Original subtitles

Both cameras are rolling.

Speed.

Everybody's got their last little tweaks.

Gently. Gently.

So, now, is the conceit that I am visiting with the viewer?

Yes.

My little heart is just like… pounding.

- Are you nervous? - Yeah!

Why are you nervous?

I think I'm more comfortable with a script and a character or something.

I am Queen of the most powerful nation in the world!

I'm bringing in the old, I'm bringing in the brash,

I'm bringing in the Black.

A whole lot of the dominant culture arrives as number one on the call sheet.

But we seldom do.

Who made you the fucking warden?

Who made you queen of the whole damn world?

In the group of ladies,

I always think a number of us had to…

…kick down doors for ourselves

or doors had been left ajar and we've you know,

peeked through and bust through and walked through.

And it has been a journey.

It never occurred to me that I would be a movie star or any of that.

I just wanted to tell stories, really, and be part of the stories.

It's really all that, in my mind, was scheduled for me.

About 15 is when I was attracted to it.

I, you know, became familiar with some Langston Hughes poems.

You know, like: Reverend came by my house last week

He said "Have you a little time to speak?"

He said, "I'm interested in your soul.

Has it been saved Or is your heart stone-cold?"

I said, "Reverend, I'll have you know I was baptized long ago."

He said, "Sister, have you backslid?"

I said, "It felt good if I did."

Did you do it like that at 15? Because, girl…

Probably not.

It was high school, that's when I fell in love with film.

And this is like, in that time that Malcolm, Martin, Bobby,

had all been slain for just speaking the truth.

Once a month, Brother Pat would shut the school down

and we'd all get bussed to the nearby cinema

and he would show us whatever film he was on about.

And so, I'm sitting there,

plaits going every direction, sucking on Twizzlers…

and then realizing that the moving image

is more powerful than a gun.

A gun might stop a life but a gun can't stop the stories.

Now! Now!

My mother's attitude was, you know,

"Just keep in mind, everybody's not gonna get it.

They're not gonna see what you see.

So, you have to see your route."

Growing up, white males are populating the interesting stories of the day.

Well, that ought to do it.

Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me.

…the problem with men of steel,

there's never one around when you want one.

And their wives or their girlfriends…

Oh, James…

My auntie actually said, "Don't waste a Yale education."

She was the PhD of our family. Because it seemed so impractical.

"How're you gonna break into this? You're gonna fail."

I was doing stage work with Black women out of the East Village

and I remember sitting in our underpants,

talking about in between shows what we really wanted.

I said, "I really wanna be a film actor."

And they said…

"There ain't no such thing as a Black film actress."

Acting was not something I ever thought I would do.

Because when I was little,

I didn't have many women of color that represented me that I could look to.

They were very few and far between.

I remember seeing Dorothy Dandridge, of course…

- I love you and that gives me the right-- - That don't give you no right to own me!

…in Carmen Jones.

There's only one that does and that's me, myself.

And thinking, "Wow! She's gorgeous, she's talented. She was classy."

I remember seeing Diana Ross in Lady Sings the Blues.

When I began to see Sounder with Ms. Cicely Tyson…

You sure write a good fine letter, son.

Rosalind Cash…

You see, I happen to feel that there's something very powerful

about being a woman.

Beautiful Black women who…

Who are filled with passion and pathos.

You're supposed to be his friend, but you're not.

You never were.

You're just like the rest of them.

You're just like everybody else. Get out!

Get out of here!

I think of all of these women…

You better be afraid. That world out there will kill you.

…Diahann Carrolls of the world and the Pearl Baileys of the world.

And Hattie McDaniel, and…

my girl, Pam Grier.

Okay, thanks.

All these dames, you know?

And they were fucking brilliant.

But we were creating stories that were really designed just for us.

I can't say we were totally integrated into the world.

They were Black stories about Black families in our world.

And so, for so long there was not as much opportunity, you know?

Here's a project, here's one role. One possibility.

I'd go in the room and there'd be a sea of other Black women.

And I had a feeling that these casting directors

would come out into the waiting room and just go…

"You."

I got tired of auditioning

and having people kind of look at me and say,

"Wow, no. We think you're really good but it's just…

this is not the part for you."

I say, "Oh, what-- what is it?"

"So well, we just don't see you in this part."

And I thought, "Oh, okay."

So, I have to figure out what to do

because I get very annoyed when people constantly tell you no

and you know that you can do the job.

So that's what I did.

And I wrote what I called, "The Spook Show."

Because for me, they're all ghosts in my head.

Looking good. Shit, my name is Fontaine and love is my game.

And then it kind of went from there.

I was on the beach with, like, all my friends.

This is my long, luxurious blonde hair.

Come on, let me kiss your hand. No, the one with the diamonds on it.

Then Mike Nichols came and said, "Listen,

I want you to come and do the show on Broadway."

Please welcome Whoopi Goldberg.

How is the show going? The Lyceum Theatre?

It's good. It's great.

She's been called an original, a remarkable actress. Funny…

The idea that people were happy to see my teapot made me very happy.

What kind of roles do you think will be there for you?

Oh, there's probably all kinds of strange things to do.

Then I got an invitation to come and do my show for Steven Spielberg.

And I'm thinking, "Jeezy-peezy.

Wow! This is really kind of cool.

I wonder why he wants to see the show."

'Cause you know…

I hoped to be in Indiana Jones movies too.

Or… maybe I would be the girl on the surfboard when a shark came.

In my mind, I saw all these possibilities.

But then Steven said, "Listen, I'm directing The Color Purple."

And I said, "Oh, that's kinda funny because I wrote a letter…

to Alice Walker.

Saying, if they ever made a movie of this,

I would like to be, you know, just on the table."

He said, "Well, no, she told us.

And I would like you to play Celie."

And I think, "Well, too late to run now."

And we brought a great movie… to the forefront.

She came fully formed.

Yes, sir?

- Celie? - Uh-huh.

- Came to you in your head, fully formed? - Yeah. Yeah, like a character.

- Explain. - I can't.

She was physically there. I could see her very clearly.

Get the molasses out of your ass!

And… I understood her.

I's gonna miss you.

The Color Purple is hot.

The movie, The Color Purple,

is one of the biggest box office hits of the year.

It has been nominated for 11 Academy Awards,

including "Best Picture."

Yeah, we got 11 nominations.

