00:00I was terrified of cats before I made this movie.
00:03I was so terrified that I would cry if a cat approached me in a room.
00:08And then I fell in love with the idea of playing Sam in this movie,
00:13and she had a cat, and so I had to face my fear of cats
00:16and get exposure to them through a therapy process.
00:21And I overcame my fear, and by the end of it,
00:24I was so in love with the cats that I got myself one.
00:30Oh.
00:44You're kind of a certified scream queen at this point.
00:47You've done a lot of horror movies, Little Monsters.
00:50I would say 12 Years a Slave is a horror movie as well.
00:53But historically, there wasn't really a lot of space for black women in the genre,
00:57and you've been kind of integral in changing that in the last couple of years.
01:00What is it about horror that keeps bringing you back to this genre?
01:04You know, the first thing I'm attracted to is the character that I'm presented to play.
01:11And I just happen to have gotten these three great characters in the horror film genre.
01:17I do really love scaring people, and I've always loved scaring people from when I was little.
01:22So now, actually, my mom is like, finally, you can put it to good use, you know,
01:26and stop terrorizing your family members.
01:29But I think that horror, why it exists is perhaps because there's a catharsis
01:37in experiencing something uglier and more terrifying than your real life.
01:42And fear is not an emotion that we run towards very often, right?
01:48We actually spend most of our lives trying to get as far away from fear as possible.
01:52We don't want to be unsafe.
01:54And in that, we can bottle up a lot of it.
01:58And a horror film is a chance to just let it out.
02:01It's permission to be afraid.
02:04It's a place to put that emotion.
02:06It's cathartic.
02:07It's kind of like being on a roller coaster.
02:09You dread it, you're on it, and then you realize it was a thrill,
02:12and you want to do it again.
02:13Very well said.
02:14And I think that's why a lot of us like the horror genre.
02:16Speaking of what you said, since you're so good at scaring people,
02:20what is it that scares you?
02:22Okay, okay.
02:25Heights terrify me.
02:30Closed spaces terrify me.
02:34And cats used to terrify me, but not anymore.
02:37How was that when you had a cat the whole?
02:40You see, I was terrified of cats before I made this movie.
02:43I was so terrified that I would cry if a cat approached me in a room.
02:49And then I fell in love with the idea of playing Sam in this movie,
02:53and she had a cat.
02:55And so I had to face my fear of cats and get exposure to them
02:59through a therapy process.
03:01And I overcame my fear.
03:03And by the end of it, I was so in love with the cats that I got myself one.
03:08Really?
03:08Yes.
03:09That's amazing.
03:10Changed my life.
03:12What's your cat's name?
03:13Yo-Yo.
03:14Yo-Yo.
03:14Yeah.
03:15That's so cute.
03:16Speaking of Sam, she's on her own mental and emotional journey
03:19that's kind of equally as terrifying as the physical one that she's on in the movie.
03:25Without giving spoilers, of course,
03:26what is it about her unique fight in this that really drew you to playing her,
03:31enough to get over your fear of cats?
03:32Yeah.
03:34Well, she's a very unique character for a horror film.
03:39Because in most horror films, everybody is trying to survive.
03:46Sam has a certain outlook on life that challenges that.
03:51And it's a complete departure from the way I approach life.
03:55So it was like she's so, such a contrast to me.
03:59And that was both fascinating and terrifying for me to have to, like,
04:04figure out how to play in a convincing manner.
04:08Yeah.
04:08And she is not your everyday hero.
04:12And I think there's an every-woman quality about her
04:17that will be relatable to a lot of people.
04:20I think that is true of both Sam and Eric,
04:23who ends up being her reluctant companion through this apocalypse.
04:28Now, with Sam, it seems like there's a lot to tackle on.
04:31There's also, like, a physical transformation that you went through to play her.
04:35What was it like trying to prepare for everything that this role is going to take out of you?
04:41Oh, my goodness.
04:42It was daunting.
04:43It was very daunting.
04:45I was, I remember just, like, I mean,
04:49I had to start working on the physical transformation
04:53immediately after releasing Wakanda Forever.
04:58So I was going to the extreme opposite end of things.
05:03And it's just, it was really daunting.
05:06I was quite afraid of it.
05:09But then I just had to, like, lean in.
05:10Because that production date, it's not going to move.
05:14And I had to be ready.
05:15And really, the physical transformation informed so much of my understanding of Sam.
05:22And it really informed every single physical and emotional choice I made.
05:27So it was the bedrock of building my character.
05:33When you first read the script, I feel like Quiet Place, the whole series, though they are horror movies,
05:38there's an underlying emotional story.
05:40There's an underlying message for everyone.
05:42And I know that, you know, most actors don't want to tell the audience what to think.
