Viola Davis believes Hollywood is missing out on the opportunity to tell stories about regular black women.
The star of the new Steve McQueen picture ‘Widows‘, Davis made her way to the U.K’s ‘Guardian’ to discuss her role in the project and why she feels it will offer moviegoers something fresh, thrilling and exciting.
In the same conversation, she also revealed why moviemakers should set their sights on realistic stories about black women.
Read below…
I always say that one thing missing in cinema is that regular Black woman. Not anyone didactic, or whose sole purpose in the narrative is to illustrate some social abnormality. There’s not meaning behind it, other than she is just there…I would love to have a black female Klute, or Kramer, or Unmarried Woman or Annie Hall. But who’s gonna write it, who’s gonna produce it, who’s gonna see it, again and again and again?
I’ve gone through the heartache of losing a parent, the joys of being married, the joys of getting a job. I’ve lived a life, so when I read a script, and it strikes me as being disingenuous–a person who’s not fully explored–that’s what stops me.
Fuelling her desire to play fully-explored humans is the turmoil she faced trying to play Hollywood’s game.
I was trying to fit in, stifling my voice, stifling who I was, in order to be seen as pretty, in order for people to like me. And then going home, not being able to sleep and having anxiety. I have found that the labeling of me, and having to fit into that box, has cost me a great deal. I’ve had a lot of lost years.
‘Widows’ hits theatres on November 16th for U.S. fans. For British supporters? The 6th.