This is, like, amazing.

This, you know, I can't even begin to describe what this is like.

And I was lucky enough to be part of an ensemble and learn.

Oh, Sofia home now. Sofia home.

Things gonna be changing around here, too!

Profits and awards aside,

the question many in the Black community are asking is,

"How many more movies about Blacks will there be in the future?"

Who's to say?

- Celie, no! - I curse you!

Until you do right by me,

everything you think about is gonna crumble!

You know, Black companies are very strong in theater

and they're strong in a very light-hearted way

on network television.

But there hasn't been that much done in motion pictures.

So I'm happy if this movie inspires others like we made.

What do you think the future holds for you?

What is it that you want to do?

More work.

- More work. - Yes. I wanna be a working actor.

Oh, my God. Hi!

- Hi! - I feel like we're about to--

I feel like we're about to do, like, a major therapy session right now.

One day, I got this call,

"Oh, there's this movie called, Boyz n the Hood.

It's about the hood, South Central."

And I'm like, "Yeah, what white man is really trying to make this movie?

I'm not interested."

And I had an attitude that day, for sure.

I was tired of auditioning and not getting the job.

So, I walk in and I see this skinny guy and he's like, "What's your name?"

And I'm like, "What's your name? Who are you?"

He says, "I'm John Singleton." I said, "And?"

And he goes, "I'm John Singleton, the director."

I think he was 19 at the time.

He was so skinny and cute with these little glasses.

- Speeding? - Yeah.

All right. How you doing?

Hi, I'm doing great.

- All right. What's your name? - Angela Bassett.

Up to that point, I felt as if I were in a box.

"She's great guest star. She's gonna make you look good.

But in terms of film, no."

- And who are you reading for? - I'm reading for Reva.

But he was open to whomever would audition.

- Let me see it. - Okay.

If you excuse me, I have to go buy some groceries.

Boy, you're not getting away with that, that easy. Sit your ass down.

- What? - I said sit your ass down

before I raise my voice and make a fool out of both of us in here.

The audition process was different because it was really important to him

that we were of it.

That we knew what was up with Inglewood and the car races

and all the things that happened in the hood where I grew up.

I could've walked home from set.

That's how close we were to where I lived.

Then he's like, "You're my girl." And I was like, "All right, let's go."

What's so funny?

I never thought I'd be crying in front of a female.

You can cry in front of me.

Two for Boyz n the Hood.

Did you all know that that movie

was gonna be as special as it was when you were making it?

I don't think I knew it would be that special.

Look at me, I'm serious.

I love you. You're my only son.

This film was the best film that I've seen in a long time

and I hope that people get out and see it.

This movie, the story, is our true story in South Central Los Angeles

and I am so proud of what I have seen.

That film was very much at the forefront of the best in the business,

these people of color who were writers and directors…

They're self-confident and now sought-after by an industry

that till a few years ago had all but shut them out.

Black filmmakers suddenly have what Hollywood calls "heat."

I realized that we have to create our own projects

'cause if we sit at home waiting

for a Black part to come down on breakdown for young Black women,

we could be waiting a long time.

There must have been a hundred people at that audition.

Audition?

Cupid has his foot in my ass, Angela.

I have the cure for Cupid, all right?

They're starting to wake up

to the box office potential of these movies.

Hollywood may be racist, but the color green opens a lot of doors.

All right.

What we do here, it gets filtered out into the rest of the world.

For instance, for someone like me, growing up…

to be able to see Halle Berry…

I'm outta here.

…I could see myself and I could see what was possible for me.

Shazam!

The very first film I booked was a speaking role in Friday.

Something like, "My daddy caught him…"

…trying to break into my house two days ago…

"…and beat him down," or something like that.

But I think everything about Eve's Bayou

really built me as an actress and also as a young woman.

Come on, baby doll. Let's show 'em how to dance.

And I think for me and Jurnee,

it was like a natural, kind of, chemistry.

Cisely's got her period! I'm gonna tell Daddy!

Wow! It's so pretty.

- Isn't it nice? - Yeah.

- And look at the birdcage. - Yeah. Yeah, it's great.

I don't remember a world in which I wasn't acting.

But Eve's Bayou

was such an incredible experience for a number of reasons.

One of the reasons is specifically working with Kasi.

What's wrong, rabbit?

What is it?

Nothing.

Hey, don't tell me it's nothing. What's wrong?

You know, to me, at ten years old,

it was a completely normal thing to see a Black woman helm a film.

Vive les Batistes.

Bonne chance et bonne santé.

Merde.

And I'm so grateful to have had that experience

because I can feel the difference.

You know, I can…

I can feel…

what it's like to work in an environment where you feel…

safe.

Where you feel seen. Where you feel understood.

Where your stories are being centered.

But the truth is,

it's a very rare thing for screenwriters,

for filmmakers to want to center Black female stories.

Sitting here?

That is where you're sitting.

Okay.

All right.

You've played so many roles in your career, how do you choose them?

I choose projects differently.

But the truth of the matter is, it is hard to get a job.

No matter how much intention you have

to say, "This is a type of role I want next time.

Don't call me unless you have that role."

A lot of those roles, especially for us--

I'm 58. I'm a dark-skinned Black woman--

even if I were light-skinned, really,

those roles don't even exist.

There's no guarantee you're gonna work.

These were little lessons that I kind of learned over time.

She has already won a Grammy and been nominated for an Academy Award.

But now, just as her career should be flourishing,

it may be floundering.

No one in Hollywood has figured out

how to turn her unusual talent into big screen success.

You think all you need to be is the best actor that you can be.

But then it's not enough.

Even though she can wear a blonde wig, she can't play a blonde.

Even though she can act the way a beautiful woman might act,

she can't really play a beautiful woman.

You've made a point of saying you could have played those roles.

Are you being realistic?

For me, yeah.

I don't know how real it is in my lifetime.

But I know damn well that there is no reason

for me not to be doing the things I wanna do.

Unfortunately, you have to deal with what is already out there for you.

And what's out there for you is not what's out there for Meryl Streep.

I am concerned…

…that Father Flynn may have made advances on your son.

You discover that you get what you get, you know?

And for me, I went and found stuff.

I wanted to know what people were not gonna do.

Things that they had greenlit and then said,

"No, we're not gonna do 'cause the person dropped out."

