- 9 minutes ago
Janelle Monáe, Zendaya, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Helena Bonham Carter & Rose Byrne come together from their homes for the Drama Actress Roundtable.
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00:02We are living in or through a unique, challenging, complicated sort of moment in history,
00:09both with the pandemic and obviously more recently the social unrest.
00:13I'm curious in this sort of-
00:15Just to check our perspectives and where we're coming.
00:18Community, this is not an exciting time for us.
00:21And this isn't a time that we get to really reflect.
00:24We're dealing with a lot of trauma.
00:26We lost a lot of lives.
00:27We've been losing lives for decades, for centuries.
00:31And I think for me, I am trying to figure out how to channel my anger.
00:38So I think this is a time that I'm checking my privilege and I'm also mourning with my people.
00:43And I'm also- one of the things that I learned about me is that I'm not settling for those
00:48who say they are allies.
00:50The work that they have to do, I'm not settling for lip service.
00:54And if you want to show me that you are an ally, it's going to have to be rooted in
00:59service.
01:00In the same ways that we have been marching, we have been screaming that black lives matter.
01:05I'm asking of my white friends or those who consider themselves supporters of me and us during this time,
01:14I'm asking that you have those conversations around white supremacy.
01:18You have those questions, those tough conversations of why we're even saying black lives matter as though black people are
01:26objects and not subjects to study and to the end of time.
01:29Have those conversations around how you dismantle systemic racism.
01:34And that's where I am now.
01:37Like I'm not- I think this is a moment for black people to stand our ground and ask more
01:45of our systems.
01:46In Hollywood, ask more.
01:48Because it can't just be, okay, we're going to march with you and we're going to do a hashtag.
01:53It has to be rooted in justice as well.
01:55It has- systemic change has to be made.
01:58You know, examining privilege, as Janelle said, I think I went through a reckoning with the Time's Up movement.
02:04We work and exist inside of systems that are really broken.
02:09Really broken.
02:10So trying to get strategic about what my influence or power on my platform can help inform or create change,
02:19I think it started with having conversations.
02:21Every time I took a job, it was like I would call whoever was the head of the studio and,
02:26you know,
02:26talk about, you know, is there- what does your board look like?
02:30Well, where are your female executives?
02:33Where are the people of color?
02:34Like, I'm starting to ask more questions about how does the money flow through companies?
02:39What kind of representation at my agency?
02:42Was there fear with those questions?
02:43Were you nervous to ask those kinds of questions?
02:46Absolutely, because I'd never questioned anybody before.
02:48Like, I'd never spoken up or asked anything before.
02:50I just accepted systems.
02:51And I'm, you know, I was, at the time I think I was 40 years old or 41, and I
02:56was like, what am I doing?
02:57If I don't use this one walk on earth to create a better reality for the women that are coming
03:04after me, you know, what are we doing?
03:07And I've been very privileged.
03:09I've been the beneficiary of a system that valued people who look like me.
03:15I've made a lot of movies.
03:17I can make a lot of movies, but I want to make things that matter, and I want to work
03:21in partnership and real partnership with people who are committed to change within our industry, within the world, within their
03:29communities and their families.
03:30And I think that means empowering women and getting women paid.
03:35That's something I like to talk about a lot.
03:38So we're part of those systems, and we can ask a lot of questions, and we should, and we need
03:43to.
03:43I think also having the time to be alone and not distracted has been almost divine timing in terms of
03:53the order of which, you know, how everything is unfolded.
03:57And that, I think, is kind of a blessing in this COVID pandemic.
04:02There wasn't any chance for people to distract going back to work or going out to dinners or whatever.
04:11We were all pushed, pulled together.
04:14It feels extremely unifying and kind of oddly beautiful what we're able to, what I've been witnessing in human beings.
04:24It's extraordinary.
04:25The resilience, whether it was the pandemic or the social unrest, how everyone pulls together, has been stunning to watch.
04:38I feel like because it's happening now, we have now the time to properly consider it and seriously have the
04:44time to see what everyone can do about it.
04:48And if it hadn't, I'm sure people have said, like, do you think it would have happened if COVID hadn't
04:54happened?
04:54And I feel, unfortunately, not.
04:56No, I agree with you.
04:57I think the tipping point is something to do with the fact that everyone has the time and the space
05:02to actually change the society.
05:04The fact that this particular instance has had such a worldwide effect, I think, is something to do with the
05:11other.
05:12It was definitely tied up with the pandemic, I think.
05:15But it's extraordinary living through history.
05:17We're very privileged.
05:18Do you guys feel like you'll make different choices at the other side of this, whether it's the stories you
05:23choose to tell or the characters you choose to inhabit?
05:26I want the freedom, like all of my favorite, you know, actors who get an opportunity to do fantasy, do
05:33sci-fi, do drama, do all these things.
05:36You know, I want to see more scripts where, you know, you're writing for the human.
05:42You're not pushing me to be a stereotype of what you think blackness is.
05:47Your role in Homecoming was written without an ethnicity attached.
