00:00Welcome back to the show. Our first guest is an Oscar-nominated actress, best-selling author,
00:13and one of the stars of the hit series Empire. And now she's adding director to her resume
00:17with her debut short film, The Tale of Four, Gabourey Sidibe. Welcome to the show.
00:23Thank you for having me.
00:24What made you decide at this point in your career that you were ready to step behind
00:28the lens and make your directorial debut?
00:30You know what? Like the theme of my entire career, I didn't realize I was ready to be an actor
00:35until I got an audition. And I didn't realize that I was ready to be a director until Refinery29
00:41asked me if I wanted to be a director. And I actually said no because I didn't believe
00:45that I was smart enough to do it. I didn't believe that my opinions were valuable enough
00:49to share. I know, that's a strange thing, but like, you know, I mean, you're a black woman.
00:53You know how many cues you get from the world telling you that you are nothing or that like
00:57everything that you are is very much diminished by everything that everybody else is, you know?
01:02Yes.
01:03And so I actually did the film for my producing partner, Kia Perry. She had this idea and I
01:09knew that I could say no for myself, but I couldn't say no for her.
01:12You couldn't let her down.
01:13I couldn't let her down. And in this strange way, doing it for her allowed me to do it
01:18for myself.
01:18Mm-hmm.
01:19You know?
01:19I want to talk about this song that this film is centered around. It's a Nina Simone classic.
01:25It's a very short song. I think it's like a, I feel like it's less than three minutes.
01:30And in it, she speaks about Aunt Sarah, who's an abused woman, Sophronia, who's mixed race,
01:35Sweet Thing, who is basically a sex worker, and Peaches, who is a mad as hell revolutionary.
01:43And in just, you know, less than three minutes, she builds an entire world, an entire universe
01:48around these four women. And so it was kind of very easy to build a 23 minute film around
01:54these four women. And what happens is we still want more.
01:58I was shocked to realize that only 4% of the top 100 films in 2016 were directed by women.
02:06Are you hoping initiatives like this will change that, will help impact this male-dominated
02:11industry?
02:12Absolutely. And it's even, it's even less for women of color. And so you're missing out on
02:19so much more in the world, because like 4%, and that means that 96% are all men.
02:26Right.
02:27But we know that that's not the way the world works. They diminish us, and they tell us we
02:32don't have a voice, so we have to find our own voice, and we have to be louder and louder.
02:36Has this sparked any more directorial ambitions? Have you been bitten by the director's bug?
02:41I think so.
02:42Do you want to do more?
02:43Yeah, I definitely want to direct more. And what I want to do is I want to write screenplays,
02:47and I want to write more of our stories, because we're still 4%.
02:52It's true.
02:53And I want to do more.
02:54I think you should direct a film about your days as a phone sex worker. I really do.
02:59Well, I feel like it could be your Channing Tatum magic mic moment. I feel like it could
03:03be a great hit. You know?
03:05That is not exactly an idea that I don't have. Yes.
03:08Literally. No, that would be great. I was literally a phone sex operator the day before
03:14I started filming my first film.
03:15Really?
03:16Like, I took off from work so I could go to the audition. And so, and the only people
03:20That's even better!
03:21I know, it was really great. In fact, I did one more shift after getting the part in
03:26Precious. I did one more shift. And then, like, in the middle of my shift, I was like,
03:29what am I doing? I, like, flipped the desk, walked out. But, like, and it was crazy. Like,
03:34when you first, when the movie was first coming out, like, one big interviewer knew and wanted
03:40me to tell the story. And I was like, no, I'm not gonna let you tell my story. I'm gonna do it.
03:44Can you give me your voice? Because I heard you had to, you had to master sounding a hundred
03:49percent Caucasian, petite, and blonde. What does that sound like?
03:53Which is not, I actually chose to be, I did have a blonde voice, but I chose to be brunette.
03:58Honestly, you should hear me order room service. Hi, um, good morning, how are you? I'd like
04:04two scrambled eggs. And, like, like, I'm in the room and people are like, is the voice
04:08sexy over the phone? I'm like, what, what are you talking about? Like, I just naturally
04:11go into.
04:12I love it.
04:13Yeah.
04:14Thank you, Gabby. Thank you so much for being here. The Tale of Four is available now to stream
04:17on Refinery29 as part of their Shatterbox Anthology series. Check it out.
04:23Satsang with me.
04:39Yes.
04:40Yes.
04:44Yes.
04:48Yes.
04:49Yes.
04:50Yes.
04:51Yes.
04:52Yes.
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