WATCH: Issa Rae, Tracee Ellis Ross & Erika Alexander ESSENCE Uncovered | Jan/Feb Issue - video Dailymotion

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In this full circle moment, the power trio reflects on their experience as Black TV royalty and how that created a path to partnering together for a film that is receiving critical acclaim ahead of awards season.  Director: Stephanie Duncan  DP:  Editor:   Associate Producer:  Production Manager: Kendoysa Pratt Production Coordinator: Stephanie duncan Entertainment Editor: Okla Jones  Post Production Supervisor: Stephanie Duncan Post Production Coordinator:  Supervising Editor: Stephanie Duncan Assistant Editor:  Director, Post Production: Stephanie Duncan Filmed at: NYA Studios  Want to see the latest stories on ESSENCE.com ►► https://www.essence.com/bio/  Get the best of ESSENCE delivered right in your inbox ►► https://www.essence.com/newsletters/  Want to hear more from our editors? Subscribe to the magazine ►► https://subs.essence.com/pubs/EV/ESS/Self_Gift_subscriptions_Site_Dec_2024.jsp?cds_page_id=281821&cds_mag_code=ESS&id=1737493737517&lsid=50211500278059927&vid=6  Download the E360 App ►► https://apps.apple.com/us/app/e360-app/id1382387491  ESSENCE YouTube Channels:  ESSENCE GU: @girlsunitedbyessence9585 Afropunk: @afropunk Beautycon: @BeautyConTV NaturallyCurly: @naturallycurly   Want to see more Essence Videos? Subscribe to our channel!! http://www.youtube.com/subscription_c...  Connect with Essence Facebook:    https://www.facebook.com/essence Twitter:     https://x.com/Essence Youtube:     //www.youtube.com/@ESSENCEMAG TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@essence?lang=en

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00:00what's crazy is it didn't dawn on me until this cover yeah i would i because none of us we didn't

00:06first of all we didn't work together in the film like i we none of us overlapped so i you know i

00:13knew they were in the film and i've seen the film but it didn't just didn't dawn on me and then

00:17when the cover offer i was like wait this is so epic

00:21i think what makes this film even more iconic was the girlfriends living single and insecure

00:35crossover which we didn't know is what we needed i feel really um oh it makes me want to cry a

00:40little bit i feel a little humbled and like me too tickled by you know the i mean first of all

00:46the opportunity that girlfriends brought into my life and what it did in my career and

00:50what it brought to me as a human being but you know i i this was where i looked you know what

00:57i mean i was looking there and then there was it's just i don't know it's very special i can't i can't

01:01you know i admire these two women i got you they're freaking phenomenal what was it particularly that

01:13drew each of you to this particular project i mean the script was brilliant i hadn't read

01:20erasure before but um so my first introduction was cord's work and it was immediately relatable

01:28just even as a writer as a black person just on all levels i thought that it was funny um from

01:35those first five pages i was already laughing and um it was just immediately something i wanted to be

01:41a part of yeah the script was drew me in really quickly and also surprising because i hadn't read

01:47erasure so i was i was like wait what is happening and it was a nice journey that drew me in and then

01:54jeffrey wright the opportunity to work with jeffrey was like very exciting for me a man whose work i have

02:01um just admired for so long and the way he transforms himself in every role that he does

02:06um and also cord i was a fan of cord's work and i really love supporting first-time directors for

02:13sure everything that they said double it up um but imagine getting this call erica there's a director

02:22and you know him he won the emmy for watchman i'm already like huh and then it's a uh um a book

02:32erasure percival everett everett and then jeffrey wright and you'd play his girlfriend and at the

02:40time the movie's name was yes it was i'm sorry i started taking vitamins and stretching that day

02:47i was in i didn't need to read anything i was like oh hell this gonna be my nine and a half weeks

02:53so you know i was here i was here i don't want much in life with that right there that was like

02:57a christmas gift from black santa

03:00what was it like since you fun as hell it was really fun immediately fell into it um everybody

03:06looked amazing yeah sexy i mean she was all greased up finally all right that's nice

03:12well anyway um it was really fun today and it was really comfortable it was really easy it was

03:25like it was hot you know it was like your friends yeah not in the sexy way yeah in the temperature

03:31way no it was hot yes she brought the heat erica brought the heat no erica was hot

03:42i can answer that question easy okay no but i have eaten some things on set that i wish i hadn't

03:49i can't i cannot i can't i'm gonna say yes because things have a lot of things have changed you know

03:58especially you know post-strike all those things but even pre that their their budget restraints

04:05and there are certain times when you imagine if i could i could do so much more creatively

04:10if you give me what i had last year like you know i could just knock it out the park but um

04:16beyond that i i think i i tend to fight for my creative i tend to fight too

04:22i tend i tend to do i tend to do no not doing that

04:27that doesn't feel right um i'm the big why girl why though why are we doing that it's good to know

