- 6 hours ago
Jennifer Aniston, Helena Bonham Carter, Rose Byrne, Janelle Monáe, Reese Witherspoon and Zendaya joined The Hollywood Reporter to talk about their respected TV drama series.
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00:00Hi and welcome to Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter Drama Actresses.
00:11I'm Lacey Rose and I'd like to welcome Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Rose Byrne, Helena
00:20Bonham Carter, Janelle Monae, Zendaya. Let's get started. We are living through a unique,
00:28powerful, charged, and complicated moment in history, both with the pandemic and more recently
00:33the social unrest. What have you all learned about yourselves during this time? A lot. I've learned
00:39a lot and I'm continuing to learn. I think being an awake, aware, conscious, empathetic, thoughtful
00:47human being, it's pretty exhausting. And it's been a time to like really dig deep and examine,
00:53you know, what are you doing in your life and what are you doing in your business and in your work
00:56and really look at those things with new eyes. I think also having the time to be alone and not
01:05distracted has been almost divine timing in terms of how everything is unfolded. And that I think is
01:13kind of a blessing in this COVID pandemic. There wasn't any chance for people to distract going back
01:22to work or going out to dinners or whatever. We were all pulled together. It feels extremely unifying
01:30and oddly beautiful. What I've been witnessing in human beings, it's extraordinary. The resilience,
01:39whether it was the pandemic or the social unrest, how everyone pulls together has been stunning to
01:46to watch. It's very funny over here. I'm in London and the rest of you are in America, but it's
01:54extraordinary that there's one thing that has unified us all. And yet we're all having very different,
01:59depending on your privilege, depending on, you know, your situation in life and economically,
02:06and also health. I haven't been directly affected or known anyone who's been directly badly affected by
02:13COVID. As Rhys and Jennifer said, it's the luxury of time, which we don't have. But it's kind of
02:19fascinating that we have to rely on the whole world stopping for us to stop. And I feel like it's the
02:25time for realizing that so much of my life I spend with, you know, superfluous things. And then what's
02:32been happening in the Black Lives movement, I feel like because it's happening now, we have now the time
02:38to properly consider it and seriously have the time to see what everyone can do about it. People have
02:44said like, do you think it would have happened if COVID hadn't happened? And I feel unfortunately not.
02:50No, I agree with you. I think the tipping point is something to do with the fact that everyone
02:55has the time and the space to actually change the society on a profound level. It's extraordinary
03:01living through history. We're very privileged. And I know that this time for me has been utterly
03:06precious. And I think I'll come away with things that will profoundly change for one. Also, as an
03:12actor, it's just such a nice thing because everybody is as unemployed as I am. And I don't have to worry
03:17about it. Do you typically worry about that? Are you looking over your shoulder? You're always looking
03:23over the shoulder and you always will in this profession. I know I knew Peggy Ashcroft, who was
03:27this amazing and Judi Dench. I mean, every single actor, we're all insecure and we all never know if we're
03:33going to be employed again. And you'll never have that sense of complacency. It's exciting.
03:39It's also the flip side is that we have no idea what's going to happen next year. We have no idea
03:43what's going to, unless we're in a long, you know, really great movie series, you know, with The Crown
03:47for me, that was a great thing because I knew what I was doing for once for two years. But that's so
03:51true. It's like gratitude and solitude. I was referring to it. And to also to realize, like you said,
03:56there's so much unnecessary stuff. We really need so little. Yeah, just clutter. We've cluttered.
04:05I think we've taken such advantage of our planet. Our brains have had too much information. Our
04:12children aren't connecting with each other. Everyone's into these phones. And now all of a
04:17sudden, everyone just got to stop. I mean, just the planet is so grateful for just letting it breathe.
04:26I mean, you guys have these giant platforms. How much obligation do you feel to speak out,
04:31speak up in this moment? Janelle, what's the sort of weight of that?
04:36Well, I think this is an interesting time and an important time for all of us to check
04:42our perspectives and where we're coming from. For me and my people, for the Black community,
04:48this is not an exciting time for us. And this isn't a time that we get to really reflect. We're
04:55dealing with a lot of trauma, not only COVID-19, which affects us in a disproportionate amount. Like,
05:02you know, if America sneezes, the Black community gets pneumonia. And our healthcare systems haven't
05:10worked for us historically. And now we're having to deal with the very color of our skin,
05:15making us a target. We lost a lot of lives. We've been losing lives for decades, for centuries.
05:22And I think for me, I am trying to figure out how to channel my anger.
05:31Being angry, to say the least, is my emotion. Also, when you're thinking about the essential workers,
05:37Black women, Black people make up the essential workers who are making sure that we have
05:41our packages, our food, uh, making sure that, you know, that we're taken care of, that our,
05:48that things are clean. And that is not a time for them to even reflect in the ways that I think we,
05:54you know, as artists, have that privilege to do. So I think this is a time that I'm checking my
05:58privilege. And I'm also mourning with my people. And I'm also, one of the things that I learned about
06:03me is that I'm not settling for, for those who say they are allies. The work that they have to do,
06:10I'm not settling for lip service, my love language. And if you want to show me that you are an ally,
06:17it's going to have to be rooted in service, acts of service. We have been marching. We have been
06:23screaming that black lives matter. I'm asking of my white friends or those who consider themselves
06:31supporters of me and us during this time, I'm asking that you have those conversations
06:37around white supremacy. You have conversations around why your ancestors started chattel slavery.
06:44You have those questions, those tough conversations of, of why we're even saying black lives matter as
06:50though black people are objects and not subjects to study into the end of time.
06:56Have those conversations around how you dismantle systemic racism. And that's where I am now. I think
07:04this is a moment for black people to stand our ground and ask more of our systems. In Hollywood,
07:11ask more. Because it can't just be, okay, we're going to march with you and we're going to do a hashtag.