So what you have to do is go to a film producer

and point out to him that you could play a role that he's automatically thinking of

for Meryl Streep or Glenn Close or…?

Well, actually I go knocking and I say,

"I hear you have this movie and I'm interested in it."

And they generally will say, "Really? But you're…"

And I say, "Got braided hair?"

They say, "No, you're Black." I go… "No!

My God! When did it happen? Who knew?"

You know? And then pretty much they relax and start talking to me as an actor.

So that's how I got Jumpin' Jack Flash,

'cause Shelley Long wasn't gonna do it.

That's how I got Burglar, 'cause Bruce Willis wasn't gonna do it.

Hey, what's happenin' man?

I'm looking for the apartment of Rayneta Moody.

I got Fatal Beauty because Cher wasn't going to do it.

Action!

I got Sister Act because Bette Midler wasn't going to do it.

Mary Clarence comes to us from a somewhat progressive convent.

However, she will make every effort to conform to our ways.

I'll do my best.

Ghost, that wasn't written for me either.

That role seemed to be tailor-made for you.

- I mean, it-- Yeah. - You'd think so. But it wasn't.

It wasn't.

But then Patrick Swayze said, "I want her."

Look, you're all I've got. Now, I'm not leaving until you help me.

I don't care how long it takes.

So that's how I got Ghost.

I'd give anything if I could just touch you once more.

Says he wishes he was alive again so he could touch you.

Me too.

Sometimes you have to get

a piece of moldy clay of a role

and mold it and shape it into something quite beautiful.

My boy came to your school

'cause they were gonna kill him in a public school.

His father don't like him.

He come to your school, kids don’t like him.

One man is good to him. This priest.

Do I ask the man why he’s good to my son?

No.

I stand on the shoulders

of women who worked so hard to be seen

so that I could be-- I exist because of them.

Good slate.

Whoopi Goldberg, I mean, come on.

Watching-- I mean, everything that she's done.

I mean, she meant so much me.

I remember the first time I saw Angela Bassett

in What's Love Got to Do with It.

Something about that performance showed me

you could take pain

and make it into something beautiful and palpable and undeniable.

There's something on my mind

And we had like a school fair.

Won't somebody please

Please tell me what's wrong

And I asked if I could do performances of Tina Turner songs.

Angela Bassett made me--

I was like, "She did Tina Turner so well. Let me try."

You're just a fool You know you're in love

What do you say?

And I enlisted friends of mine and they were the Ikettes.

Sometimes you're happy

- And sometimes you're sad - Then there was a guy that played Ike.

And I think when we encounter performers like that who are free like that…

that they set us free.

She certainly set me free.

Tell me one more time

That was my first time being number one on the call sheet.

And I think I knew that this role would…

Well, you'll know name and the face.

Whether it works or whether it doesn't. Whichever way the mop flops.

Okay, Angela, get this feeling. Get the pulse going with it.

You must understand

Oh, the touch of your hand Makes my pulse react

I'm no singer now.

I'm no singer. I'm hell of a lip-syncer.

Of boy meetin' girl, opposites attract

It's physical…

I sorta tried to embody her essence.

Only logical…

The movement, the dance, the physicality,

the emotion of this beautiful, complex woman.

Black woman.

What's love got to do Got to do with it?

What's love but a second-hand emotion?

And you know, no one expected anything.

But I remember going to a theater in Pasadena.

You know, sneaking in with an audience, and sitting in the back.

Girl, you shocked the hell out of me.

Where a little woman like you get such a big voice?

And just the…

the… you know, Black folks.

We're very vocal in the movie theater.

Of course, the laughter.

But some of the things that were…

the-- you know, just…

would grab your heart.

Particularly the fish tank scene, when he rapes her.

Ike, that's it for me, honey.

No, it ain't.

I remember a young man in the audience, like he's…

"No! No!"

And I stopped looking at the screen. I'm looking at him and…

That's what you come to do.

You know?

To affect.

Oh. Wow, Hallelujah.

Well, it's not just love that's got a lot to do with it.

Now Oscar has got a lot to do with it as well.

I think it had probably been a while since we'd been in that position, you know?

Were you surprised?

I was surprised.

I jumped and hollered and screamed and got real quiet.

Why were you surprised?

Well, I just think about 66 years and, um…

you know, there have only been…

maybe about five or six African American women

that have ever been nominated in the category of Best Actress.

And of course none of them won, so it's--

just to be nominated is pretty incredible.

I'm really just so happy to be here.

So… I just have such great joy in my heart.

Do you think the success of, you know,

so many Black actors and actresses now

is going to increase the number of available scripts for people?

I mean, there's Wesley and Denzel and you and Whitney and…

do you think that'll actually help create more roles for everybody?

I hope so. You know. I mean, you just named four.

- There are lots more. - That's-- okay!

Keep naming 'em.

I hope it does. I hope it does.

Because there's so much talent out here. So much.

And you know, give folk an opportunity, give 'em a chance, you know.

Picture's up.

It's chlamydia, y'all. That shit can be cured!

Hold for make-up.

Your nails.

These old things?

That's B Camera.

Oh, I was like, it's at a point where I'm like, "Listen.

Let me tell you about the fuck shit."

And action.

It was very important to me to learn, early in the game,

how to do everybody's job.

And if it was being sound or being a gaffer or being a camera operator,

or director or writer, whatever,

like, I wanted to learn how to do all those positions,

in case I don't fulfill the job I want,

then I have a backup plan. 'Cause I wanted to be in entertainment.

So strategic.

You have to think about all these things.

I think that the world thinks…

Black female actresses have the same experience

as all the other actors.

And we don't.

When I came into Hollywood,

I wanted to thrive within this system that is not built for me to thrive,

as an unapologetically authentic Black woman.

Our time is near.

I love the skin I'm in.

But I'm also really aware of ideas that others may have

of women that look like me on a set.

So I was the type of Black girl that never made them uncomfortable

about centering the white gaze in all things.

And I was like, "Yeah. Yeah, we should center the white-- Yeah, yeah."

And the box gets small after a while.

And there's not much ventilation.

But there is something really wonderful

about being able to navigate through that…

and still feel like you aren't giving up who you are.

I am light

I am light

Which takes some time to learn.

'Cause I didn't even get into the hair part

and the make-up part.

It seems like it might be easy, but that shit is hard.

Curls all set?

