Essence G20 ViolaDavis

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00:00My husband and kids are missing. We have to find them.

00:03If you want to live, you'll follow my lead.

00:05Now your cap's in America.

00:20That was quite, uh, well done.

00:22My name is Oakley Jones, entertainment editor with Essence,

00:31and today I'm speaking to the amazing Viola Davis.

00:33How you doing, Miss Davis?

00:35Hello. That's a beautiful name.

00:37Thank you. I appreciate you. It's a pleasure to be speaking with you today.

00:40In the film, your character is a fierce leader,

00:42but she's also a loving mother of two very different children.

00:47How did you tap into the push and pull of those relationships,

00:50especially with your daughter?

00:52Well, you know, I have a teenager at home.

00:56So, um, I just felt like that was sort of, um, the nucleus of that character,

01:02because I think that that is a,

01:05I think that that's something that a lot of women have to juggle.

01:09How to sort of satisfy your career needs, your dreams, your goals,

01:15and then how to be a mom, right?

01:19And they're always in direct conflict with each other

01:23because at the end of the day, you're just not going to have balance.

01:27You're just not, it's, it's not possible.

01:30And, um, so I literally, that's my life,

01:35balancing being the mother of Genesis Tenen and being an actress in Hollywood

01:42and sort of giving myself grace,

01:46forgiving myself, um, and knowing that I just can't do it beautifully.

01:52I think that that was a huge arc of playing Danielle Sutton.

01:57Yeah.

01:59Actually glad you brought up the juggling aspect,

02:01because that was my next question about, um, the role of Danielle,

02:04how she, uh, juggles the leadership, motherhood and survival.

02:08Um, you said it, it has a lot of parallels to your life.

02:12Were there any moments on set that really hit home for you emotionally at all?

02:16Yes.

02:18The, I think there's a couple of them,

02:21but I would say the first one is when she has the moment

02:25where she remembers how she became this war hero.

02:30When she found this young boy who was in an explosion after an IED

02:36and she brought him to safety.

02:39But what she really remembered is, you know, um, the mom,

02:44she had to pry the little boy out of the mom's arms.

02:48And for me, that was really, that for me was pivotal in the character

02:54because it was the imposter syndrome.

02:56What we do as actors, we have to show human life.

03:00It's not, it's not having any editorial about human life.

03:04You have to just show it as messy as, as, you know, as messy as it is.

03:11And for me, that was interesting because no matter what,

03:16I don't care if you are the leader of the free world,

03:19you're still a human being and you're still motivated by memories, by insecurities.

03:26Um, and it is how you handle them that is heroic.

03:32It's how you handle those moments of feeling like you can't do it.

03:38And that journey you take in believing that you can, that is, that is interesting.

03:45And, um, I think that was one of the moments that actually made me want to do it.

03:51This movie.

03:52Now, I really enjoyed the, uh, dynamic of the Sutton family.

03:56And they were all strong in their own special ways.

03:59How important was it for you to show a powerful, unified black family on screen?

04:04Always, you know, that's our legacy at Juvie Productions.

04:07It's a part of our legacy to show the broad spectrum of humanity

04:12and to show that, you know, I, I, I've said this story ad nauseum,

04:17you know, my daughter, since she was four, five years old, maybe even younger,

04:22you know, when I would tell her stories at night and I would make them up

04:26and I would make them as elaborate as possible.

04:29There would be slingshots and giants and, and flying.

04:34And she would always stop me and take her baba out of her mouth,

04:37even like when she was really, really young and say, mama, put me in the story.

04:42I want to be that.

04:43I want to be in the story.

04:44We want to be in the story.

04:48We want to, we, we, our imagination is limitless.

04:54And I want that as part as a part of Juvie's legacy and storytelling

05:00to always put people of color in the story.

05:04We are a vast people and, and it's who I am.

05:11You know, it's, I feel like it's my job, my purpose.

05:17Miss Davis, thank you so much.

05:18I really appreciate this amazing film.

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