07:17It has to be rooted in justice as well. Systemic change has to be made. The way that you're hiring
07:24folks. Who's on your board? Like how many black people do you have there? What kind of films are we
07:30greenlighting? What kind of depictions of police are we greenlighting? I'm team defund the police,
07:35abolish the police. I realize that. That's very clear for me. And I want to put that money into more
07:42our education, into our healthcare systems. I want to redistribute that money and to put it into places
07:48that have oppressed us for far too long. Boom. Do you guys feel like you'll make different choices
07:54at the other side of this, whether it's the stories you choose to tell or the characters you choose to
07:58inhabit? I've made it a point in my music career to make sure that the world knows that we're not
08:04monolithic. You know, we can, we can do the math that get men into orbit and into space. We can also
08:12be in the ghettos in moonlight and support the Chirones. You know, it was super important that those
08:20were the first roles that I, that I took. Even in music, I've, I've tried my best to walk my truth as a
08:27queer black woman, you know, growing up in America and what that means. Like I grew up to essential
08:32working parents. You know, my mother, her last occupation, she was a janitor. My father is a trash
08:37man. So I've seen them wear their uniforms every single day. I've seen how, how my family has, has
08:44helped build, build this country and, and keep our communities clean. I know my ancestors helped build
08:49this country. Right. And so for me, I have a deeper, I feel a deeper responsibility, especially
08:55through art to make sure we are represented. You know, representation is super important.
09:03Our voices on screen, our presence on screen, it's all super important. And I think I, I, I'm also at
09:09a point where I want that freedom. I want the freedom, like, like, like all of my favorite, you know,
09:16actors who get an opportunity to, to do fantasy, do sci-fi, do drama, do all these things. You know,
09:22I want to see more scripts where, you know, you're writing for the human. You're not pushing me to be
09:29a stereotype of what you think blackness is. You know, I, I want that freedom. And, and that's what
09:35I, I, I, I'm, I'm focusing on right now in my career is how, how we can put forward more films and
09:43television shows that, uh, show our range, that show, you know, our brilliance in many areas and
09:50show us as human beings, complete human beings. You know, examining privilege, as Janelle said,
09:56I think I went through a reckoning, um, probably four or five years ago with the Time's Up movement,
10:03realizing that we, we work in, and exist inside of systems that are really broken,
10:08really broken. So trying to get strategic about what my influence or power on my platform can
10:16help inform or create change. I think it started with having conversations. Every time I took a job,
10:23I would call whoever was the head of the studio and, you know, talk about, you know, is there,
10:28what does your board look like? Well, where are your female executives? Where are the people of color?
10:33Like, um, starting to ask more questions about how does the money flow through companies? What kind
10:39of representation at my agency? Were you, was there fear with those questions? Were you nervous to ask
10:44those kinds of questions? Absolutely, because I'd never questioned anybody before. Like, I'd never
10:48spoken up or asked anything before. I just accepted systems. At the time, I think I was 40 years old or 41,
10:54and I was like, what am I doing? If, if, if I don't use this one walk on earth to create a better
11:01reality for, for the women that are coming after me, you know, what, what are we doing? And I've been
11:07very privileged. I've been, I've been the beneficiary of a system that valued people who look like me.
11:15I've made a lot of movies, but I want to make things that matter. And I, and I want to work
11:20in partnership and real partnership with people who are committed to change within our industry,
11:26within the world, within their communities and their families. And I think that means empowering
11:31women and, um, getting women paid. That's something I like to talk about a lot.
11:37Pay equity. And that means for black women, Latinx women, LGBTQ women, uh, differently abled women,
11:46that's a life commitment because you can make great shows. We could have made a great show and it said a
11:53lot of things about white privilege and class and race and how we treat immigrants in this country,
11:59but it was how we made it is really valuable to me. Our writers room was made up of the most diverse
12:06writers room I've ever seen. And, uh, um, you know, people with immigrant parents, um, LGBTQ
12:14representation, adopted children, black women, uh, men, there was a man in there. There was one man.
12:20But, um, I, after I worked with Ava DuVernay on Wrinkle in Time, it just became a really paramount,
12:27important thing in my career to really focus on how things are made in our business. So we're part
12:33of those systems and we can ask a lot of questions and we should, and we need to. It's okay to make
12:39people feel uncomfortable, the people who own these companies, because they make money off of us
12:44and they get the best of us, right? Cindy, I want to talk about the choice you made with Euphoria.
12:52I've heard you talk about sort of the pressure you felt and the sort of near paralysis you felt
12:58about making that next move, you know, after a career, you know, a Disney career for a much younger
13:04audience. Can you elaborate on that sort of pressure that you felt and how much of it was internal versus
13:09external? I think like a lot of artists, I think I'm my biggest critic. Some of it was internal.
13:16Um, it was not wanting to make a mistake or not, or worried that maybe I didn't have the room to make
13:20a mistake and wanting to, uh, make the right next move. And I, I felt like, uh, I felt that pressure
13:27within myself. Um, um, but I also, you know, I wanted, I wanted to prove myself, you know, it was,
13:33it was one of those things. It was like, I mean, I didn't know what that next thing was going to be,
13:37but I know that, um, that there was something that I was capable of that I just hadn't had a project,
13:44I guess, to pour that into or that scared me or challenged me in that way. And I think when Euphoria
13:49came along, I was, I was just very grateful. The only way to really describe it is like,
13:52when you know, you know, kind of thing. And, and all those fears just kind of melted away. And I just
13:57felt like it was something that I had to be a part of and that I had to do. And I felt very connected to
14:01Rue. She's a human, um, and she has flaws and she has beautiful characteristics about her. And she's,
14:09um, and I care about her so much, you know, as if she were my little sister, as if she were, um, uh,
14:16you know, a part of me in, in some kind of way. You have to understand that I just want you to be safe,
14:20okay? I just, I don't want anything bad to happen to you. And, you know, you just can't be mad at me for
14:30wanting you to be okay. You can say I'm being anxious, you know, just, it hurts my heart too much.
14:39And I just, I, I, just the best thing that's happened to me in a really long time. And I, I just,
14:46I, I just don't want anything bad to happen. So just please don't be mad at me. Okay, Jo?
