I mean, I would take my toy machete home to practice with my husband. I mean, not around my husband because he would say, oh, this is a lot. But but but I just didn't know it was a big deal until we started shooting it. And there was. [44:32] You know, can we make your curls looser and more pretty? Mm-hmm. [44:35] Could we do eyelash extensions?

[44:39] Maybe a different title. [44:42] You know, this whole sort of watering down of what it means to be. Yes, this idea of just don't forget to stay soft. Yeah. Like while you're the hardest warrior ever, don't forget to be a little bit cute and soft. Because God forbid you just step into your full power. [45:00] Absolutely. And God forbid that you don't turn me on. That's right. That you don't look sexy. That's right. And, you know, it sort of leads into the whole thing of the value of beauty. Mm hmm.

[45:14] You know, that's right. I mean, I'm definitely like at 60 years old. I feel fabulous because I am one of those women. I got that done and over with very, very early in life. You know, I feel for the beautiful women who were younger and now they're older and they walk in the room and no one's looking at them. [45:44] the woman King, like the way in which you, [45:47] created this new relationship to your body in your fifties. I think a lot of women, I know a lot of women, I know I speak for myself.

You start to really take, you really kind of look and you say, okay, this is my one body. I really, you know, the, the ways in which I got to kind of put it [46:03] on the back burner in my 20s and 30s. I really have to pay attention to it now. And I've joked on here, like we got to eat 85 grams of protein and we have to lift weights. But you did that. You, what happened? [46:16] What did you learn about yourself when you were training five hours a day?

You know what, Amy? It was the first time I could walk into a room with that person [46:27] Thank you. [46:27] It was a leather sort of shirt I had on, armor that I had on. And so my stomach was exposed. It was the first time I can walk on the field and in a room and totally be in my body. You know, there is something about the female body, what you're sort of conditioned to believe about it, that it's got to be beautiful. Right. Yeah. So it's got to be thin and beautiful.

[46:57] always tied to male desirability. That's right. It's never tied to being capable. It's tied to a shrinking. Yeah, exactly. Shrinking and not being capable, not being strong, not being, you know, [47:13] It's never ours. Yeah. And so even in the practicing process, [47:19] Thank you. [47:19] Thank you. [47:20] I was going to lie a little bit. [47:23] I was going to lie a little bit. Well, I hope it was a little tiring. Like, I hope you were days where you were like. No, no, no. This is what the lie was.

Okay. This is what the lie was, Amy. Okay, cue music for negotiating. Yeah, cue, you know, hit him up by Tupac. [47:40] I was going to say, you know, if, you know, just to, in the practicing, because we would do an hour of weightlifting, 30 minutes of running on the treadmill at 10.0. [47:53] Oh, I've done 10.0. That is a disaster. And it was a disaster. Wait, 30 minutes straight of 10.0? Like, was it sprints? Sprints. God damn it. And then three and a half hours. I mean, by the end, I mean, and you saw all these young girls.

They'd have a little sweat on their bodies. I would sweat out three, four shirts a day. So I would go to choreo for three and a half hours, and you're taking down eight, seven dudes at the same time, okay? Eight, seven dudes. [48:23] What I was going to say is, you know, it was it was so great because then I could really tap into the part of me that I never tapped into before. That's bullshit. [48:34] I was always that girl that wanted to kick someone's ass and probably did a couple of times.

But. [48:40] It gave me permission to do it. Yes. And there was one guy, the huge six, four people. [48:48] 260... [48:50] I mean, come on. That's exciting. And I felt like I could do it. Yeah, yeah. Now, whether I could do it or not in real life, who knows? But the feeling like I could. You have stood toe to toe with such amazing actors, Denzel. You talked about Meryl. You worked with Chadwick. When you're in that zone with people that good and you're like, what is it? I guess I'm asking you, what's it like to be in the World Series?

Yes, exactly. [49:20] I'm not pissing your pants. [49:24] Well, with Meryl, that was it. Yeah, I mean, she's the best. She's so great. She's great and funny. And cool. And cool. Meryl. It's like you could be that great and that cool. Well, you're like that, too. That's why you guys are so good, because you're so good that you don't have to be [49:42] assholes because you know how good you are. And you know those assholes out there. Yes, because they're not that good. Or I should say they're not being led by insecurity.

So you and Meryl meet. Of course you guys are friends and respect each other because you're both so good. But I followed her. [49:58] Everywhere. [50:00] On set. [50:01] I mean, to the point where it was like, you know, when you say to yourself, okay, [50:07] Tomorrow I'm not going to do that because I don't think it made a, [50:11] It didn't make her feel comfortable because at one point she would never admit this. She probably doesn't remember it, but she was going to set and I was trying to keep her from going to set.

[50:22] because I was too excited. So I was like, so how's it going? She was like, oh, good. So I'll see you later. She was going up the stairs. And then I was like, so, so it was going good, right? So, so the day was really good. And you could, you know, when someone's trying to do something and you're stopping them from doing it and they don't feel like they don't want to be rude to you by going, shut the fuck up. I got to get to set. So she was being really nice.

And I said, okay, so I'll see you later. Right. So I used to work next week. So I worked next week and you know, [50:52] Yeah. So that was the first day. And then I was like, I'm not going to do that tomorrow. So I'm not going to do that tomorrow. I went back to. Oh, yeah. I mean, it was sitting there and then I'm staring at her and I'm really shy. She's not that shy. She's sort of shy, but not that shy. So then I don't because I'm not good with small talk.

Mm hmm. [51:16] And I go. [51:18] Longest pause. And then I said, um... [51:21] Can I get you some tea? And she said... [51:25] She said, [51:26] No, baby, no, you don't have to give me any tea. And I was like, okay. [51:31] So I couldn't think of anything else. I kept staring, staring. And you could tell, you know, when you stare, you could tell she was really trying to be gracious. And the only thing I could come up with is like, you got beautiful skin. [51:49] I actually said that to Meryl Streep.

I love you. And then finally, my husband, who is like, V, did you tell that woman that you love her work? [52:01] You didn't tell that woman you love her work. I said, well, Julius, I just she's when I get to that damn set, I'm going to tell her that I love her work. And I'm going to tell her that she is your favorite actress. I said, don't say that. And Julius finally came to the set and he said. [52:17] Viola loves you so much and you are so beautiful, Meryl.

You are such a wonderful actress. She blushed. [52:25] She was like, oh, well, I have met Julius and Julius is something else. Do you find I mean, I know I find that sometimes in my life, people want me to be funny and they're a little disappointed when I'm not quite bringing it. Do you feel conversely that sometimes people assume that you're going to like exchange in something very deep and serious with them and you just want to laugh all the time? [52:55] I feel like what I'm learning about you is that you love to joke around and laugh.

[53:01] Oh, but I mean, I can't really even joke around like I want because I'm dirty with it. Fantastic. Why can't you do it? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You don't want to go down like that, Amy. No, you don't want to go down like that. I'm dirty with it. Who did you love growing up? Like, who were your... Oh, the first one. Who did you love? Mom's Maple. Oh, yeah. And she was dirty, dirty. So dirty. I would play that album over and over again.

Flip Wilson. Yes. Over and over again. Red Fox.