Back in the day, I fought for us to make sure

that we had African American make-up artists and hairdressers

that understood our hair.

That's been a journey.

Tiffany, listen to me a sec.

I've got a really bad feeling about this. I don't want you to go--

When we were doing Independence Day,

the lady who did my hair wanted this brown with blonde highlights in it.

Because my own natural hair is very dark.

So she dyed my hair.

She was like, "I want you to have all of these heroic moments…

with the wind and the hair, and…"

And my hair was almost dead by the time we was over.

So they would say, "Oh, I can do Black hair."

Child, they couldn't do Black hair.

There were many a days when I walked into a hair and make-up trailer

and there was not one person that looked like me.

One of my first jobs, the lady had a comb

and a blow dryer with the heat up too much,

where literally, a chunk of my hair snapped off.

And had the balls to use sky blue eyeshadow

and this dusty pink lipstick.

I looked nuts.

I found myself more times than not being orange or ashy.

And when they have you out here looking like Casper the friendly dead ghost…

Like, "Can you put something on a bitch that makes sense?"

Now I'm having flashbacks.

They got me having flashbacks.

And that's been my experience for a majority of my career.

Except for when I'm on sets like Think Like a Man

or a predominantly Black cast where I can just like…

rest, you know what I'm saying?

- You came already. - Hey!

- My God, your outfit is so cute. - Thank you!

But it is not complete without… this.

Hey, hey, hey, beautiful.

Sorry. He called me beautiful. I'm beautiful now, huh?

When I did Girls Trip,

that was the first time I ever worked on a project

where all the hair and all the make-up

knew how to do our type of hair, our skin tone.

And it was amazing.

You're okay to wrestle him.

'Cause I felt safe.

It was the first time I felt safe on a project.

And once I felt that kind of safety,

it's kind of hard to go somewhere else and not have that.

Thank you.

People think I'm crazy 'cause I like to do my own touch-ups.

Like, I know what I want to fix on my face.

Why is that a bad thing?

But it is often labeled as difficult, isn't it?

I don't give a shit.

I mean, whatever, because every woman who's ever made an impact on this industry

has been labeled difficult at some point.

So let's talk about beauty and beauty standards.

So how did you navigate those things?

These women are the world's image of glamour,

of sex appeal, of desire.

And every era has seen its ideal image of woman

reflected on the screen.

It's rooted in such an ugly past,

a lot of these ideas of what is beautiful.

It drives me absolutely crazy, the beauty standards.

It drives me crazy.

When you have a more coarse grade of hair,

when you have melanin,

thicker nose, wider nose, wider lips,

you're not considered, you know, a classic beauty.

I was told a lot,

"Oh, no, Alfre, that says 'attractive Black girl.'

That's not for you."

Or more than a couple of times, "You don't look African American.

You look like an African."

I started feeling invisible.

Like, my beauty wasn't wanted.

As a romantic lead… no.

Last week, Ms. Rain asked us to write down what we wanna be like.

And I wrote that I'd be real skinny,

with Iight skin and Iong hair.

Whatever Hollywood thinks is beautiful,

I don't think I've ever attained that.

The character of Precious, I just, I felt like I really knew her.

She's big and she's poor and she's dark-skinned.

She's not the sex pot. She's not the popular girl.

Like, she's not even the one with the cool sneakers.

And I have always felt like that.

- Go to the principal's office! - All right, that's enough.

I got the role of Precious when I was 24.

And before that,

I was just acting in between whatever was the rest of my life.

And the rest of my life, at that point,

I was working at a call center as a phone sex operator.

It's late, and with the night comes thoughts of love and fantasy.

FYI, the company was mostly Black women.

You're not at all allowed to be Black on the phone.

There's a Black girl line.

Guess what was barely ever called.

That one.

So my girl name is Melody.

And every call, I'd be like… "Hello?"

And he's like, "Hey, what's your name?" "Hi, I'm Melody."

"How you doin'? Are you good?"

"Yeah, I'm totally good right now. I just got home from school.

I'm in college and it's, like, my sophomore year,

and obviously it's important…"

We are trained to hate ourselves.

And the world around us is also trained to reinforce it.

But there's something in me that's like,

"I don't bend to that."

Like, I will-- Whatever it is that you don't like about me,

I'll do it harder and I'll smile in your face.

And that's what I felt Precious needed to be.

And a lot of shooting I was kind of like on the outside

making sure that she was getting her point across

'cause she barely speaks.

But when she does, just making sure that it really, really felt like

she was finally getting to use her voice.

You know, I never knew what you was until this day.

Not even after all them things you did.

Maybe I was too stupid or maybe I just didn't want to.

You ain't gonna see me no more.

Any Black woman

that really believes that they're beautiful,

like, you know that that is born not of assurance, you know, like…

I definitely had to crawl through my psyche

and come out the other end and decide that I loved me.

Like, look at this nose.

This little th-- Like, in the middle of my face.

Get outta here. It is so adorable.

Also, cheekbones. How is it possible that my cheekbones are taller than me?

It's not. But…

I believe me.

I trust my own beauty.

I've just come to a place in my life where I love all the parts of me.

There are some days when I look in the mirror

and I'm like, "You're a badass bitch." Don't get it twisted. I do.

Honey, I've been beautiful the whole time.

I've always felt like I was the hottest thing on the planet.

I'm fucking gorgeous.

Especially when I cut all my hair off. Aw, man. That was cute.

Y'all got to see all of my little imperfections.

I love the gap in my teeth. The big doe eyes that I had to grow into.

We're all flawed and that's the beauty.

I want Black women to feel empowered.

To know, "Okay, however we are made, we are queens."

There is no standard.

Like, we have to reject that.

Do you think those things have impacted your career?

From being darker skinned to being lighter skinned…

Yeah. All of it's impacted it.

Yes, I've been a light-skinned woman and I think on some levels,

one would argue I've gotten certain opportunities because of that.

But being deemed beautiful,

I have not gotten opportunities because of that.

Halle is 5 feet 7 inches tall

and weighs 110 pounds.

Halle is 19 years old.

Were the beauty pageant days a good entrée to your acting career?

Acting, no.

Coming from beauty pageants and being considered "pretty"

has also put a label on me: Probably not smart, not talented.

She wasn't a woman who came in

as a Shakespearean actress--

No, she's always been known for her beauty.

I think she was considered an attractive actress

rather than a good actress.