14:51I'm sorry. I didn't have those fears while I was doing it. The fear kind of then became just like,
14:58push yourself. You know, can you, if you go to work and you're scared, that's a good thing. You
15:03should be worried about whether you can do it or not, you know? Um, but I was very grateful to, uh,
15:08be put in a, in a safe, in a safe space where I could, um, I could go there and, and, and have those
15:13moments and, um, and, and feel safe and, and feel like I could be open. And again, just like, uh,
15:21gratitude I think is, is for that whole experience for Root, um, for the storytelling, uh, it's just
15:28kind of the overwhelming feeling that kind of drowned out, uh, the, the fear. I just want to say
15:34you were brilliant. You were brilliant. I appreciate that. I agree. I agree. Yes. You were amazing.
15:40You had us all on the edge of our seats. And I would be scared to play that character too.
15:44That was a hard character to play. Well, I appreciate it coming from you, from all of you.
15:50That means, you know, the world to me. So thank you very much. So Nate, you just said something
15:54that I want to sort of touch back on, which is that you didn't feel like you had the same space
15:59to, to mess up. Uh, hoping you can sort of elaborate on that. And what's the burden of that?
16:04And, and, and how does that impact the decisions that you make or the choices that you make?
16:08Yeah. I mean, it definitely, uh, it's a, it's a, a constant thing. Um, I think,
16:17you know, also being a young Disney actor, um, that's one level, um, being a young black woman's
16:24one level. Um, and then also just being very, very hard on myself is another level. Um, I just want to,
16:32you know, make sure I'm always doing the best that I can. And I think, um, sometimes that,
16:38you know, it can cause you to be fearful of things, but I, but I, but I will say that, um,
16:45there's something that happens when, um, a special character or a special script comes along,
16:51for me at least where everything, the stars just feel like they align, um, and it feels right.
16:58And those fears melt away. Um, they don't come back until it starts airing,
17:04which is when, uh, I started to get a little, a little scared again when euphoria started to air.
17:09But, um, the motivation is surely just to prove to myself, just to work harder on myself and on the
17:15craft and become a better, um, that's the fight. Now I'm not, um, trying to prove myself to anyone
17:22else, um, which is, which is a good feeling, you know? Um, and I just, I just want to get better.
17:27It's more of an internal, um, thing. I like that. Helen, I want to talk to you about taking on this
17:34role of, of Prince Margaret. And if I have this right, it, it wasn't an easy yes for you. You sort of
17:39had to be talked into it. What was that about? And, and how did you ultimately get to yes?
17:43Well, it might not be a relief to Zendaya to know that, you know, 30 years later,
17:48you'll still be carrying the onus of, um, having to prove you can do it to yourself. And that doesn't
17:57go away. I mean, I, maybe, maybe other people are relieved and they're fancy free and they're like,
18:01fuck it, I got it down. And, you know, maybe I shouldn't say fuck it, but you never do the same
18:05part. You never know if you can do something. With Margaret, I was very conscious that it was a hit.
18:11I was very conscious that Vanessa had just won a BAFTA. So, um, at the beginning, it was terrifying.
18:17Everyone was terrified on the first two weeks. Then you relax. The other thing was I have to see
18:22a script. I have to respond to the words. So they were kind of shocked that I wouldn't just take it.
18:28Morgan thought I was sort of insulting them and I wasn't. It wasn't to do with the fact that I didn't
18:32believe it was, it wasn't going to be a great script, but I just needed to know whether I could do it.
18:37She and I are complicated. It's true. Elder sister, younger sister,
18:45number one and number two. Who's number one? You, of course. A natural number one,
18:54whose tragedy it is to have been born number two. That is my burden.
18:59She knows it too. Yes, I think she does. That's her burden.
19:09He sent me the last episode, which is, um, which was, is a really good Margaret episode.
19:15And I knew instantly, yeah, I know how to do this. So as soon as you begin to trust yourself,
19:19you think, oh yeah, that is why I took so long. It wasn't a lack of faith in them. It was a lack of
19:24faith in myself. Sure. Um, and once you did, you threw yourself in, I mean, I've heard you,
19:30you bought the perfume, uh, that she wears. I mean, you worked with a movement coach.
19:34I do everything. I, I do, I stop at nothing and hope that something will stick.
19:38I'm a big person on prep. Um, it's just insane how lengths to which I go. And I think it's just,
19:45it comes from insecurity and anxiety. And also, um, I enjoy that bit. So it's always for me,
19:52the best bit of the job is when I get the job. And then there's that, that time when there are
19:56all these possibilities and opportunities and dreams really of, oh, I'm going to do this.
20:00I'm going to do that. And I'm going to look like this. And I, I paint it and it's, and there's much
20:05detail that I can glean. I feel like sometimes I would have liked to have been a detective
20:11because I want to just sift through absolutely a bit of, you know, of every single bit of information
20:15that I can get. And then also, if you are playing somebody like Princess Margot or somebody who's
20:19well known, you get to meet all these people and then have these conversations with them. So it
20:24was a process that I really love, but yeah, no, I went to ridiculous lengths, but you know,
20:28I don't know if it pays off because like Olivia Coleman, who plays the queen, she does nothing.
20:33I mean, and, and, um, and she's free to admit it. I mean, she literally learns the lines and turns
20:39up and puts on an accent and it's kind of galling. Cause you know, you've gone to, you've spent,
20:44it's like somebody who does no work and gets an A plus, you know, she didn't even know when she was
20:49born. I said like, you do know her birthday at least. She said, what? I mean, honestly, she's,
20:55she's like a sort of, she has this genius of just being a medium, but I'm always fascinated
21:00because people don't really talk about it, about like how actors prepare. Do you girls, women,
21:06humans, do you all, what do you guys do? Yeah. Playing Gloria Steinem was a lot of preparation.
21:12I felt like that too, like I was trying, like a detective, like trying to find stuff and reading
21:16everything and footage. And you know, my trailer was covered with pictures of her and I was
21:22immersed and obsessed and dreaming about her. And, but I don't know either. Like I don't,
21:27you don't know what's going to pay off or what isn't. And yeah, I was deeply paranoid, you know,
21:33during the shoot, I would always be like calling up Davi Waller, like, you know, am I terrible?
