Nicole Beharie | The Actor's Side

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00:00She is the anchor of the show, so that's kind of fun to play.
00:05Yeah.
00:06Did you ever have any ambition to, when you play these roles, say, hey, this would have
00:10been a fun job.
00:11Maybe I could take over Good Morning America.
00:13You know what?
00:14That's really funny.
00:15I actually, you mentioned I went to Juilliard.
00:18I also applied for international relations communications.
00:23That's what I was going to do.
00:24Really?
00:25Yeah.
00:26So it was like, I loved that.
00:28I love international news.
00:29I imagine maybe not being a BBC anchor, but being on the ground.
00:33Right.
00:34Yeah.
00:35This is true.
00:36This is a true story.
00:37But some of my teachers were like, you should apply to these acting schools too because
00:41you love it.
00:42And it just didn't seem like a real job, like something I could actually do.
00:48And then when I got accepted, I was like, let's keep doing this thing until they say
00:52no.
00:53Wow.
00:54So.
00:55So that's.
00:56And now you're really.
00:57That's the MO.
00:58No, I'm still just going to keep doing it until they say no.
01:00And even then they might say no, and I'll probably just keep doing it.
01:05Yeah, exactly.
01:10Now is the time for transparency.
01:12That's great to hear, truly.
01:14In the interest of transparency, was I hired for a permanent anchor position because I
01:21am black?
01:23Obviously not, no.
01:27You see my confusion, right?
01:29Because you used a clumsy racist comment to complain about my hiring.
01:35Did you think I wasn't qualified?
01:37Was that it?
01:38Well, you know, in point of fact, at that time, I did not believe you were qualified.
01:45Let me rephrase.
01:47You were untested.
01:48Well, that's not exactly true.
01:50We were aware that I was Q-tested more than any other person who has ever anchored the
01:56show, that I had to have eight different approval meetings in addition to the strategy
02:01discussions about my hair.
02:03I was unaware.
02:05And I still found time to spend weekends with four former anchors developing my on-air skills.
02:12Well, now that is impressive.
02:14It's very admirable.
02:15That aside, I don't understand why you used a racialized image when discussing me.
02:21Is that how you see me?
02:24Is that how you see us?
02:31Welcome to the Actor's Side today.
02:34Well, she is an Emmy nominee for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Dramatic Series for
02:40The Morning Show.
02:41This is Nicole Bahari.
02:42Hi, welcome.
02:43Hello.
02:44Thank you for having me.
02:45Thanks for joining us on the Actor's Side, and congratulations.
02:49It's so nice to be here.
02:50I've watched this quite a bit.
02:51Oh, really?
02:52Yes.
02:53So it's nice to actually do it.
02:54It's okay.
02:55You're here where we make the magic.
02:56Exactly.
02:57Well, thanks for watching.
02:59I love the character that, Chris, that has come in this season.
03:04You've just joined the show in the third season.
03:07Yeah, that was, thank you for saying that as well, that was kind of a big undertaking
03:14for me because it's such an amazing ensemble and like such a well-oiled show.
03:19And you're walking in the middle of it all.
03:20Yeah, in the middle of it.
03:22And also kind of like the tone is transitioning.
03:24I didn't know what that meant necessarily, you know, like as an actor and as a character.
03:28I was sort of given a little bit of information about her being a writer and from a different
03:34generation, but then I didn't know that we were going to take like such a swift dark
03:38turn.
03:39Nobody did.
03:40As a complete fan of this show from day one, this season just exploded in ways that we
03:47didn't see coming.
03:48Yeah.
03:49Yeah.
03:51And I think that's what we've got to do in this day and age as well, because we've kind
03:52of seen everything.
03:53So that's Mimi, that's Charlotte, that's the morning show team, Stout.
03:59Exactly.
04:00We're actually the first, we're both freshmen on season three.
04:03So we have like a special bond because of that.
04:05We're sort of like you and I, we came in, we conquered, we did our best and we were
04:11really just sort of trying to stay afloat in a way, you know, because I'm getting to
04:16play with some of the most incredible, well-loved actors on the planet, like not even just in
04:23America.
