00:00I think the cool thing about Queen of Sun was that I had freedom.
00:02We had final cut, we had complete autonomy.
00:05And that's why I think the film made, I think part of the reason why it hits the way it does,
00:10because it is not put through a white filter.
00:12There is no, not a single note by a white person was taken or given,
00:16because they were aware of the situation when I walked into Universal,
00:19was that I would not take any notes from anyone that was not black.
00:25The lines, I mean, as a writer as well, I see you, Lena.
00:28Come on.
00:29Playing with immortality as legacy, do you think about your legacy in that way,
00:35in that like, what's the Lena I'm leaving behind?
00:38It's bigger than just leaving behind something, the way that you wrote it in this.
00:42That's the thing, I'm not always thinking about my legacy day to day,
00:45but I want to make sure that my resume is pristine,
00:51and that I don't want to involve myself in something for a check, ever.
00:55Even whether I'm an EP on it, or if I wrote it, or if I'm in it,
00:58even things that I'm in, I really do try to be mindful of it
01:01and think about like, what is this saying?
01:04How am I growing from this?
01:05Like, what will this give out to the community?
01:07Even like considering Westworld, it's like, okay, what is it?
01:10What is it saying?
01:10But what they said to me, I was like, oh, that's significant.
01:13That's interesting.
01:14Okay, I can bring something to that.
01:15Right.
01:15So that's, but also too, I think about my legacy outside of the work.
01:20It's the people I touch.
01:21It's the people I know.
01:22It's the people I love.
01:23They are my legacy.
01:24My chosen family, my wife, like that, the children I haven't yet to have.
01:30I really do believe, so I'm sort of a bit of a combination of clean insulin,
01:33and that as long as my lady remembers me finally, that's enough.
01:37But I'm also very aware of what I also mean to a group of people or to audiences.
01:43And so their idea of what my legacy is very different.
01:48You know, it's the work that I put out.
01:50But for me, when I'm sitting at home, I'm like,
01:53my legacy is the relationships that I have and I forge.
01:56I love that.
01:57A line in the movie that Daniel says,
01:59Why do black people always have to be excellent?
02:01Yeah.
02:02Why?
02:03Why do you feel that way?
02:05I think it's a product of trauma.
02:08That was one of the conversations I had with Daniel, actually, funny enough.
02:12And so he's the reason why that exchange is in there.
02:14Because we were having lunch, and I don't know,
02:18I brought up excellence, black excellence or something.
02:22And he said, oh, my dad says that black excellence is a product of trauma,
02:27of black people being traumatized.
02:29It's sort of an effort to earn or justify the space we take up.
02:33And so I just was like, oh, my ass.
02:35Okay.
02:36And I was like, I want to, and so obviously the script was already written,
02:39but I was like, I want to find a way to put that, this exchange, like, into the movie.
02:44And then I kept looking and looking and looking,
02:46and then finally that scene where they're eating, it just presented itself.
02:51And he said, are you a good lawyer?
02:52And she said, oh, she can say I'm an excellent lawyer.
02:54And then he can say what he says.
02:55And that's one of my favorite exchanges in the film,
02:58I think probably because it was born out of a real one.
03:01But that is my trauma, too.
03:04And I think there's a level of people look at me or my career
03:07and sort of see me trying to earn the space in which I take up.
03:13But also you're watching me be an artist as well,
03:19like me trying to ruminate on things,
03:22me trying to heal myself through the work.
03:26And also obviously I have a focus on us.
03:30That's sort of, that's what I like to write about
03:33and fascinated by us and our people.
03:36So, yeah, in a way, my trauma sort of comes out in the work.
03:42And before I get out of here, freedom is something I want to ask you about
03:45because black people have to search for it in every single thing that we do.
03:48Absolutely.
03:49Have you found your freedom?
03:50Have you found a sense of freeness?
03:53And what does that look like for you?
03:55It's interesting that word, which is a very potent one for us,
03:59I think black people are always searching for freedom,
04:04you know, always searching for it in some way.
04:07I said getting married, I felt very free
04:12because now I feel like I'm always protected,
04:18like that no matter, even if the world turns on me,
04:20there's someone that will never turn on me, you know what I'm saying?
04:24So there's a freedom in that.
04:26But, and I'm still, and I'm always looking for freedom in my work.
04:30I think the cool thing about Queen of the Sun was that I had freedom.
04:32We had final cut, we had complete autonomy.
04:35And that's why I think the film made,
04:37I think part of the reason why it hits the way it does,
04:39because it is not put through a white filter.
04:42There is no, not a single note by a white person was taken or given
04:46because they were aware of the situation when I walked into Universal
04:49is that I would not take any notes from anyone that was not black
04:52and myself and Melina would have final cut.
04:55And so I think that's why when people walk out,
04:58they're like, ooh, that feels interesting.
04:59And I'm like, oh, because it's 100% pure.
05:01You can put it on your tongue.
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