05:51Yeah, this was the first script where it didn't specify urban or black.
05:59And I obviously am very proud of who I am and where I come from.
06:04I will say, in addition to that, there was just an amount of freedom that I felt like I had.
06:09I felt like I wasn't, you know, I didn't have to live up to some stereotype of what you think,
06:15you know, represents
06:19or what black people can be.
06:22I felt free in that role.
06:23And what I loved about this character is that Jackie is such a chameleon.
06:30She wakes up in the middle of this boat with no memory.
06:33She doesn't know who she is, what happened to her.
06:36And so you go on this journey of self-discovery.
06:38She's trying to uncover her identity.
06:42And, you know, I didn't want to play her one note.
06:44You know, I didn't want to play her disoriented the entire time.
06:48You know, wakes up, doesn't know, oh, my God, oh, my God.
06:50It was like, no, how can I really deal with the frustration of one not even being able to remember?
07:00And people are asking her, you know, what happened, what happened?
07:03How frustrated, you know, would we be if we could not remember?
07:08And I personally would not have made the choices that Jackie made, but that was what was intriguing.
07:16It was great, though, being able to mastermind with another, you know, another woman on screen to take down the
07:23patriarchy,
07:23to buck that system and to be in those positions of power.
07:26But then it's like, how much are we willing to risk to gain power?
07:32What does that actually feel like when you use the same logic as those men to get to where you
07:37are?
07:38You know, I want that freedom.
07:40And that's what I'm focusing on right now in my career is how we can put forward more films and
07:49television shows that show our range,
07:53that show, you know, our brilliance in many areas and show us as human beings, complete human beings.
07:59Cyndia, one of the things I've heard you say in the past is that you've told your representatives,
08:05you know, even if the park calls for a white girl, put me up for it.
08:09Get me in the room.
08:10Being, you know, a light-skinned woman, you know, to recognize my privilege in that sense as well
08:15and make sure that I am not taking up space where I don't need to, that I think has been
08:21a choice for myself.
08:22But yeah, I mean, when roles came through, I mean, Rue had no description either.
08:31And, you know, our writer and creator, he kind of, he wrote Rue based off a lot of his own
08:37personal experiences with addiction.
08:38And he is a white man, you know, so I could have, or Rue could have been that.
08:45So I'm very grateful that I was able to bring the character to life.
08:49And I felt very connected to Rue.
08:50And she has flaws and she has beautiful characteristics about her.
08:55And she's, and I care about her so much, you know, as if she were my little sister,
09:00as if she were a part of me in some kind of way.
09:03And, you know, I was just very grateful that it came to me in a new form.
09:09And I just felt lucky to tell her story.
09:13And also, I think hopefully I'll be in a space like, you know, these lovely ladies where I can create
09:21the things
09:22and make space for women that look like me, women that don't look like me,
09:28and tell the stories that I want to see be told.
09:30You know, that's the ultimate goal at the end of the day.
09:33With Morning Show, Jan Rees, the show sort of delves into the gray areas of the Me Too movement and
09:40that experience.
09:41What kinds of conversations did you have about sort of exploring the complexity of the various emotions
09:47and the responses to sexual misconduct?
09:50Mainly for all of us, each of us, was just to go into the heart of it
09:55and to be as, and to really just pull every curtain on how dark and messy and unforgiving it, the
10:06world was and is.
10:09And to sort of be, and have all of these, all of each and every character just have all of
10:16these wonderful different dimensions.
10:18And to also say all of the things that are said behind closed doors that no one has the guts
10:24to say out loud.
10:25And that's what was so refreshing about it.
10:27And talk about characters to build and create and just feel like you're just dumping, you know, manhole covers off
10:34your back
10:34in terms of, you know, what you get to release.
10:38And I, I mean, it was, it was extraordinary for, for, for me.
10:44And then I had Rees as a partner, which was also having, you know,
10:48like having the grade A student next to you all the time.
10:51It was quite helpful.
10:52I mean, your prep and everything, she came in just like ready with that journalist voice.
10:57And I was like, where did you get that journalist voice?
11:01She's like, I've been preparing it for eight weeks.
11:04Rees, what were the parts of the conversation that weren't sort of being had out in the open
11:08that you wanted to have in the show itself?
11:11And when we talk about systems, it shows you from the top down to the very bottom exactly how people
11:16are treated
11:16and who is listened to and who is believed and who is not.
11:19And who is important in an organization and who's not.
11:24And media is its own mixed bag, you know.
11:28I think it's a bizarre world we live in that we don't even know where to get the truth anymore,
11:32right.
11:33And then Twitter's going a million miles an hour with all kind of false sources and information.
11:39And it was really interesting to dig into that journalistic integrity piece, too.
11:44Like, what is your obligation to education now?
11:49Do you have one?
11:51Or is it all just about clicks and links?
11:53And where is the moral integrity in that business?
11:56That was kind of an interesting question to dig into.
11:59Helen, I want to talk to you about taking on this role of Prince Margaret.