04:24So that's kind of a big deal.
04:25That is a big deal.
04:26It is.
04:27Does that make you nervous?
04:28Do you walk in there?
04:29There's an element of excitement.
04:30I don't know.
04:31I think I define, you know, it's about perspective.
04:34Like nerves can also just be excitement, you know, just what you call it.
04:39So I think it's excitement, you know, when you get the little butterflies before walking
04:44out on stage or something like that.
04:45I think it's a part of it.
04:46Yeah.
04:47And, you know, as we sit here and talk, the Olympics have been going on and things, and
04:53your character is a former Olympian, actually.
04:55Yes.
04:56Yes.
04:57Yes.
04:58A former.
04:59What was she in the Olympics?
05:00She was a runner.
05:01400 and 100.
05:02Yeah.
05:03Yeah.
05:04Yeah.
05:05So did you do any research?
05:06Yes.
05:07I worked with, look, I have wonky knees.
05:10That was actually, to be completely honest, I was begging, like, can I please be a gymnast
05:14because I'm petite?
05:15And I've actually been a gymnast.
05:17Like when I was younger, I liked to dance and yeah, I wanted to do something else.
05:21And they were like, no, we've already, you know, I was new.
05:23Like it is what it is.
05:25I was like, okay, I got to run.
05:28But that's also good for me.
05:30Like I needed that challenge and sort of there was a gap between Christina and I and I had
05:36to sort of fill it.
05:38And then the research just kind of makes you like go into the mindset of an athlete or
05:42an Olympian, specifically like gold medal winning Olympian.
05:45And so watching that, well, that was season three.
05:49But even now watching the Olympics, I'm like, whew, what it takes to be someone who wants
05:54to be on record as the best, the greatest of all time.
05:59Yeah.
06:00There's something inside that's like very different from what I have.
06:03You know what I mean?
06:04Like I love what I do, but I'm never sort of like I'm the best at anything.
06:09So just putting just putting that in it, like into my being and imagine like imagining
06:15having that as as my driving factor, I think affected the way that I play Christina.
06:21I find that fascinating as an actor that you go in and you do all that work because we're
06:27not seeing you don't see any of that.
06:29You don't really see it in the show.
06:30Yeah.
06:31So that's all you using that internally.
06:33Yeah.
06:34Yeah.
06:35So there's a lot of weird things that I've done.
06:39You know, we all have personal little ticks, little things like you're like touching your
06:42hand.
06:43And but I remember watching like documentaries about one of my favorites that that really
06:49influenced Christina and like the the pivotal scene that we had in the show was I watch
06:56a documentary called King in the Wilderness about Dr. Martin Luther King.
07:00Oh, yeah.
07:01It's sort of a different perspective of how hard it was for him, actually, because we
07:05always see this just like heroic portrayal, but we never get to see the anxiety, like
07:09what that meant physiologically and mentally on this like man in his 20s and early 30s.
07:15Right.
07:16It wasn't easy.
07:17We only see the victorious part of it.
07:19You know what I mean?
07:20But there were moments in the documentary where he had like a little shake or he had
07:24soothing gestures.
07:27And I use some of those, you know, so it's just like little things that you steal from,
07:31you know, your heroes.
07:32It's amazing.
07:33And I think the scene you're probably referring to is the episode White Noise, which you was
07:39the one you submitted for the Emmy.
07:41Yes.
07:42Yes.
07:43Right.
07:44Because it's amazing.
07:46And you're working opposite in this particular scene, Holland Taylor, the great, the great
07:48Holland Taylor.
07:49The great.
07:50Such a you know, I watch two and a half men every day in reruns on Channel 5.
07:55She is so good in everything, everything.
07:59She's doing a play right now, too, at Lincoln Center.
08:01Wow.
08:02And she's unstoppable.
08:04Yes.
08:05And I don't know.
08:06She was just so generous.
08:07That was a gift.