21:38What am I doing? Is it bad? Is it too much? Is it too little? Oh God, you know, don't fire me,
21:44you know, like that kind of thing. Like just, you know, deeply paranoid, particularly when you're
21:48playing someone that everyone already has a projection onto of what they are. And, you know,
21:52if someone as iconic as Margaret or as Gloria or, you know, that, so it's, um, yeah, I'd never,
21:58I'd never done that before playing someone that's so well known.
22:01We can push and push for legalizing abortion, but until it becomes part of our party's platform,
22:06Congress will never feel pressure to change the laws. If George even mentions the word abortion
22:10at the convention, Nixon will hang it around his neck like a millstone. So what if we use a more
22:14general term like reproductive freedom? It's broad enough to include not just abortion, but
22:20repeal of birth control laws, laws on sexual orientation or sterilization.
22:23That's interesting. What I like about that, Senator, is that it covers concerns of men
22:30as well as women. I wrote a version you could use.
22:33Walk me through the decision not to reach out to this woman who's every move you're studying.
22:38At any point in the process, did you want to, even if it was after the fact?
22:41Yes. I mean, of course I do. I just sort of know that I can't, you know, not to, you know,
22:49so I, it's a tough show to, to, for, I think women of that time and of the movement, you know,
22:56Phyllis Schlafly is an incredibly polarizing character and, uh, it's told through,
23:02through Phyllis's eyes, this story. So that's, I think, I think that would be really incredibly hard
23:07if you were Gloria or Brenda Fagan-Fastell or whomever to, to try to revisit that time
23:13from that perspective. I mean, I'm assuming, I don't know. I don't want to speak for them,
23:17but as an artist, the project as a whole was just so, um, incredible to be a part of the tapestry of
23:23all of these women learning about the legacy of someone like Shirley Chisholm and Bella Abzug.
23:29And, you know, there would be no Time's Up without these women. There would be no Me Too without
23:32these women, you know, they, they really did have such a, and it's, you know, I thought I knew about
23:37second wave feminism. I was like, yeah, I can't. And then I quickly realized, oh,
23:41I don't know anything. It's sort of a largely forgotten part of history. A lot of it, you know,
23:45the women's conference in Houston, you know, and they had so much influence in, in government at
23:49that point. And it's not sort of reached that level of influence. I don't think since then,
23:54it's a great project too, because it really reverse engineers historically where we are,
23:57why we, why we are where we are today and the divisiveness of politics and the cult of sort of
24:03the right wing personality and alternative facts and so on and so forth. So it's, it's,
24:10yeah, I quickly realized that too while, whilst we were doing it.
24:13It's relevant in all the ways you wish it, it wasn't relevant. I think that's what you're
24:16seeing with a lot of these projects. With Morning Show, Jan, Reese, the show sort of delves into
24:22the gray areas of the Me Too movement and, and that experience. You guys were both these very
24:27hands-on executive producers. What kinds of conversations did you have about sort of exploring
24:32the complexity of the various emotions and the responses to sexual misconduct? Mainly for each
24:38of us was just to go into the heart of it and to really just pull every curtain on how dark and messy
24:48and, um, unforgiving the world was and is and have each and every character just have all of these
24:55wonderful different dimensions. And Carrie Aaron is kind of, she's brilliant. She's also psychic. I
25:02don't know how she, she seems to have written our fires. I mean, I don't even know how she kind of
25:08tapped into what she tapped into. Addressing the truth is the only way to protect our integrity.
25:14So we will talk to them as members of our family. We will grieve with them. We will go through this
25:20together. She's a class act all the way. And if we use this right, this is our chance to get our
25:27audience back. I couldn't agree more, Alex. I think you've got the right idea there. Pull the family
25:31together and we'll get a surge in our ratings for a few days. May sweeps are imminent. Let's not forget.
25:41And to also say, say all of the things that are said behind closed doors that no one has the guts to
25:47say out loud. And that's what was so refreshing about it. And, and talk about characters to build
25:53and create and just, just feel like you're just dumping, you know, manhole covers off your back
25:59in terms of, you know, what you get to release. And I, I mean, it was, it was extraordinary for, for,
26:07for me. And then I had Reese as a partner, which was also having, you know, like having the grade A
26:13student next to you all the time. No, no, babe. I mean, your prep and everything. She came in just
26:19like ready with that journalist voice. And I was like, where did you get that journalist voice?
26:24She's like, I've been preparing it for ages. It was so much fun. It was really fun. The jewelry and
26:31the clothes and the tailored this, and it was just fun. You just kind of get lost. Reese, but were the
26:36parts of the conversation that, that weren't sort of being had out in the open that you wanted to have
26:41in the show itself. I mean, when we talk about systems, it shows you from the top down to the
26:46very bottom, exactly how people are treated and who is listened to and who is believed and who is not
26:52and who is important in an organization and who's not. And media is its own mixed bag. You know,
26:59I think it's a bizarre world we live in that we don't even know where to get the truth anymore.
27:04Right. And then Twitter's going a million miles an hour with all kind of false sources and
27:08information. And it was really interesting to dig into that, that journalistic integrity piece too.
27:15Where, where is the moral integrity in that business? Um, that was kind of an interesting
27:20question to dig into. I don't even know how I got this fucking job. I mean, I certainly didn't earn
27:26it. And, and I'm pretending half the fucking time and, and, and I'm just doing the best I goddamn can,
27:31but I feel like a reality television show. And let me just tell you something that I dragged this girl
27:36into this and she's breaking. I mean, she's, she's really suffering. And, and Mitch is telling
27:41the truth about Brad, but nobody cares. You need to fucking breathe. Nobody cares what this poor girl
27:45is feeling broken inside. Hey, Bradley, you need to relax. Goddammit, please don't hug me right now.
27:52What the hell is that going to fix? Janelle, I want to turn to you. Your role in Homecoming
27:56was written without an ethnicity attached. And you've said, and I'm quoting you here, I love the fact that I
28:01am black, and then I get to bring that to the table. I'm hoping you can expand on that idea
28:06and how your own identity helped shape the character. Yeah, this was the first script, um,
28:12where it didn't specify urban or black. And I obviously am very proud of, of who I am and where
28:20I come from. I will say, in addition to that, I felt free in that role. And what I loved about this
28:26character is that, uh, Jackie is such a chameleon. She wakes up in the middle of this boat with no
28:33memory. She doesn't know who she is, what happened to her. And so you go on this journey of self
28:38discovery. She's trying to uncover her identity. Everything all right, miss?