04:34yeah right it's good to know yeah but i feel like you need to like yeah especially if it's something

04:38that feels compromising you're like but what's the why and then are you are you actually looking

04:44for an answer yes no matter what answer i get no because i i have gotten good answers and i'm like

04:50then i shall yes when in your career did you feel like you could be confident enough to say i'm not

04:55doing that i know the moment it happened for me come on tell me there was a director and he was

05:00probably well he thought he was doing right he wanted to rehearse us in the sitcom i was in

05:07everyone knows me for over and over and over and which one was that i'm living single

05:11you know aren't they lovely i love them want to kiss them okay you know what anyway and he

05:23and it was heavy week for me and i said no and this was a very i mean he is a heavy director i said

05:31i'm sorry we can't because one thing about comedy you can rehearse it until it's gone it's gone and i

05:37think he did it for one reason because he was nervous but also i also think and i do think that

05:42race can play a thing where he didn't want us to mess up and i thought you know we're individuals

05:50and i get that you're first time on our set but we've been doing this a while and so if you're

05:55going to over rehearse us you should ask give us a reason why she says but i said no and then i

06:00walked out and i felt really weird because i'm my mother's daughter my father's daughter i don't

06:04want to be rude to anyone and people show up to work hard but it was that day it was freedom but

06:11it was also pressure because i felt like did i have the right did i have i earned the right to say

06:16no but when i was in my trailer i talked myself into it and said no you you've absolutely and then

06:21when we pulled it off fine i think he saw but i also was i was relieved because the last thing i

06:26wanted to do was come and mess it up after i said no but that was a big deal to push back on something

06:31i don't think there's any burdens to being a black woman i don't know that i would describe

06:49it that way there are certain there are obstacles that you know we face that most of us are able to

06:58overcome that's i don't even want to say the magic in us that's the like that's the profound human

07:03nature but to speak to my character she wanted to come out on top you know it's it's just it there's

07:11a in my opinion i felt like she was tired of being slept on she saw the games being played

07:19she knows that she's an excellent writer and she was like you know fuck it i'll play the game too and i

07:24think that so much of being a black woman is is sometimes that of just like you're gonna try to

07:31play me but i will i will overcome and i'll play the game better and i honestly love that part of it

07:37i think lisa i think that was one of the things that really drew me to the role um the the first

07:43thing though is that she was a planned parenthood abortion doctor um a planned parenthood doctor um but

07:51just to play that on screen in and of itself uh felt important to me and who lisa is in monk's world

07:59and the role that she was left with in her family when her two brothers sort of went off and did their

08:06thing that she took the burden of the family the responsibility of their mother um and there's

08:12that audrey lord quote that black women um are asked to or taught to be all things to all people at

08:19all times and i think that is uh something that i was interested in portraying through lisa uh the

08:28responsibility that was on her shoulders and the result of that i think that cord's genius was that

08:33he recruited collaborators who had already done so much in their individual careers and they come

08:40together as ensemble players as character actors but they're all leading people like that's that's

08:46really saying you know what i've got if i had my pick and they could say yes you know what would i

08:51put together and trust me when i saw their names i was like what i'm already there you know in my mind

09:00but i hadn't thought just like tracy about the significance of what it meant for these three women

09:06and and what we have represented over the years in comedy that's a tough space it's a tough business

09:12you know and to be here in this moment i mean i'm so grateful i don't know what to say

09:17and can i also say that these two women were very early supporters of my work when i was doing a web series

09:22running into you at the artwork and i haven't been back since because why would you go back

09:27and like you championing my work of the entire cast running into you at i want to what was it like

09:35i remember where we were yes and we like that to me i have that like your words are the same

09:41it's like it's so the encouragement those words of affirmation it just felt it felt so good to be

09:47acknowledged by you know people that i look up to that i grew up watching that i you know aspired to

09:54and so this is such a full circle moment it's really i'm amazed that also in the script and i think

10:02the three of us are people who have made choices in our careers and have played roles in our careers

10:08where we do have a whole life and a whole story it is not easy as an actress as a woman but as a black

10:16actress to find roles where you are not written in context of something else where your identity is

10:23not because of something or you're just the setup for or you establish something and then you're gone

10:29and just used in that way and what core did in these split seconds in these moments that we

10:34appear on the screen is that we are whole people and it was on the page and that is i think that's

10:40we were drawn to the script but that is a spectacular thing and it's not it's rare

10:46being for our january february issue is black love but for so many of us our first true love is our

10:50girlfriends um each of you represent an iconic character in shows that embody the full identity

10:57of black sisterhood is there a character on any of these shows that is most similar to you

11:02i mean on both of you guys's shows i'm definitely definitely a joan and i'm definitely i would i would

11:11say that i'm a blend between maxine and and kadeesha because i have that hard maxine exterior

11:18to like with my girlfriends i'm i'm kadeesha i think i was kadeesha and um i think i'm isa