Sometimes it's worked for me, sometimes it's worked against me, right?

Which is why I've always tried to eliminate it altogether

and be judged on my merit.

I was living in Chicago

and I had heard people talking about the cool kids who were in Second City.

And I wanted to be a cool kid. Let's be real.

So I started studying at Second City.

And I flopped many a day.

But I had moments where I'd be in an improv scene

and the whole room would go completely quiet

because I had somehow hooked them.

Something was ignited in me.

So when a movie like Jungle Fever came along,

Spike wanted to audition me to play his wife.

The beautiful wife on his arm.

And I took the audition because I wanted to get in front of Spike.

So I thought, "Whatever it takes, I'm gonna-- I'm meeting Spike Lee."

But I also had a plan that once I got in that room,

I was gonna say, "Mr. Lee, can I also audition for this other part?"

And I said, "Let me walk in the room, wash my makeup off.

Let me come back out and I will show you I am Viv, the crack ho."

- I just did. - Yo, Daddy!

I'll suck your dick good for five dollars, baby.

- You what? - Five dollars, Daddy.

Come on, I'll suck your dick.

- Get off of me! - Five dollars, Daddy.

- Come on. Five dollars. - Get off of me!

- Five dollars. All right, three dollars! - Get away from me!

Motherfucker!

And he was like… "Oh, shit! You are the crack ho!"

If you want to go out like this, fine, you do it with your crack ho!

- Crack ho? Crack ho? - Crack ho!

- Eat me, motherfucker! Eat me! - Fuck you!

That was my first film role

and I've had to do that many times throughout my career.

I've had to strip myself bare

and show people there's more to me than meets your eye.

Listen, people are always gonna rain on your parade.

They just are. It's the nature of human beings.

But if you believe in it, then do your thing.

So I thought I was fly.

So I acted like I was fly and got what I wanted.

It's like, with the Oscars.

I wasn't gonna pretend, like…

"Oh, no. I don't mind if I don't get it."

Whoopi!

Hi.

I wouldn't have said anything, but I really wanted it

because I thought I did good work in Ghost.

I have the privilege to present the award to one of the five talented women

who are nominated as Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

And the Oscar goes to…

Whoopi Goldberg.

Denzel said my name.

And I get up and I run.

And Denzel gives it to me.

It's heavier than I think.

Thanks.

Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted this.

You don't know.

And I make my speech, and I am seeing people I knew

and who embraced me.

All the old Hollywood folks.

As a little kid, I lived in the projects, and you're the people I watched.

So I thank them all for making me wanna come.

And not making me feel like there wasn't a place for me.

That I could come.

Thank you so much.

…won in the Best Supporting Actress Category.

The first African American female to do so

since Hattie McDaniel in Gone with the Wind.

You made history because you're the only African American

- that has been nominated twice. - Woman.

- Woman. - Woman.

And I wonder how on those basis

how important it is for you to win the Academy Award.

Well, it's nice to break a 52-year-old ban, kind of.

It's nice to break it after 52 years, so it's pretty neat.

You've been brave so long, Miss Scarlett. You just gotta go on being brave.

Think about your pa, like he used to be.

This is one of the happiest moments of my life,

and I want to thank each one of you

who had a part in selecting me for one of the awards.

I sincerely hope I shall always be a credit to my race

and to the motion picture industry.

My heart is too full to tell you just how I feel.

And may I say thank you, and God bless you.

There're only a few archetypes that a woman that resembled Hattie,

that I resemble…

…that we're allowed to play.

I'm tired of working and slaving

for a bunch of good-for-nothing tramps like y'all is.

And it's that nurturer or sage, and maid roles.

Darkies never dream

They must laugh and sing all day

We must walk a weary road That never seems to turn

And Hollywood sort of relegated Hattie and the other Black women

to those types of roles all of the time.

Darkies never cry

Who would ever hear our sad lament

Hattie McDaniel just wanted to act.

Live to laugh to die

And it breaks my heart.

That's the way we've learned To be content

'Cause I wanna say to people,

"Don't you know that this is not necessarily what they would be doing,

if they had an array of things to choose from?"

That's why darkies

Never dream

I think it's really hard for people outside of the Black race

to really look at us and our lives as completely as they look at their own.

Right. I don't know if you're familiar with Imitation of Life.

Yes, of course.

Peola.

What's happened to my baby?

She called me Black. Jessie called me that.

When you are, you know, at the bottom of society,

which we have been as Black people

and as Black women, I would say we're at the bottom of society,

I think it's really hard for them to imagine what that life is really like.

You. It's 'cause you're Black. You make me Black.

So to create stories that imitate that is the best…

they can do.

You apologize to Peola this minute.

Oh, it ain't her fault, Miss Bea. It ain't your'n, and it ain't mine.

I don't know rightly where the blame lies.

Because they will never understand what that feels like.

They will never understand.

And it's still, kind of… that mindset.

Hi!

Come on.

No sass-mouthing, Minny Jackson.

No sass-mouthing.

Early in my career, you would get these breakdowns.

And a breakdown means it would say particulars about the character.

And it would say, like,

"Amelia, 26, tall."

Like, "Bookish, but sexy."

I mean, they were, like, so… so ridiculous.

But one of the many things that they would say

in terms of attributes, is they would say, "Amelia, white."

I went through a period

where my agent kept calling me and telling me,

"Uh, the role isn't opened up yet. It hasn't opened up yet."

I go, "What-- what the fuck does that mean, it hasn't opened up yet?"

Meaning they're only gonna cast white girls.

So you can't even audition. You can't even step into that room.

So any time you would get a script,

you would know what you could be and what you could not be.

I came up through the ranks as a nurse.

Nurse Number One, Nurse Number Two.

What's the nature of the emergency?

Carol the Nurse. Octavia the Nurse.

Everybody's nurse.

Keep them outta here, please.

I'm sorry, I need to have you wait.

- That's my mother! - I understand that,

but I need you to wait out here.

So then I felt really, really confident

and competent as a nurse who hadn't studied to be a nurse.

And there was also a lot of,

"Play the chick that dies on page 36 in the horror film."

Facts.

And yes, there were some, there was definitely some, like,

Black Girl Number Three or, like, Best Friend.

My look was appealing enough.

But not so overpowering that it overshadows the white lead.

What are you doing here?