28:45Where are we headed tonight?
28:49He came up here. Who did? I don't know.
28:56I'm here to help, okay?
29:04Okay.
29:06I hear you saying there's a guy and he ran off up here.
29:10Did he do something to you, this guy?
29:14What is this?
29:15I had fun doing a lot of, uh, backstory for her and, and, and researching. I, I got an opportunity to
29:23rewatch some of my favorite films like Memento, you know, where that deals with memory loss. Um,
29:28I did the Jason Bourne identity films. Um, I also watched this film with Nicole Kittman, uh, before
29:34I go to sleep where she wakes up and doesn't know, you know, who she is. And her husband has to put
29:39these post-it notes to remind her. I studied a lot of short-term, long-term memory loss and amnesia.
29:45You know, I didn't want to play her one note. You know, I didn't want to play her disoriented the
29:50entire time, you know, wakes up, doesn't know. Oh my God. Oh my God. It was like, no,
29:54how can I really deal with, uh, the frustration of one not even being able to remember? And people
30:02are asking her, you know, what happened? What happened? How frustrated, you know, would, would we
30:08be if, if we could not remember also she couldn't trust everybody? Cause she doesn't know who did it
30:15to her. So there's like a certain level of, uh, guard that she, that she puts up in the shield
30:21and this armor, but she has to get the answers. Right. I personally would not have made the choices,
30:27uh, that, that Jackie made, but that was what was intriguing. You know, you learn a lot about yourself
30:33and you learn a lot about the, why, why people do the things that they're, they're doing and in
30:38creating her backstory. I had to create that world that would make this person want to do that. Was
30:42she told that she wasn't good enough and she was obsessed with winning, you know, was that the thing?
30:48Um, and when you're thinking about when, you know, living in a patriarchal society, right? This character,
30:57uh, who is, you know, in a relationship with another woman, we both have to come home and deal with a
31:07system that was not built for us. It didn't have us in mind. We're fighting against it every day,
31:13right? It was great though, being able to mastermind with another woman on screen to take down the
31:19patriarchy, to buck that system and to be in those positions of power. But then it's like,
31:24how much are we willing to risk to gain power? What does that actually feel like when you use
31:31the same logic as those men to get to where you are, you know? And, and I found myself asking
31:38myself those, those philosophical questions like, am I becoming the enemy? Is my character becoming,
31:43or should I, even in my real life ever use that playbook? It's old. So I'm, I'm even more for
31:49burning down the whole system, you know, burn it down, build it. It wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't
31:55meant for us. It wasn't meant, it wasn't meant with us in mind. No, I think, I think that's powerful.
32:01Helena, you recently said, and I'm going to quote you here, you're always at the mercy of what others
32:06see you as or don't see you as, and you have to fight for what you really want. What's that look
32:13like in your career? And, and what was worth really fighting for? Put it this way, you are at the
32:18mercy of, because we can't give ourselves jobs unless we're, you know, dynamic like Reese and
32:24people like, unless you produce the things and have the energy and, you know, actually do it.
32:28And I often think I'm going to do it and then I just lose momentum to get a job. You always are
32:35at the mercy of somebody else thinking whether you're appropriate. How did the industry see you?
32:40Well, I was completely, you know, way back a hundred years ago when I started in the profession,
32:46I was very much an ingenue and I, I appeared in a lot of costume dramas. So that was my,
32:51my typecasting. I remember I came to LA, this was in my early twenties and I just felt such a freak
32:57because I knew I didn't have the legs to survive in LA, you know, and then the parts that were
33:01available for women then were just so bad. The only dimension was about your body. That was how it was,
33:08you know, and it was always like you with the girlfriend or the, it was an appendage to the
33:12main, you know, it was always a supporting part, but it was very little dimension. And the only
33:17thing that defined you was kind of what you look like. And I was very small and I still small,
33:21I haven't grown and my legs weren't particularly thin. And I just thought, Jesus, I'm so apologetic
33:27of myself that I didn't look like, you know, what I thought, um, I was meant to look like.
33:33So I think when Tim, who I ended up having two children with, um, he phoned me up and wanted
33:40me to be a chimpanzee. I thought, thank Christ, somebody is casting me for not what I, my envelope
33:46is. Talk about freedom. That was a set. It was a sort of like, I felt like liberated. So even though
33:52the script was terrible, I thought I've got to play a chimpanzee in a Tim Burton film.
33:56Because it's not, I'm getting out of my skin, which is all I want to do. And it's all I've
34:04ever wanted to do. And I'm sure is that I want to get rid of myself. I want to crawl out of this
34:09envelope and be somebody else. And, and I always think I'm doing it. And then I watch five minutes
34:14and then I give up quickly because I realized, damn, I'm still me. My impulse to act is to escape
34:19myself and then also escape my own perception of myself. So I think, I think very early on when I
34:25could, I started just doing everything that was different, not for the sake of being different,
34:30but I always knew that I was at heart a character actor. I didn't want to be the, the lead. I didn't
34:36want, I was in a room of the view when I was an embryo and I didn't know what the hell I was doing.
34:41And I was learning on the job, but I was just fun. Everybody else had the funny lines. It was like,
34:47this is so boring. And, um, you know, I spent my twenties being bored and being ashamed of
34:56what I look like. I had no idea that, you know, 30 years later, I'd be like, why don't I have plump
35:01skin? You know, I was so, I spent my, my whole youth denigrating myself, having no idea that in
35:07fact that was something that other, but that's what it, you know, that was probably me and a lot of other
35:12women, frankly. And now it's like, it doesn't matter that much. I mean, the relief of getting older,
35:18people that, you know, it's been said before, but it's such a, you get off your own back.
35:23It's so true. Youth is wasted on the young.