08:08Again, working with someone like that, that I'm a fan of.
08:10But also, you know, you sometimes meet your your heroes or people that you're a fan of
08:13and you're like, in this case.
08:16Yeah.
08:17Which heroes have you met that you're not going to tell you that?
08:20What question is that?
08:21Oh, come on.
08:22No.
08:23All right.
08:24This scene with Holland, she plays the head of the civil.
08:28Yeah.
08:29Yeah.
08:30And then something gets revealed in some emails or something.
08:34Yes.
08:35That she had used the term Aunt Jemima in referring to you coming in that basically
08:42you weren't all that in her opinion.
08:44I love all that.
08:45Yeah.
08:46I mean, it was it was actually about pay equity and that was a part of it.
08:49The sort of less the racist language.
08:54But it was really about pay equity and that like other people were not paying.
08:58You're taking over for Reese as the anchor on the money show.
09:02Exactly.
09:03Yeah.
09:04And you're not getting anywhere near the money.
09:05Not getting anywhere near.
09:07And then the other other people as well behind the scenes crew and some of the administrative
09:12people on the on our fake show behind the show weren't making the money that they should
09:17have been.
09:18So that was like a big to do.
09:19And it was a it was a hack.
09:20It was a hack.
09:21Yeah.
09:22So yeah.
09:23And then we had we had the opportunity to address one another.
09:26Yeah.
09:27And have her sit there for an interview with you on camera talking about this, which the
09:33subtext of it was incredible.
09:36The back and forth as she tries to weasel her way out of it.
09:40And you won't let her.
09:42Yeah.
09:43That was really interesting.
09:44The writers.
09:45I mean, it was Charlotte Stout and Joshua Allen for that white noise episode.
09:50And I think that they really tapped into some some things, some undercurrents, like you
09:55said, subtexts that are happening in America was actually kind of jarring as I saw was
10:03it last week, the National Association of Black Journalists.
10:06Oh, my God.
10:07I watched that whole thing.
10:08Doesn't it feel a little bit like what we did?
10:11It's unbelievable.
10:12Some of the same lines, actually.
10:14Really?
10:15Yes.
10:16I saw it and was like, whoa, this is weird.
10:17And we shot this in what, 22?
10:19Yeah.
10:20So very weird.
10:21But they're tapped into like there's undercurrents, there's subtext that are real.
10:25You know, so that was that was eerie and but but like not in a welcome good way.
10:31It was very weird in a weird way.
10:34Yeah.
10:35But, you know, there were three female black journalists interviewing Donald Trump.
10:39Yeah.
10:40And he's going.
10:42Don't ask me why, but he's going off in the but that Kamala Harris is not really black.
10:49She just decided to be black.
10:50Yeah.
10:51Yeah.
10:52It was crazy.
10:54The ABC journalist, Rachel Scott, it's just unbelievable.
10:58She just she stayed on it right away.
11:00The one from Fox News.
11:01She was easier, a little easier on him.
11:03She was much.
11:04Well, they had they had a relationship.
11:05They had a little bit of a rapport.
11:08So that was just interesting to see that.
11:10And I would imagine as an actor, you're talking about something, you know, you shot this in
11:14twenty two.
11:16That's what this show is about.
11:17I was talking to one of your co-stars, Mark Duplass, about this, that the show is struggling
11:23always to remain very current.
11:25And sometimes it all collides with what's magic.
11:29I mean, but again, eerie and weird and surreal like we don't want it to.
11:34We actually don't want it to collide in a dystopian way, please.
11:40But yeah, I think I think that they're masters at that, you know, kind of having to predict
11:45what might be happening.
11:48And also with with like a certain amount of levity so that it's like palatable and digestible.
11:55That's always there.
11:56Now, you're in an Emmy category.
11:58Congratulations on this because you're in an Emmy category.
12:02Oh, my gosh.
12:03Incredible.
12:04You have a 10 of the actors from The Morning Show this season dominated, which just says
12:08a lot about what your fellow actors think of the show and what the opportunities it
12:14presents to actors.