Oh, I know you didn't think you were the only sophomore at the prom.

And so I was the perfect person to be "the friend,"

just left of center of this white girl.

"These," 'cause there were a series of them.

10 Things I hate About You.

Then She's All That.

Then the following summer, Bring It On.

You know, and that was my bread and butter,

like, for a long time.

The bitchy, sassy friend.

Tried to steal our bit

But you look like shit But we're the ones who are down with it

Back in those days they would give you the description of the character.

"Sassy Black woman."

I-- I kid you not, it was, "sassy Black woman."

Uh-uh. You can count me out, Miss Skinny Thing.

My ass is staying right here.

- The sassy Black friend, yeah. - A sassy chick.

Sure.

Did you think you could sample the milk without putting a down payment on the cow?

On my auditions with sassy Black women,

and sometimes a Latina woman, we're all sassy…

He does have a way with the ladies.

Ladies? Don't tell me I've got competition.

There were always the same women. So it was always, like,

"Hey! Hey, how are you doing? Oh, my God. It's good to see you."

I kicked it off the heezy and bounced. For real though.

Yes, honey. Ghetto fabulous and proud.

Why you trippin'?

Oh, it was terrible!

Note to everybody: Don't put "Sassy Black"

on anything, in any description, in any script ever again.

And I-- I don't necessarily think it's about…

just creating roles for Black women.

It's about thinking differently

about the way you cast the roles that exist.

We'll give 'em the Queen of England.

All the Kates can do The Queen of England, as long as they want to.

But the other 99 roles, we should be in contention for.

I'm always gonna live like I've got the sky above me.

When I read the screenplay for Passing, I thought,

"I have a feeling about this," you know?

"I understand this."

Because I think a part of identification, at least for me, racially

has to do with how the world perceives you.

It's easy for a Negro to pass for white.

I'll be damned.

We're all of us passing for some thing or other.

And Ruth felt really interested in…

diving into that and not shying away from that.

That gave us a kind of spark between each other.

The nature of existence as someone who's passing,

performance is her survival.

And I really enjoyed that kind of idea of subverting…

the image of the untouchable sort of white Southern belle.

It's silly, but when we were first married,

this woman was as white as a lily.

But as the years go by, she seems to be getting darker and darker,

so I told her, "If you don't look out, you'll wake up one morning

and find that you've turned into a nigger."

Yeah, she's been "Nig" ever since.

Performance can be power.

What is your name?

So my name is Ruth Negga.

What is the etymology of it, do you know?

Dawn. Breaking of dawn.

And… I know people were like,

"Do you not think you should change your name?

It's very similar to a racial epithet."

And I just remember thinking, "Well, fuck them."

My father died when I was seven, and…

I wouldn't have been staying true and authentic to myself,

my heritage, the legacy of my father, which I'm very proud of.

And I, I didn't want…

the historical hatred of…

of other people to rob me of my name.

And my identity.

Now tell me your name.

Ruth Negga.

And I know that sounds really deep and political 'cause it is for me.

And to me, being involved in Loving and playing Mildred,

I've never felt lighter and happier.

Wasn't she powerless? This Black woman in segregated America?

Well, see, this is about perspective and the narratives

that we inherit and that we believe.

- Richard! - What you doin' in bed with that woman?

I'm his wife.

That's no good here.

Mildred was someone who saw that something wasn't right

and wanted to do something about it.

It's a law I don't think is right.

And if we do win, we will be helping a lot of people.

Mrs. Loving, what does this mean to your family? Do you plan to--

With so much change--

And at her core it was because she wanted to…

raise her children with her husband.

And that's deeply personal.

But the personal is political.

Camera's rolling.

Oh, the camera's rolling?

- Yeah, yeah. - Mm-hm.

You know, this is what number one does.

I don't know!

I studied theatre at Howard University. HU, you know.

And I became a mother in my junior year.

So when I graduated and saw, with that baby looking up at me,

like, "So what's next, Mama?"

I really felt like I needed something a little more substantial.

Natalie! Natalie wait! Natalie please!

But then, I saw Strictly Business…

Drop dead.

…with Halle Berry.

Natalie!

And that's when it bit me. I was like, "I wanna go to Hollywood,

and I wanna do what she's doing."

But, you know, Angela Bassett was also putting in some…

Baby!

"Get your shit!"

Get your shit! Get your shit! And get out!

I just wanted…

The way she snatched my soul

and took control of my feelings and emotions.

I wanted to do that.

I was having a Waiting to Exhale moment because I had just left my son's father.

- You gon' wake up tomorrow feeling-- - All right, yeah, fucking fine!

You don't wanna cut this fucking shit off--

And I literally chopped all my hair off, like she did in that movie.

I packed my baby up, and I moved out west to make my dreams come true.

There was just something about that role that… that spoke to me.

What?

She just wasn't gonna take it anymore.

She wasn't gonna take just sitting still and being quiet and being a trophy.

I need you to be the fucking background to my foreground.

She was gonna fight back.

And burn up all his… stuff in the process.

If you've been waiting to exhale, you're not alone.

The film is the story of four Black women

coping with love, careers, family,

and the search for "Mr. Right."

And I was working with Lela Rochon, Loretta Devine, and Whitney Houston.

I just thought it was very important at this point in time

to have four African American women in one film together.

So many times we come through one at a time,

and, you know, you're the only one.

Only one in the room.

Yeah. But there were four of us in the room.

No matter what we are--

We are a family.

That was special.

Whatever happened to the good old days? Good old days?

- What good old days? - What good old days?

Ooh, jinx.

I liked it. And it's nice to see African American women on screen.

Obviously, you're not Black. You liked it?

We Black? No.

This is 1995, and everybody's seeing everything about everybody.

And Waiting to Exhale was at the forefront of lots of movies coming along

that were about Black women.

I think at that time, Black women in Hollywood

are really doing the damn thing.

Kiss our big butts.

- Big butts! - Juicy booty.

I mean, I literally was in films back to back to back to back,

and garnering a lot of box office dollars.

Two hundred and ninety-six thousand, Stony, and counting!

Millions of movie-goers had an appetite for Soul Food.

It cooked up more than eleven million dollars in earnings.

Thank all of you guys for coming out to support Soul Food!

Who is that hoochie coochie mama with her fat ass

all over my husband out there on the dance floor?

Here's Nia Long, everybody.