35:25If anyone else in this group struggled at any point with wanting to be seen in ways
35:29that the industry perhaps didn't want to see them. And yeah, Jen, so what do you do?
35:33Yeah, you just exhaust yourself.
35:36I mean, I could not get Rachel Green off of my back for the life of me. I could not escape.
35:42Yeah, just Rachel from Friends, just Rachel from Friends. And I'd be like, and it's on all the time.
35:47And you're just like, stop playing this fucking show. And also getting older, there is such a
35:54freedom in the work because you just stop giving a crap after a certain amount of time. I guess it was
36:02the good girl that was the first time I got to just sort of really shed whatever this little like
36:08Rachel character was to be able to disappear into someone who was walking in those shoes was such a
36:17relief to me. And I just remember the panic that set over me thinking, oh, God, I don't know if I can
36:22do this. I don't know. Maybe they're all right. Maybe everybody else is seeing something I'm not seeing,
36:29which is you are only that girl in the New York apartment with the purple walls. And so I was
36:35almost doing it for myself to just see if I could do something other than that. And it was terrifying
36:42because you're doing it in front of the world and it's very vulnerable. And then something happens
36:51where you just get to, especially with Alex Levy, I get to play a woman that I, she's way smarter than I
36:59am. And it's so fun to play someone who's so smart. You know, in that way. And anyway, I completely just
37:09fought with myself and who I was in this industry for forever because it was just constantly about
37:16trying to prove that I was more than that. Can anyone else relate? I found a lot more freedom
37:22once I'd started doing more comedy because I'd been doing serious things. But then once you start
37:26doing more comedy, then people don't think you can do serious. It's just this ongoing reinvention that
37:30you're trying to, you know, and like Helena said, you know, people having preconceived ideas about you
37:36and trying to shake that up or like Janelle's speaking about stereotypes that you really have to run your
37:42own race in a way. And, and always like be checking in with yourself and, you know, and I, I find too
37:49though, as I get older is that I'm less concerned about all the noise and just trying to figure out
37:54what is the project as a whole either saying something or exceptional or has something about
38:00it that could potentially be exceptional. And I think, yeah, getting older is does, it's given me a little
38:06more freedom. And rose to what you said about the, once you get, you play comedy, then they don't think
38:11you can do the drama. And once you're, if you're only seen as a dramatic actress, then they don't
38:15think you can do comedy and they forget that we're actors and we actually have it all in there.
38:21You know, it's just about finding it and accessing it and getting the material.
38:25Well, I think also like, I think something that's really shifted in our business is streaming too,
38:30because, and the, the, the influence of data over our business. So it used to be, we were just
38:36reliant on a bunch of people who worked at a studio to tell us what movies worked.
38:41And we just kind of, you know, blindly accepted it. Or they'd say,
38:45you know, comedies don't travel overseas or, or black films don't play well in other countries.
38:51It's just not true. Now we have empirical data that other stories need to be heard.
38:59And there is a huge audience for them. I mean, if you see that, like, I mean,
39:04you just see that with Zendaya has 400 billion million followers.
39:09I mean, she has her own data stream. Like she knows more what her audience wants to see her do
39:16than any head of any studio. So in a way, we, we have a sense of control and authorship and the
39:24ability to steer our careers that we never had before. I couldn't connect to my audience. I didn't
39:29know where they live. Now I know exactly where they live. I know if they like me on Apple.
39:33I know if they like me on Hulu. I know if they like Amazon better. Like it, it, it was greatly
39:39empowering. This information age has, you know, brought on a lot of yucky stuff, but it's also
39:45brought on this liberation that we are able to connect and we know we matter.
39:50No, I think that's absolutely right. Zendaya, I want to turn to you because one of the things that
39:54you did just ahead of the premiere of Euphoria is, is you took to your social media to sort of warn
39:58your followers about what they were about to see and, and sort of suggesting it, it could be
40:03triggering. And my guess is it's a younger audience. How much do you sort of grapple with what your fan
40:08base can handle and how does that play into the decisions you make? I think a lot of my fans have
40:14grown up with me. So some of them are my, my own age, but obviously I still have, um, young ones,
40:20um, still that watch Disney Channel or still that watch, uh, you know, Greatest Showman or Spider-Man
40:26and things like that. Going back to, you know, influence and, you know, I do take a heavy
40:31responsibility, but I'm appreciative for that because I think there's a lot of, you know, good
40:35that I can do. We have the data we have. I have, um, control of that and I know who's watching and
40:41now more than ever, specifically with Black Lives Matter and everything like that, I feel an obligation
40:46to make sure that I'm aware and putting out the right things and, and in line with organizers
40:52and people who are on the ground. And, you know, so I, I do try to always take that into consideration.
40:57Um, can I ask, Cindy, how old are you? I'm 23. I mean, I can't believe you're 23.
41:06That is extraordinary. And you have all this pressure. I mean, I would,
41:11I couldn't string us. I was like a depressive weirdo. I could, you're so composed and like
41:19erudite and you know, you have all this social media stuff. I, I, I can't even imagine and look
41:27at you. You're like, honestly, it's really, and you're a woman of color. Like, you know,
41:32you've just so many things going on and under this microscope, I just admire so much. I could never do
41:40that at your age. 23. Thank you. I'm just figuring it out as I go. Um, like I said,
41:46trying to do the best I can. And when it came to Euphoria, you know, I just wanted to make sure
41:50that my fans knew, even the ones who were my age or older than me, that I still felt their support,
41:56even if they felt that the material or things were too triggering for them or something that maybe they,
42:01they don't feel ready or comfortable to watch yet. If they, you know, maybe experienced addiction or
42:06whatever their stories may be. Um, and so I, I definitely wanted to put that out there. Um,
42:12but that was my thing is I, I definitely wanted, didn't want to limit myself as an artist. I wanted
42:16to be able to do the things that I want to do and play the roles that I want to play, but also still
42:21remember that responsibility and, and, and take that into consideration as well.
42:25One of the things I've, I've heard you say in the past is, is that you've, you've told your
42:29representatives, you know, even if the park calls for a white girl, put me up for it, get me in the room.