12:16But in your category, you're up against three of your co-stars.
12:23But I mean, it's an it's honestly an honor, you know, I honestly can't I can't believe
12:29it because I'm new.
12:31Like I said, I just jumped in the pool and I was like, am I am I doing the thing?
12:35Is it happening?
12:37So yeah, I just it feels really good.
12:40And it's just wonderful.
12:41You do this to connect and to tell stories.
12:44If that happened.
12:45Yeah.
12:46I can't you know, I can't I can't wish for anything more, especially when it's peers
12:50and your peers are like, we see we see you.
12:52It really does.
12:53It actually really does.
12:54You've won awards before right out of the box for American Violet and of course Miss
13:00Juneteenth.
13:01Yes.
13:02Which I loved.
13:03I saw at the time that it came out and you won the Gotham Award.
13:08At the beginning of the season.
13:09That was so exciting.
13:11That was wild.
13:12I wasn't expecting that.
13:14That's a great nomination for Indie Spirit.
13:15Yeah.
13:18Yeah.
13:19But again, like to to sort of lean on Christina and like what I was saying earlier, I, I,
13:27I think you run your own race like you don't really compete with people.
13:31You have your goal and your focus.
13:32And so I don't ever like this is great to be invited to the party and to get to do this
13:37with you.
13:38But it's never something that's in my mind ever.
13:40No, you don't do it for awards.
13:42I wouldn't.
13:43I'd never even think of it like, like my team when they called me and they were like, you
13:47were nominated.
13:48I was like, that's actually not funny.
13:50Don't make jokes like that.
13:51Like I was like, what?
13:52You didn't believe it?
13:53I didn't believe them.
13:54No.
13:55No, I'm serious.
13:56I was like, I don't, I don't.
13:57That wouldn't be funny.
13:58It wouldn't be funny.
13:59But I have dark relationships with people that I love.
14:02I was reading your background, Juilliard, Shakespeare in Oxford and London and all of
14:08that.
14:10You're what they call a serious actors.
14:12I don't know if that's true.
14:13I don't.
14:14I think I'm less serious than I used to be.
14:15If that makes sense.
14:16I think you go to school and you learn like how to use yourself.
14:19And then once you, it's almost like, um, uh, I love jazz standards.
14:24You know, they're like normal.
14:26And then you learn the rules.
14:29My Funny Valentine, Sweet Comic Valentine.
14:31And then you can play within it and you start to riff and you find other notes and chords
14:36and harmonies.
14:37Seriously.
14:38Now you can do that as you get sort of like older and you sort of know what that is or
14:43also, you know, um, production permitting, you know what I mean?
14:47Because everybody's not going to want that.
14:49But you know, fortunately, um, in this case I got to play, I feel like quite a bit for
14:55a new person on such a big, um, production.
14:59There were some moments throughout the season that were sort of like unscripted where I
15:03was just, uh, like, let's say this or let's do this.
15:08And they would like roll for a second or two.
15:10I didn't get a ton of takes, but you know, I'd get to do little fun things.
15:14And some of it made it like, there's this moment I think in White Noise where Chris
15:18is like, come on girl.
15:19And she's like looking in the mirror.
15:21And that was just me messing around, like trying to figure, and I was like, oh, they
15:24kept it.
15:25It's just such a nice feeling because it felt like her, but it wasn't scripted.
15:28You know, so things that you're discovering yourself.
15:31I hear this show is going to deal with, with AI.
15:34And I'm interested in what you think about that as an actor, because that was a huge
15:39issue recently with the SAG strike, all about actors feeling like it's coming in to take
15:45over our jobs, especially in voiceover and things like that.
15:50And, uh, but what do you think about that?
15:51What's happening in your profession in terms of that?
15:55I don't like it.
15:56Yeah.
15:57I don't like it at all.
15:58No.
15:59I mean, I've already seen, um, scenes that have been done almost entirely by AI and they,
16:07and they look pretty good.