05:45But for you, when you read the script, what was the takeaway from it for you?
05:49We need each other.
05:51You know, in the first two films, we are following the Abbott family.
05:56And they are a nuclear family.
05:59And we, as human beings, understand intrinsically why they would want to stay together.
06:07We get that.
06:08They are members of the same tribe.
06:10We get that.
06:11But in our film, we are following two strangers who have no ties to each other.
06:17And they have to come together in order to navigate this new world, this new terrifying world.
06:24And the question is, how on earth will the, why on earth would these people stick together?
06:29And at the end of it, I just remember reading the script and thinking,
06:32wow, this is such a great study of how much we need each other and how much,
06:36at a certain point, it doesn't matter what tribe you belong to.
06:40What matters is the ability to survive.
06:44And I think it's a wonderful thing to meditate on.
06:47Now, what for you was the toughest scene?
06:49Because, again, it took a lot out of you just to even get to play this character.
06:52What was the toughest scene that you had to take on, if you can go through it?
06:56Well, without any spoilers, there was one sequence that takes place in the subway, in a flooding subway.
07:05And we had water, we were wet, and there was a cat.
07:14And if anyone knows anything about cats, they don't like water.
07:18So the measures that had to be put in place in order to do this added even more challenges to the scene.
07:26And it was, oh, my God, it was a coordinating hell.
07:31But it was also what made it so much fun.
07:34And actually, in that scene, my training from Wakanda Forever really came in handy
07:39because I can now hold my breath for long periods of time underwater.
07:43And so the shooting was more efficient as a result.
07:46And, yeah, I just felt like that was the scene where I was like, wow, this is cool.
07:52And I'm a badass.
07:54This is all right.
07:55You know?
07:56It challenged me in a way, and I overcame those challenges in a way that really made me feel great.
08:03And which one was the most fun for you?
08:05Maybe that.
08:06It's that.
08:06It's the most challenging thing that would be the most fun, too, because, yeah, it's like you're trying to –
08:14there's so many things you're trying to do at once, and it's daunting, but you have the support you need,
08:20and you have a goal to reach.
08:22And when you reach it, it's euphoric.
08:25You know, when they say, that's a wrap on that scene, oh, you feel so good.
08:31It's a rush like no other.
08:32And then you see it in the final thing.
08:34It's like, oh, yeah, that looks pretty darn real.
08:36And that feels great, too.
08:38Absolutely.
08:39Now, we've seen you in action.
08:40We've seen you in drama.
08:41We've seen you in horror.
08:42A little comedy as well with a big mouth here and there.
08:45What genre have you not yet had the opportunity to tackle that you would love to take a lead in?
08:50I really would love more opportunities in the comedic sphere.
08:54I would – I don't want to be running from monsters for the rest of my life.
09:01And I'm really interested in romantic comedies.
09:05I find them just life-affirming.
09:08It's nice to have a love story and a happy ending and some laughs in between.
09:14Yeah, and just comedic – not just rom-com, but just the comedic sphere.
09:19I would like to do more of that, you know.
09:24Yeah, hopefully I get to do that soon.
09:26Yeah, I think on the side of you people don't get to see very often.
09:29Yeah, yeah, exactly.
09:31I don't get to flex that muscle much in cinema.
09:35I – you know, it's a question of, like, I came up – the gate was highly dramatic and quite sober material.
09:45And, yeah, someone's just got to take a chance.
09:49Well, hopefully they do.
09:51We've had a streak of amazing roles, of course, since winning the Academy Award.
09:54When you're looking at scripts, what type of woman are you drawn to that you really want to play?
10:00Well, the woman I want to play is different from the woman I just played.
10:05So my most – my body of work will inform where I'm trying to go to next.
10:13But also the character that I've just played will mainly inform where I want to go to next.
10:19Because I don't think that my creativity is infinite.
10:22You know, I do run dry of certain things.
10:26So, you know, now I run away from monsters.
10:28Now I'm hanging out with a cat.
10:29I'm not going to be trying to do that again anytime soon.
10:32I've done that.
10:33So I will try and lend myself to something that I still feel I have the fuel for while I replenish that other side of me.
10:45And I look for roles that will stretch me.
10:48I want to have an inkling for the characters that I'm offered.
10:52And then I want to have something that terrifies me that I don't understand about them.
10:55Because that's how I learn.
10:57You know, that's how it remains interesting.
11:00That's the way I feed my curiosity.
11:02I don't want to know everything about...
11:05I don't want to understand everything about a character when I first read them.
11:09I like to go on a journey to find them within me.
11:14All right.
11:15Thank you so much for your time today.
11:17Thanks.
11:18Take care.
11:18Bye-bye.
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