42:35Yeah. Being, you know, uh, a light-skinned woman, you know, to recognize my privilege in that sense
42:40as well. But yeah, I mean, when, when roles came through, I mean, Rue had no description either.
42:46Our writer and creator, he wrote Rue based off a lot of his own personal experiences with addiction.
42:52And he is, um, a white man, you know, so Rue could have been that. Um, so I'm very grateful that it,
43:00it, it, it, I was able to bring the character to life. She is who she is, but I was just great,
43:07like grateful to tell the story. You guys are all playing very complicated characters,
43:12messy characters. Are you able to sort of leave them at work or do they come home with you? And
43:18what does that look like? I'm pretty church and state. I like leave it. I don't know.
43:22You do. I'm pretty like leave it at the thing. And then that's, it's done. It's done. And I got,
43:28I just leave it. I mean, I regret things and I'm hard on myself and I, you know, I'm all that,
43:33but I don't, I don't so much drag at home. I think particularly with little kids,
43:37they couldn't care less, you know, they couldn't give a shit if I'm had a hard day or, you know,
43:42I think that's a good point, Rose. Cause like, I remember sitting with a big male movie star,
43:49like probably four years ago. And I was prepping for that movie wild. It's a movie that a woman walks
43:55through the wilderness for a thousand miles. She loses her mom and she has to, you know,
44:00she's a drug addict and all this stuff. And, and this guy said, well, are you,
44:04what are you doing to prepare? Like, are you going to go into the woods? And, and I was like,
44:09um, I have a 12 year old, a nine year old, and I just had a baby. No, I basically,
44:19got off the airplane and like put on some shorts and went to work because the, you know, being a mom
44:29is like a whole, it's my, I call it my other full-time job. Yeah. It's really true. I don't
44:33get to like bring it home. And when I do bring it home, my, my whole family lets me know. Yeah. Yeah.
44:40Me too. Me too. Bobby's like, snap out of it. Where are you? Totally smashed out. What's wrong with you?
44:45Penny, come on. And I'm like, oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. Janelle, you, you, your next project is
44:51Antebellum, which is, which is another tough one. And I know it was one that, that wasn't an easy
44:55yes for you, but you've talked about sort of the, the emotional toll that takes. What did that look
45:00like? What do you sort of bring home with you, uh, from a project like that? Oh, I brought all of my
45:08ancestors home with me. Um, this is a project that deals with the past, the present and the future
45:13and connects those things. And it is so, um, of the times today, it was very heavy and it was not
45:22going to be a yes for me because I knew that I was going to have to dig deep. I knew the responsibility.
45:27I knew the weight. I knew what, um, this character was going to have to go through physically,
45:34you know, and, and emotionally. And I couldn't even talk to my family sometimes. Like they would
45:41call me on the weekends because we were doing lots of night shoots. And I know you guys know about
45:44those night shoots and we were filming, filming, um, we were filming, uh, most of the stuff at night
45:53on a plantation, uh, the same plantation that they shot Django on actually. And, you know,
46:01I felt everything, you know, and there were just certain conversations that even in craft services,
46:06I, if I, if I heard, it would just be triggering for me. And I would tell my family and friends,
46:13like, I'll talk to you guys later. Cause once I'm in character, I'm in like, it's kind of unhealthy.
46:21When I think back, I was also going through this last year, I filmed antebellum May through
46:28June, went on tour July through August to Europe for an album and went to Japan, had, you know,
46:39it was a wonderful experience and then started filming homecoming for two months. So I didn't
46:46have a break mentally. And on top of that, I was dealing with mercury poisoning. I got diagnosed with
46:53high levels of mercury, uh, in my system and, and I used it for, uh, homecoming. I didn't know I had it
46:59in, in, in, in antebellum. How'd you get mercury poisoning? I decided that I wanted to become a
47:06pescatarian. I was like, I want to just see if I can be disciplined. And so I ended up having a lot of
47:11tuna, a lot of sushi, a lot of fish that had high levels of mercury in it. And I luckily went in, I went
47:18in for, uh, what I thought was a strep throat. And my doctor was like, let me test your, are you still
47:23pescatarian? Let me test your mercury level. And I was like, okay. And on set doing like all of the,
47:29the screen testing for homecoming, I get a call and he said, you need to stop eating fish and
47:35seafood immediately. You have tripled the amounts of, uh, uh, acute mercury poisoning in your system
47:42right now. And I mean, this messes with your nervous system. It messes with, uh, your coordination.
47:48Um, I talk about it because I want people to just know that it's a real thing. Yeah. That what we're
47:54doing to our environment, uh, is, is killing us. Can I just ask what the symptoms were? What were you
47:59feeling that you, Helena, are you okay? Well, yeah, it might be, she might have just solved my problem.
48:04But what, what were you feeling? It might not be the same for everybody, but, um, online when I was looking it up,
48:11most of the symptoms and I had them was like memory loss. I lost a lot of hair, um, because I had worn
48:17my hair in plaques for antebellum. And I was like, oh, my hair is going to grow. And you know,
48:22I'm taking care of it. And then I took them out and like, it was coming out in the shower and shyness.
48:28I didn't want to talk to people a lot. I was, I was very recluse. Like people would reach out
48:35and want to talk. And I apologize now if you were one of those, those people last year who
48:40reached out to me and wanted to talk or engage in business or whatever. I just didn't have it in me.
48:45I was always having to meditate and like, I wasn't working from my normal reality.
48:52Um, but you know, looking back at, at, at the footage and looking back at things,
48:58I really used it. Uh, I used that disorientation. I used, um, you know, the unraveling in my personal
49:07life on screen. If we were to barge into your trailers, what would we hear? What would we see
49:12as you prepare? I have a lot of drinks and I have a lot of snacks. My thing is staying awake and keeping
49:18myself interested and excited to act when I need to. So I have this thing and I have nuts and chocolate
49:26and, um, water and some apple cider vinegar and I have caffeine, tons of caffeine. And I just
49:34medicate with my snacks. I love it. And I have a hot water bottle. So I'll always, I snooze. I have,
49:40I have an ability to sleep. Even if lunch break is only 20 minutes, I'll just quickly eat and then
49:45I'll always get unconscious. Wow. I have my paraphernalia. It's uppers and downers basically,
49:50but legal ones. Hot water bottle downer, diet coke up. And then you're just going,
49:56that is basically what you're doing, isn't it? I mean, it's the-
49:59Oh God, that's hysterical.