16:08There's always something a little weird, like a little off, but I think that that's probably
16:12going to get ironed out in the next decade or so.
16:15So I, I find it really scary because, you know, you can sort of copy an individual or,
16:22or also take aspects of individuals.
16:24I think it will also affect hair, makeup, and crew lighting all because ultimately those
16:30people will no longer be necessary if they can change them in post or so it's, I think
16:36it's scary for all of us.
16:37We should take it very seriously.
16:38There's some beautiful parts to it as well, but I'm, I'm, I'm more afraid of what we,
16:43you know, the, all the job loss.
16:45Yeah.
16:46Well, I use it sometimes for transcribing and just go on to things there, but it gets
16:50all the words wrong and then I have to go back and listen to it again.
16:53So I have to keep correcting.
16:55Tell that to everyone in my text thread, the same thing I'm like, Oh God, that's terrible.
17:03I thought, yeah.
17:05But she is the anchor of the show.
17:07So that's kind of fun to play.
17:08Yeah.
17:09Did you ever have any ambition to when you play these roles, say, Hey, this would have
17:13been a fun job.
17:14Maybe I could take over.
17:15Good morning America.
17:16You know what?
17:17That's really funny.
17:18I actually, you, you mentioned I went to Juilliard.
17:21I, I also applied for international relations communications.
17:26That's what I was going to do.
17:27Really?
17:28Yeah.
17:29So it was like, I loved that.
17:31I love international news.
17:33I imagine like maybe not being a BBC anchor, but like being on the, on the ground.
17:37Right.
17:38Yeah.
17:39This is true.
17:40This is a true story.
17:41But you know, some of my teachers were like, you should apply to these acting schools too
17:44because you love it.
17:45And it just didn't seem like a, a real job.
17:49Like, like, you know, something I could actually do.
17:51And then when I got accepted, I was like, let's, let's keep doing this thing until they
17:55say no.
17:56Wow.
17:57So, so we're, that's, and now you're really, that's the MO.
18:00No, I'm still just going to keep doing it.
18:02And even then they might say no, and I'll probably just, yeah, exactly.
18:07You know what, boy, when I look at this cast, you mentioned the cast, you know, and working
18:11with these people.
18:12Yeah.
18:13We've got some amazing people.
18:14Whew.
18:15It's a constant regeneration of everything.
18:19Yeah.
18:20Yeah.
18:21Which is, I think the turnover in that industry is true as well.
18:24Yeah.
18:25Like it's, it's so, it's reflective of, of, of the world and it keeps things interesting,
18:28I think for the audience and the writers and the actors.
18:32All of that.
18:34So I wanted to ask you about a couple of films you made.
18:36You worked with Chadwick Boseman.
18:38I did.
18:39Yeah.
18:40You played his wife, Jackie Robinson's wife, in a great movie, 42.
18:45It was really good.
18:46I loved, I loved working on that.
18:47Yeah.
18:48What was that like working with Chad?
18:51Man, he was, he, he, he's so dedicated.
18:56I'm sure anyone who's ever worked with him or, obviously we see what he's done.
19:00So dedicated, so gentle.
19:02We had like this thing where I, like at the end of the shoot, I told him he ruined it
19:08for any like prospective actual husbands because he was like the best husband ever.
19:15And we had a lot of shorthand, which was really lovely, but I'd never seen, there was a moment
19:21where we were, and I'll, I'll like never forget it.
19:25We were doing this, this, we were shooting in like a hundred degree weather and he had
19:29to like run around.
19:30It's, it's really beautiful.
19:32Brian Hegland, Hegland captured him running around all the bases and he was sort of stopping
19:40and thanking all of the extras because it was so hot and we were shooting in like Alabama,
19:45you know, and also in period clothes.
19:46So it's like wool, three layers, you know, people are dying.
19:51And he would just think about everybody.
19:53Meanwhile, I, I think the weight that he had on his shoulders, I, I personally think I
19:58would be so focused and trying not to be distracted, but it wasn't a distraction.
20:02It felt like the character, but also very much him to like take care of everybody.