11:29and i'm sadly very joan i've evolved and i'm a little i've grown up a little more than joan now

11:38i'm a little less anxious and um i have a lot more faith than joan um and i'm not waiting to be chosen

11:46i know that's right i know that's right because her little journey sometimes i look back i'm like

11:52girl stand down come on i'm like for god's sakes you're a lawyer you're now a restaurateur like what

11:57is happening yeah i don't know if she should go back to william i didn't say that um although they

12:03were real cute yeah they were what about you well i'd like to think i have the schizophrenia to think

12:07i'm all of these women you know because frankly i could see myself in every single one i really could

12:12i'm very awkward and i'm from arizona so up in the mountains i'm very awkward so when she was

12:17doing that i thought oh wow that represents somebody more like me except i have the confidence

12:22in another mind of a joan who's accomplished who's trying to juggle a lot of things and testing the

12:27waters and not really knowing i'm really i really love that and i i like the strength of what she's uh

12:33you know put put forth obviously written by really strong women both of those shows and also

12:39isa ray's show written by her and the whole team so i mean that's what that's what i feel but i also

12:44am a little aunt esther i'm all these things that whoopi goldberg and all these people putting you

12:49what you see in us is what they put out there and so we got to give you know thanks to marla gibbs

12:54and lawanda page on on esther and and you know whoopi all of them they they they made it possible

13:01it's funny i mean i i said it a second ago but the truth is that i don't think i realized while i

13:16was playing joan that for eight years i was speaking the dialogue of a woman who was waiting

13:23to be chosen and it took me um which is one of the reasons that publicly i speak so clearly

13:30and all the time about that not being um a choice for me and um and to sort of break that mold uh

13:42because i i think there's uh i don't want young girls or boys but young girls to be taught to grow

13:48up dreaming of their wedding i want young girls to grow up dreaming of their lives who they want

13:53to be and what they want to give to the world um so it was sort of the opposite for me with joan

13:58although i really loved um her clothes um and a lot of them were mine um and i have a lot of them so

14:05um so interesting i think that there's four shows about friendships and about

14:13sort of the connection between women and how we become each other's chosen families you know

14:20and that the importance of that bond and yet in the world it's often like you know there's

14:27competition between women it's not been my experience no i mean i have to agree and i think

14:33thinking about my own role like this show changed my life and i played a character that was a younger

14:43version of myself or so i thought and i didn't recognize that i still exhibited these these

14:51these insecure traits like the the lack of confidence in some areas and doing this show

14:57made me so confident you know playing this this character who was uncertain of herself similar to

15:04you is just like i i'm very much not that anymore and i am i'm very sure of myself and what i'm doing

15:12i'm sure of myself behind the scenes and it it taught me a lot of lessons that i

15:17um put into place in my in my real life so i thank her for kind of shining light on my strength

15:24it'll be 30 years this year for living single wow 40 years next year for me in the business

15:33wow i'm tired

15:34i'm gonna tell you i'm tired i ain't gonna lie and um i gained strength by thinking that

15:41something just like tracy said i'm not thinking at the moment we're doing the show about any effect

15:47it's going to have you're just hoping that you can do the show well and keep moving because those

15:51shows are being filmed 26 per year and whatnot it's a it's a grind how many did you do not 26 barely

15:59we did 24 24 yeah okay 26 24 it's a lot but i have to say you know um i've had also lived long

16:07enough to see grown women who have grown up come up to me and said that the character meant something

16:13to them and they went out to leadership they went into um um politics they you know pursued

16:19you know tough careers people like stacy abrams ayanna presley uh you know it's amazing so i give that

16:27back to again something that someone put into me and i'm just for that brief period able to sort of

16:36tap into that and uh put it out in the world but thank goodness for all the people who came and

16:42provided those opportunities because that's what i see in it i see all the instructors i see my mom

16:48my father in it i certainly see you know people like whoopie she played my mother in a whole other

16:52film before i got there yeah so you see that haircut that's whoopie that's whoopie it's in there it's

16:59but it was it was cecily tyson who told me don't ever let anybody tell you what to do with your hair

17:03that was before i got there you know and then we had the great felicia rashad being that lawyer

17:09showing us how to you know how to do that but then i'm a preacher's daughter if i walk in the room

17:14i'm just doing my best to strut around and act like i know these are all the things that make up

17:19you know the things we're pulling from and so when people say that inspire them i'm saying good

17:23because i'm inspired and i aspire to those people so i'm grateful for it and boom shakalaka

17:29you know good luck to everybody because this is a tough business boom shakalaka is also 30 years old

17:36support it there's what other publications are out here trying to represent us to the fillers

17:51doing their best to showcase all our multifacetedness like there are no other publications

17:57that care about us like essence does so support essence yeah i think that that closes us out

18:05beautifully no doubt

WATCH: Issa Rae, Tracee Ellis Ross & Erika Alexander ESSENCE Uncovered | Jan/Feb Issue

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