You know it was starting to bubble up. I was a little hot, a little hottie.

What are you working on next? Or are you gonna take it easy for a while?

Oh, no. I have five more coming out.

- Five more? - Yes.

You have nothing on me.

By the time I got to Love Jones, I felt like a leading woman.

Take off your clothes.

Excuse me?

Take off your clothes.

When I think about the '90s,

I mean, every other year you were starring in a movie.

Wow, okay. Yeah, it felt good.

Twenty million people died defeating that son of a bitch,

and he's our first ambassador to outer space?

Come on.

Was it good?

Better than that.

These were our studio films,

and we were killing it.

Ladies and gentlemen, Dorothy Dandridge, star of Carmen Jones.

The fact that I, a Black woman,

could produce a movie about a woman that I adore…

- Hi, Carmen. - Hi.

…is saying, "Things are changing."

Starting today, you can see my first guest

playing the superhero, Storm, in the new movie, X-Men.

I'm always wanting to take those risks

and do things that have never been done before.

Are you gonna be the new Bond girl?

I am.

Oh, is that an official announcement?

Oh, very cool!

There is a generation of us,

From Sanaa, to Regina,

to Taraji, to Kerry,

to Janet,

to Vivica, Nia, Angela…

We put asses in seats.

Before that time, we were really telling hood stories.

We were seeing the darker side of the Black experience,

which-- I love all of those movies.

But I think all of these movies…

opened up our minds as a community in a different way,

to view ourselves as soft and beautiful and multi-faceted,

and talented, and lovely, and funny!

Soul Food was where you first really saw a beautiful African American family,

and how through food, that's how we had therapy.

Around the table.

I just wanna say thank you for always supporting me.

You're my sister, girl.

What am I gonna do with you?

I got a few ideas, but tell me what you got in mind, huh?

I believe the reason Love Jones is iconic…

I don't know why you're playing like that.

Night.

…is that we hadn't seen a young Black couple in love.

And we were both brown-skinned, Black people.

We were not-- We were just…

We were just. And that was enough.

Hey, with us in London is Halle Berry.

Now an Oscar-nominee for her work in Monster's Ball.

Halle, has it sunk in?

No. No.

When you finally stop shaking and start to assess your chances,

um, what do you think?

I don't know what my chances are,

and you know what? I don't even care.

Critics are calling her latest performance the best yet.

- What happened? - I met your daddy.

Listen. Just get out and talk to me.

Get your hands off me, Hank.

You at least gotta give me a chance. Whatever he did…

It don't matter a whole lot, do it?

You're a really beautiful woman. You're in a lot of good movies,

but this is, like, really actress stuff.

An African American has never won this race at all,

and Halle Berry is formidable here.

The Best Actress. Who'd you vote for?

- Whoa! - Wow! Three Halles.

- Three Halles in one sitting. - She rocks.

If she wins, she will be

the first African American woman to win Best Actress.

Good evening, folks. It's my pleasure and privilege to announce

the best performance by an actress in a leading role.

And the Oscar goes to…

…Halle Berry in Monster's Ball.

This is the first Oscar for Halle Berry.

Oh, my God!

Oh, my God.

I'm sorry.

This moment… is so much bigger than me.

This moment is for Dorothy Dandridge,

Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll.

It's for the women that stand beside me.

Jada Pinkett, Angela Bassett, Vivica Fox.

And it's for every nameless, faceless woman of color

that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Last night's Academy Awards represented

a watershed for the film industry.

Halle Berry became the first African American woman

to win the Oscar for Best Actress.

When Halle Berry won Best Actress,

it was, like, almost the world stood still.

It was absolutely a complete shock. She was the underdog.

I would like to congratulate, Ms. Halle Berry.

It has been a very large door,

and I'm glad she was the one that kicked it down.

What I loved more than anything else is that that moment was about her.

And she thanked those who came before her, and those who stood beside her.

Thank you.

It didn't happen in a vacuum.

It happened on the backs and the shoulders of others.

We're different but we're alike.

Our struggles have been the same.

Our pains are the same. Our joys feel the same.

You made history tonight.

How does that make you feel?

Indescribable, really.

I will never forget that night.

I think I cried. I think I may have dropped to the ground.

I mean, you know, 'cause you need to see your--

someone that looks like you walk the path to give you the hope

and the courage to walk the path.

Tonight means that every woman of color should be hopeful, because it can happen.

You know, and I hope that that's what tonight brings.

Will tonight change the industry? I don't know.

But if it changes the minds of those people who felt defeated,

if now they feel hopeful, eventually those inspired hearts

will make a change. I believe that.

Yeah, I was-- That was a very proud moment

for us colored girls.

When you came to school this morning,

was your head held a little higher today?

- Your back a little bit straighter? - Yeah.

When we got to school this morning, Michelle just ran down the hall.

And she was like, "Amelia, we won." I was like, "I know!"

But they know that change does not come quickly.

I want to see if this is really real, or if this was just appeasement.

I want to see if there's gonna be change.

And the Oscar goes to…

Jennifer Hudson.

Mo'Nique.

Octavia Spencer.

Thank you, Academy, for putting me with the hottest guy in the room.

There is nothing that I can say that could truly articulate that feeling.

And the Oscar goes to…

Lupita Nyong'o.

Viola Davis.

Regina King!

Ariana DeBose.

Da'Vine.

When I won the Oscar for Fences,

I remember, I was so nervous.

Oh, my God.

Yikes. Okay.

I have to just take this moment in.

To be standing here, this…

This has been the joy of my life.

I wanna thank Miss Hattie McDaniel

for enduring all that she had to, so that I would not have to.

I became an artist, and thank God I did,

because we are the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life.

For so long I've wanted to be different,

and now I realize, I just need to be myself.

I promise you this, there is indeed a place for us.

Thank you to the Academy, and thank you all.

How many Black women have won for Best Actress?

One.

Is that a trick question?

What are your thoughts on that?

I don't know what the problem is, but that doesn't sound right to me.

Does it sound right to you?

Because I've seen amazing… work

by Black women in those leading positions.

And you can ask Halle,

she's pissed off too, that she's the only one.

It's forced me to ask myself, "Did it matter?

Did it really change anything for women of color, for my sisters?

For our journey?"

A few years ago,

I was at the table with Andra Day.

And I was across the room from Viola Davis.

And they were both nominated for stellar performances.