20:07So that's how he was, you know?
20:09Yeah.
20:10And he was crazy, crazy good.
20:12I, I didn't, I don't, I don't want to like take the whole thing about Chad, but there's
20:16a film he did about, um, what was it?
20:19James Brown?
20:20Where he completely.
20:21Oh yeah, love it.
20:22Step, uh, step up.
20:23I can't remember.
20:24Get on up.
20:25Get on up.
20:26It's a song.
20:27Get on up.
20:28Yeah.
20:29Get on up.
20:30That was it.
20:31Where he completely transformed.
20:32And I was like, I know you.
20:33I didn't know you could do that.
20:34Which is just, that's so nice.
20:35That was like back to back to back.
20:37He played Thurgood Marshall.
20:38Thurgood Marshall.
20:39Yeah.
20:40He did James Brown.
20:41He did James Robinson.
20:42He did these iconic.
20:43Yeah.
20:44Um, black, uh, figures.
20:45Yeah.
20:46In history.
20:47Yeah.
20:48Historic figures.
20:49And he just made them his own.
20:50Mm-hmm.
20:51In those.
20:52That must've been, you know, I mean.
20:53It was wonderful to watch.
20:54I'm sure it does something for you as well.
20:55When you embody that.
20:56Yeah.
20:57Then you can sort of step into another kind of, uh, greatness, which is what we saw.
21:02Right in our Deadline studio here, right around the walls here, we have a beautiful photo.
21:06Is there a photo of him?
21:07Oh my God.
21:08It takes up the whole wall.
21:09I'll have to go look at it.
21:10Of him.
21:11I do want to ask you about Miss Juneteenth, because that made a real splash when that
21:15came out.
21:16And, uh, you know, it brought, for one thing, made everyone aware of Juneteenth, which.
21:21I don't know if our film made everyone aware of Juneteenth.
21:23I think it did.
21:24I'm telling you.
21:25It was.
21:26And from that point on, it seemed like, you know, and then they made it a, a.
21:29A national holiday.
21:30A national holiday.
21:31Yeah.
21:32I think it was a perfect storm.
21:33I got very, uh, lucky.
21:35Because it was, it was, uh, during some of the, um, uh, racial awareness and like some
21:41of the uprisings and conversations around race and, and the country and, you know, people
21:46started talking about that.
21:47And we just happened to release the movie at that time and we were having the conversation
21:52about it.
21:53And then there was a conversation about, about turning it into a national holiday and why
21:57that would be important.
21:58So I feel like we had a hand in it, but definitely not because of us.
22:02I think a lot of, you know, definitely not because of us.
22:05But there is this strange thing that happens every year, um, June 19th, where I, there's
22:12like a poster of my character Turquoise, um, with the crown on and the Miss Juneteenth.
22:17You're somebody, a beauty queen who's doing this for her daughter.
22:21Doing it for her daughter.
22:22Yeah.
22:23Um, and it's, it's a real pageant that happens every year and it's, it's very much about
22:26the community and, um, uh, history and tradition and, but this, this, this poster pops up every
22:33year in my social media or whatever.
22:35So it's, it is kind of strange to be like associated, you know, with such a powerful
22:40moment in time with like people's emancipation and freedom.
22:43June 19th is going to get this popping right up.
22:46It's wild.
22:47It's wild.
22:48Cause they may never even see the movie, but there's like a poster of me as, so that's,
22:52that's really interesting.
22:53I think, you know, you know, thank you.
22:55Wherever y'all are.
22:57But I really want to know what you're doing on season four and I'm going to have to find
23:01out some way cause I can't wait.
23:02It's exciting.
23:03Yeah.
23:04I'm happy about it.
23:05I'll bet it is.
23:06And you can tell it's doing really well, uh, you know, not just with, um, the public out
23:11there which is watching it, but the industry is watching now too.
23:15Congratulations on that.
23:16Thank you so much.
23:18It's going to be fun.
23:20Yeah.
23:21Thank you for joining us on the Actors Side.