The Hollywood Reporter - 13.11.2019

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 68 NOV EMBER 13, 2019

HAIR BY NAI’VASHA JOHNSON FOR CURL QUEEN AT THE WALL GROUP, HAIR BY NICK BAROSE FOR LANCOME AT EXCLUSIVE ARTISTS.

RABBIT

: LARRY HORRICKS/TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX.

US: CLAUDETTE BARIUS/UNIVERSAL.

MARRIAGE

: WILSON WEBB/NETFLIX (2).

LITTLE

: WILSON WEBB/COLUMBIA PICTURES.

HUSTLERS

: BARBARA NITKE/STX.

JUDY

: DAVID HINDLEY/LD ENTERTAINMENT AND ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS.

FAREWELL

: CASI MOSS/A24.

place for all kinds of cinema right
now. People absorb content in
so many different ways. I actu-
ally didn’t totally understand
that statement, because I guess I
needed some insight as to what
it meant exactly. Because to me
it seemed a little old-fashioned.
But somebody pointed out to me
that perhaps what the statement
meant was that there’s no room
for smaller films, because the
cinema is taken up by these enor-
mous blockbusters, and smaller
movies don’t have a chance at the
theater, which I hadn’t actu-
ally considered and think is a
valid point.
But I also feel like there’s
sort of this shift in how people
watch stuff and there’s all these
platforms for different kinds
of [content]. Now there’s mov-
ies and shows and art films and
all kinds of stuff getting made
that you can watch in all these
different ways, and I just feel like
it’s changing. It doesn’t mean it’s
going away.

Lupita, you’ve worked with Jordan
Peele, Steve McQueen, Mira Nair
and Ryan Coogler. Are you making

these choices specifically to work

with directors who were underrepre-

sented in the past?

NYONG’O It’s definitely not a calcu-

lated thing. These are all directors

who have offered me the most

interesting roles. And I’ve taken

them. I haven’t really thought

about the demographic of the

director I’ve been working with.

This #MeToo time, this Time’s

Up time in the industry, is about

allowing for equitable represen-

tation. And because I am a black

woman, I am a beneficiary of that

movement in the work that I’ve

been able to do. I’m very grateful

to have come into the industry at

the time that I have because I am

benefiting from the efforts of a lot

of other women who have come

before me, other black women

who have had it a lot rougher than

I have. This is a time where there

is a concerted effort to consider

diversity and inclusion. What I

really want is for it to not be a fad,

not be a trend. Right now it’s really

dope and cool and on trend to work

with women and underrepre-

sented groups, but the moment of

maturity in the industry is when it

is just the norm, you know?

LOPEZ Right. When I first started,

one of the things that I wanted to

do, because I was Puerto Rican,

Latina, was that I wanted to be

in romantic comedies because I

felt like all the women in roman-

tic comedies always looked the

same way, they were always

white. And I was like, if I can do

it and just show that I’m every

girl — because I am the hope-

less romantic, I am that — I am

the single working woman, I was

those things. And I remember

thinking, I need to be the lead in a

romantic comedy. And that’s one

of the things I went for and that’s

one of the things me and my

agents talked about.

NYONG’O That’s the thing — when

the race of the person in the

romantic comedy is not the point.

There are moments when the

cultural group or the religious

group or the national group is

the subject matter, and there are

moments when it’s not, and both

are radical, you know?

AW K WA F I NA Yeah, for sure.

NYONG’O So like with Jordan in

the horror genre, not often do

you have black characters in the

fore. So he is revolutionizing that

genre — that black people don’t

die first in his films. And [race] is

really not the point. What is the

point is that it’s an examination

of class and privilege. The family

that we are following is repre-

sentational of the all-American

family. And that you can relate

to that person just as much as I

related to Fräulein Maria in The

Sound of Music. That it is possible

that we can see ourselves in the

people who are different from us,

from other cultures, other creeds.

AW K WA F I NA There is a genuine

urge for audiences to want an

industry that represents their life.

That’s why I’m very positive about

the direction that we’re going in.

I don’t think that having people of

different cultures or women will

be a trend because I think that it’s

what people want. We’re changing

as a society.

DERN And if I may add to that, I

think it’s because money matters

and they’re making money.

NYONG’O And the audience is

louder. Now with social media,

you can no longer just be in your

little boardroom and say what the

audiences are looking for. That

was the folly — “Black films don’t

sell. Oh, nobody wants to see a

Latina do a comedy.”

DERN Or like, “Women movies

don’t make money.”

It’s been about two years since

#MeToo and Time’s Up swept the

industry. What kind of changes are

you seeing now?

ZELLWEGER I hear the conversa-

tions and I’ve been in professional

partnerships with men who make

different choices now, even if it’s

just to be clear about what their

intentions are.

LOPEZ They’re definitely more

careful now.

ZELLWEGER Yeah, they keep the

door open. Or I had one gentle-

man say, “I don’t meet with

women alone. I always make

sure that there’s somebody else

in here because I don’t want

anything to be misconstrued or

misunderstood and I want her

to be comfortable.” So you see

that there are different choices

being made.

LOPEZ We’ve stood up and said,

“Hey, we don’t want this to be

going on and it’s been going on

a long time and it’s enough.” On

a more positive note, we have

movies like Hustlers and Little

Wom en and all these other movies

where there’s women at the fore-

front, and we’re producing and

we’re directing, we’re writing it,

we’re editing it.

AW K WA F I NA That’s always very

interesting to me when I hear

that because when I first started,

the first two directors I worked

with were women. And when

I hear about the industry that

existed — that this was really

rare — it’s mind-blowing for me.

I can’t imagine not working with

a woman at the helm of a project,

like at all.

Do you feel the culture around

nudity and sex scenes in films

has changed in the way it’s dis-

cussed now? And how has that

impacted the choices that you make

as actresses?

AW K WA F I NA I once had a mastur-

bation scene in a school bathroom

and I remember preparing for it

so much, like practicing every-

where I was, just like, “What’s

my default face?” And then my

grandma watched the movie and

THE PERFORMANCES

SCARLETT JOHANSSON

Jojo Rabbit and Marriage Story

AW K WA F I NA

The Farewell

LAURA DERN

Little Women and Marriage Story

LUPITA NYONG’O

Us

JENNIFER LOPEZ

Hustlers

RENÉE ZELLWEGER

Judy