And I felt 100 percent sure

that this was the year one of them was gonna walk away with this award.

What's it like to be a colored woman?

They don't care nothin' about me.

All they want is my voice.

They just want me to shut up and sing "All of Me."

All of me

Why not take all of me?

This is Oscar night!

So, the award for the best performance by an actress…

Grace Kelly for The Country Girl.

The truly talented ladies nominated

for best performance by an actress are…

Diana Ross in Lady Sings the Blues…

Cicely Tyson in Sounder…

And the winner is…

Liza Minnelli.

And the winner is…

Ellen Burstyn in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.

The winner is Geraldine Page in The Trip to Bountiful.

And it's kind of like, "Wait a minute. None of us were good enough?

Nobody?

In all these people, nobody?"

And the Oscar goes to…

Holly Hunter.

What are we missing here?

This is a conversation people have every year.

I'm really, really, super proud of myself for being here.

And the winner is…

Sandra Bullock.

I share this award with… Gaby, I love you so much.

You are beyond words to me.

The diversity in Hollywood, you think it's been a good promotion of diversity?

I do think things are changing, yeah.

Maybe not as fast as we would like them to,

but I think if we look at it as a whole, things have progressed and are changing.

And the Oscar goes to…

Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady.

The Oscar goes to Emma Stone, La La Land.

Renée Zellweger.

Can you ask the Academy about it?

Yeah, you could. Sure.

Maybe even have.

You took the best

So why not take the rest?

For equally different and beautiful reasons, they both deserved it.

And I thought for sure.

And the Oscar for Best Actress goes to…

Frances McDormand.

Anything else you want to say on that?

No, I'm just gonna leave it there. I just, you know…

I don't think the industry really sees us as leads, you know?

They give us supporting like they give out candy canes.

That just…

That…

I don't know what to do with that.

Because what are you saying to me?

The system is not really designed for us.

And so, we have to stop coveting that which is not for us.

Because, at the end of the day, it's, "How do we touch the lives of people?"

And that is fundamentally what art is for.

For so long when you're in the industry,

you're just so happy to be there.

You would never interrogate what it's like in there.

But after a while, I started to think,

I want to make films that break barriers

in whatever big or small ways they do.

And then I read a script called Dear White People.

Dear white people,

the minimum requirement of Black friends needed to not seem racist

has just been raised to two.

Sorry, but your weed man, Tyrone, does not count.

And…

so many of the frustrations I was feeling existed in the piece,

talking about the ways in which Hollywood has held up white supremacy.

Has minimized us.

Can we have a movie with, you know, characters in them

instead of stereotypes wrapped in Christian dogma?

Why is every educated person inherently evil?

How come the only Black movies Hollywood wants to make

are ones with Black mammies in fat suits?

Or Black woman in pain, man.

So basically, we got Black people dying in the past

and Black people dying in the present.

Well, most people are here to see Fang 9.

It's got 2 Chainz in it.

I love being a part of a group of people trying to make something

that wants to be disruptive.

And then for people to like it felt like a big deal.

The film made me hopeful about working in Hollywood.

And I hadn't felt that way in a long time, if ever.

Were you number one on the call sheet for that?

Yeah, I must have been. I think I probably…

Yeah, I think I probably was.

And it wasn't necessarily like a supreme goal, that number.

But more about what the number signified, I think.

If you're a performer on something and you are number one on the call sheet,

it typically means you are the subject of the narrative

and not the object of the narrative.

And I certainly wanted to be able to tell stories

where it felt like my contribution was vital.

And also, not just for my sake.

I wanted to be able to see Black women projected on screen

in ways that spoke to the breadth and beauty of our humanity.

When you see "number one" and you see your name, you're always aware,

as a woman and a woman of color that…

it's not just about you and you know that.

Especially if…

When you know how few people who look like you

that that's applied to in the past.

The gratitude that one feels.

That can be… Sorry.

That can be intense.

Because it's, it's…

You feel that there's a generational thing happening here,

and that you're a part of something bigger than you.

And that's at once beautiful, but also, like, quite terrifying.

We are just starting…

to breathe life into empowerment.

But we have to push.

We cannot just be complacent, and just okay with what's given to us.

And what would you change?

Pay!

That's what we want. We want equal pay and time on screen.

Are you done?

With what?

I hope not.

As long as I'm living, I hope to put something out there

that is illuminating the human experience.

I'm just getting started. I'm on my second act

being behind the camera and telling stories

and realizing I have the power to do that.

Number one on the call sheet if you are a producer is very different

from number one on the call sheet if you are only invested as an actor.

Your responsibility is beyond the screen.

I'm excited about the era we're in now because we are storytellers.

And we are expanding…

the narrative of who we are as Black women.

And that will inevitably change the industry.

I hope that it's just easier

for this next generation to continue to make their mark.

And that they keep going in that direction and just break some shit down.

When I made the choice to lean into Blackness,

not looking at my own community as less than or as the default

or as the consolation prize,

the world opened up.

So I don't have to take that role and I don't have to take that role,

but I will take this one. Because this one…

Somehow, I'm being transformed.

And if I'm being transformed, the audience will somehow be transformed.

The audience is a huge part of our work, and they need to see themselves.

It's about that beautiful moment,

when you see that part of yourself that you only keep private.

And it's, like…

I just know that there's some young girl,

who hasn't been given the permission to be fully who she wants to be,

watching me.

And she knows I'm okay, so she might be okay.

That's enough proof that I'm supposed to be there.

You're in charge of your success, not them.

So your job is to figure out how to get what you need

and what you want.

And to do it without angst and without anger.

Each one of you found a way to do your thing.

- Yeah. - That is the gift to the next generation.

- Right? - Yeah.

And that we're here. We're still here.

In spite of all of the things that have been said

and all of the wishes people have made for you to disappear.

You know, you're not.

Because you know who you are, you know what you do.

And if you believe that you have the right to do it,

then you keep making steps forward. You know.

We'll figure it out.

I was reading Lucille Clifton again.

And there's this poem, Come Celebrate With Me.

Won't you celebrate with me

What I have shaped into a kind of life?

I had no model

Born in Babylon Both nonwhite and woman

What did I see to be except myself?

I made it up

Here on this bridge Between starshine and clay

My one hand holding tight My other hand

Come celebrate with me that everyday

Something has tried to kill me

And has failed