50:00That's pretty amazing.
50:03How do you do it? I love listening to film scores. Like I don't want to hear music
50:08with lyrics or singing. Like for instance, with Homecoming, it has such a Hitchcockian vibe,
50:14right? So Bernard Herman and the score, uh, for Homecoming is, is incredible. And that's what made
50:21me want to do it, do, do it this season. Uh, and also Julia Roberts, you know, I'm thankful for women
50:27like her, you know, she executive produced, uh, Homecoming and for her to say, yes, Janelle Monet,
50:35you come and lead this show when not a lot of black women are leading shows. I felt pressure in that way,
50:42but I also felt relaxed in knowing that you had the support of somebody like her. And I want to
50:49make it so that the nervousness that I felt like, oh my God, you know, Julia Roberts was the first
50:54season. What are people going to think second season? You know, I'm this young black girl.
50:58I've never led TV before. What are people going to think? So freaked out. I don't want another person
51:03like myself to think like that again. I want the same freedom that Julia probably felt. She had other
51:10pressures, but there are different pressures when you know that you are that minority showing up. So
51:16one of the things that helps alleviate that for me is music. Um, when I'm going into a character,
51:21because I'm able to tap into my imagination, I'm able to tap into where the music takes me, the strings,
51:30all of that. Like you start thinking about the art. You're not thinking about doing a good job or
51:35whatever you're thinking about. This is the art. This is my childlike self. This is a moment to reconnect
51:41with why. The why. Why are we doing this anyway? You know, if it's not fun, if it's not going to take
51:47you on a journey, what's the why? And score really does help me tap back into my why. I love that.
51:54When was the last time you were genuinely starstruck? Jen, I think I got to watch you be starstruck on the
52:00Graham Norton show. Oh my God. Julie Andrews? Yeah. That was, I mean, I just, I did that. I was
52:10starstruck there 100%. I met Julia Roberts on the set of Homecoming because my husband Bobby was in it
52:16and, um, and I had a baby, my baby strapped to my chest and I'd never met her before. And I had a
52:21pretty woman poster on my wall, you know, in Sydney, Australia. And there she was. I just was like,
52:29yeah, yeah, like couldn't talk, couldn't talk. The same. She showed up second season. I didn't know she
52:38was going to be on set and we did a scene and all of a sudden we heard a, ah, and we were like,
52:45who is that? And then one of the guys from production leaned in and said, I think she
52:49loves it. That's Julia Roberts. And so I got an opportunity to just hug her. And that also made
52:55me relax. I was like, okay, Julia's, you know, she's, she's loving what she sees. And I think that was a big
53:01moment. Um, this is exciting. I, I'm, I'm, I'm proud of myself for speaking it all because I was very
53:07nervous. Um, um, but I think when I met Beyonce, I mean, that was, I think, um, I lost my cool. I just
53:17was like, my dad even said it because I was, I was with my dad at the time. He was like, dude,
53:22you nerded out just then. I was like, I know she probably thinks I'm weird.
53:25What, what about you, Reese? I, I get starstruck all the time. I'm such a fan. I watch so many
53:32people. And I think that's one of the fun things about being an actor is like, I can just be an
53:38audience member. So I watch all of y'all, each one of you, and I'm blown away by your work. And
53:44I, you know, I just like Zendaya, I was a kid actor and I, you know, the fact that I'm still around
53:51and I'm still, and still looking like a kid. Oh, you're sweet. And I have to say,
53:58I get starstruck around authors because they do that deep emotional work and they dig into trauma.
54:04And I feel the same way about musicians. Janelle, I'm just in awe of you having all of these talents,
54:11writing beautiful music, composing with people, creating visual art with your music, but then also
54:16doing these incredible intimate performances where you're really revealing so much of yourself. It's,
54:23that's astounding. And I just, I never want to lose that wonder that I have about human beings.
54:29Like I feel that they're all, and everybody has a story. It's so interesting to me.
54:34Well, and in your position now, you, when you're interested, you, you call them up and say,
54:38let's do something together. I've called a few of you. No, I think there's great power in female
54:45partnership. I think we all have to stick together. The guys have been sticking together forever.
54:49And they've all been working with each other forever. And they've all made seven,
54:52ten movies together. And we haven't done enough with each other. It's a new landscape for all of
54:57us to collaborate and amplify each other and just celebrate each other.
55:03Helena, is there a moment where you found yourself sort of pinching yourself?
55:09Many, many moments, many, many moments. It is a privilege in this business that we meet our heroes.
55:14So many, many, many Meryl Streep. She was amazing. And then I did this film, Oceans 8,
55:19and it was just like every single person was remarkable. Like there was Cate Blanchett,
55:24there was Sandra Bullock, there was, it was just like one after the other. And then Rihanna came
55:28in and she just outstarred everybody because everyone was just like, and she's extraordinary.
55:33I mean, she just is extraordinary in her, in her, in her magnetism. And she looks, she's a goddess.
55:39So many, many, many, many times. And as you know, like Rihanna, I don't want to ever lose that wonder,
55:45that part of me. She's absolutely right. And I hope she asks for my number and gives me a part or
55:50something. But it's never been better for us. It never has been better for us as women, as older
55:57women. I mean, we would have been long extinct. I would have been long put out to pasture, you know,
56:03when I started. So it's just never been better for us. So we can do amazing stories and just employ us
56:10and ourselves and just do, and this, and everyone we now know that everybody is interested in all
56:16these, on humans of all different shapes and sizes. And we've got all these stories and we don't have
56:21to be, they don't have to be boring and stereotypical and very small. The world is huge and there's so
56:27many stories to be told. Thank you all for being part of what really was a powerful conversation.
56:33I know we are all physically distant, but I hope that you felt as I did connected. Thank you.
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