12:03And if I have this right, it wasn't immediate, yes.
12:07At the beginning, it was terrifying.
12:08Everyone was terrified on the first two weeks.
12:10Then you relax.
12:12But the other thing was I couldn't, I can't, I have to see a script.
12:18And I have to respond to the words.
12:20So they were kind of shocked that I wouldn't just take it.
12:24I think they felt, Morgan thought I was sort of insulting them.
12:27And I wasn't.
12:28It wasn't to do with the fact that I didn't believe it wasn't going to be a great script.
12:32But I just needed to know whether I could do it.
12:34And it's like meeting someone.
12:37You have to see it on the page and go, how can I play this?
12:42And so as soon as you begin to trust yourself, you think, oh, yeah, that is why I took so
12:46long.
12:47It wasn't a lack of faith in them.
12:48It was a lack of faith in myself.
12:50Yeah, playing Gloria Steinem was a lot of preparation.
12:54I felt like that, too, Helen.
12:55Like I was trying, like a detective, like trying to find stuff and reading everything and footage.
13:00And, you know, my trailer was covered with pictures of her.
13:03And I was constantly audio, you know, I was just like immersed and obsessed and dreaming about her.
13:10But I don't know either.
13:11Like you don't know what's going to pay off or what isn't.
13:15And you don't want to do a character tour.
13:17It's a very, yeah, I was deeply paranoid, you know, during the shoot.
13:22I would always be like calling up Davi Waller, like, you know, am I terrible?
13:26What am I doing?
13:27Is it bad?
13:28Is it too much?
13:28Is it too little?
13:29Oh, God, you know, don't fire me, you know, like that kind of thing.
13:33Like just, you know, deeply paranoid, particularly when you're playing someone that everyone already has a projection onto of what
13:39they are.
13:40And, you know, if someone as iconic as Margaret or as Gloria or, you know, that, so it's, yeah, I'd
13:45never, I'd never done that before playing someone that's so well known, you know.
13:49And it was, it's, it's a great project too, because it really reverse engineers historically where we are, why we,
13:54why we are where we are today.
13:56And the divisiveness of politics and the cult of sort of the right wing personality and alternative facts and so
14:03on and so forth.
14:03So, it's, yeah, I quickly realized that too while, whilst we were doing it.
14:09Anyone else in this group struggled at any point with wanting to be seen in ways that the industry perhaps
14:13didn't want to see them?
14:15And, yeah, Jen, so what do you do?
14:17Yeah, I could not get Rachel Green off of my back for the life of me.
14:21I could not escape, you know, just Rachel from Friends, just Rachel from Friends.
14:26And I'd be like, and it's on all the time.
14:28And you're just like, stop playing this fucking show.
14:32I completely just fought with myself and, and who I was in this industry for forever,
14:40because it was just constantly about trying to prove that I was more than, than that.
14:44I found a lot more freedom once I'd started doing more comedy, because I'd been doing serious things.
14:49But then once you start doing more comedy, then people don't think you can do serious,
14:52it's just this ongoing reinvention that you're trying to, you know,
14:56people having preconceived ideas about you and trying to shake that up
15:00or like Janelle's speaking about with stereotypes and, and things like that.
15:04You know, it's a, it's, you really have to run your own race in a way
15:09and, and always like be checking in with yourself and, you know,
15:13and I find too, though, as I get older is that I'm less concerned about all the noise
15:18and just trying to figure out what is the project as a whole
15:21that I think is really either, you know, saying something or exceptional
15:26or has something about it that is, that could potentially be, you know, exceptional.
15:31Well, I think also, like, I think something that's really shifted in our business
15:34is streaming too, because, and the, the, the influence of data over our business.
15:40So it used to be, we were just reliant on a bunch of people who worked at a studio
15:45to tell us what movies worked and we just, you know, come, you know, blindly accepted it
15:50or they'd say, you know, comedies don't travel overseas
15:53or, or black films don't play well in other countries.
15:58It's just not true.
15:59Now we have empirical data that other stories need to be heard
16:05and there is a huge audience for them.
16:08I mean, if you see that, like, I mean, you just see that with Zendaya
16:11has 400 billion million followers.
16:14I mean, she has her own data stream.
16:19Like she knows more what her audience wants to see her do than any head of any studio.
16:25So in a way we, we have a sense of control and authorship
16:31and the ability to steer our careers that we never had before.
16:34I couldn't connect to my audience.
16:36I didn't know where they live.
16:37Now I know exactly where they live.
16:39I know if they like me.
16:41I know if they like me on Apple.
16:43I know if they like me on Hulu.
16:45I know if they like Amazon better.
16:47Like it, it, it was greatly empowering.
16:50This information age has, you know, brought on a lot of yucky stuff,
16:54but it's also brought on this liberation, um, that we are able to connect
17:00and we, and we know we matter.
17:07We'll see you next time.
17:09We'll see you next time.
17:11So we'll be here.
17:11We'll see you next time.
17:12Yeah.
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