November 2009 | blackfilm.com | PRECIOUS | An Interview with Lee Daniels

November 2009

PRECIOUS | An Interview with Lee Daniels

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PRECIOUS
An Interview with Lee Daniels
by Nasser Metcalfe

November 6, 2009

In 2002 I met Lee Daniels for the first time at the annual Urbanworld film festival in New York City. His achievements as a filmmaker at that point consisted of a singular offering, the provocative and poignant Monster’s Ball. That evening we conducted what would be the first of numerous interviews that he and I would have over the coming years for blackfilm.com. In the following years he would create and release The Woodsman and Shadowboxer respectively. By 2007, I was elated to be cast as Dr. Maxwell in his film, Tennessee. As an actor, having the opportunity to work with such a visionary filmmaker was a dream come true. Between our interviews spanning the years, many great conversations off the record, and creative exchange on celluloid, it is with much gratitude that I now truly consider Lee Daniels a friend. I have learned to expect nothing but the pure honest truth from him and I believe that he has learned that he can trust me with it.

At this moment in time Lee Daniels is at what many consider the defining moment of his career as a filmmaker. His second directorial effort, PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL ‘PUSH’ BY SAPPHIRE, is poised to hit theatres on Friday November 6. With Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry as executive producers, the film offers a most powerful narrative of pain and redemption anchored by a powerhouse cast. Standout performances by Mo’Nique and Mariah Carey playing against type are generating growing Oscar buzz in influential circles as well as the breakout performance of newcomer, Gabourey Sidibe in the title role. With plans for the next Academy Awards ceremony to expand the best picture category to ten nominees this year, speculation is running rampant about the little gem of a film that could. On the eve of the release of Precious, and one year to the day that Barack Obama was elected to the highest office in the land, Lee Daniels found himself in Washington, D.C. at a hotel in Georgetown, just a few miles from the White House, on the phone with me. The following is the latest interview in our series of one on ones for you the blackfilm.com reader.

NM: How did the Novel Push first come to your attention?

LD: My friend Charlotte Sheedy, who is [actress] Ally Sheedy’s mother, gave it to me pre Monster’s Ball and I fell in love with it. I liked the color of the book. It was a fascinating read. It left me gasping.

NM: I can imagine. So how did you start the process of trying to acquire the rights and ultimately make this a film?

LD: I called the writer. No, I met with the writer, Sapphire, the brilliant Sapphire and she told me no. She said she’s not interested in Hollywood. She is a true artist in that she’s unimpressed with Hollywood. She didn’t want to turn her book into a film. I finally talked her in to it eight years later.

NM: It took that long, huh?

LD: I stalked her.

NM: (laughter) Alright cool so finally you get the rights to it and you secure the financial backing as you always go through the process of doing. But to this date you’ve made five films.

LD: I have.

NM: Three of which you served as producer and you allowed someone else to direct. Shadowboxer of course was your directorial debut. What was it about this story that made you want to tell it from the director’s chair?

LD: You know when I connect with a story personally as I did with Shadowboxer, then I feel that I can bring something to it. If I don’t connect with it then I try and find a director that I connect with the story in a very primal way. And so, I knew I had to direct it.

NM: So how did your experience directing Shadowboxer inform or influence how you approached directing this, your sophomore effort?

LD: I think that you know, it was my fifth film. So it was my fifth time on set as a filmmaker. So I really had a better understanding of how to attack the material. Just from experience you know. I learned from the directors that I’ve worked with. It was time for me to jump in to the water.

NM: So after having these two experiences as director and three as producer, moving forward how do you think you may vacillate between these two worlds and those responsibilities?

LD: I’ll probably direct the next couple of things. But I am going to be producing something with a young filmmaker, Sebastian Silva who won for best foreign film at Sundance this past year. I enjoy both. I really do. It’s like [asking] who do I love more my son or my daughter? I love them both. So I enjoy them both for different reasons. I love discovering new talent and I love directing. I love having the voice. It just depends on the project.

NM: Right. Do you want to speak a little bit on how Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry got involved?

LD: Yeah, they saw the film. I’d given it to Oprah first eons ago right before I went to Sundance. But she was off getting Obama in to the White House. So she didn’t have time to look at it. Then Tyler Perry saw the film at Sundance and he told Oprah to see it. Then they both called me while I was winning my award at Sundance. It was very exciting and I’ve never looked back.

NM: Of course not. Speaking of Obama and the White House I find it auspicious that we’re actually having this conversation today on the one year anniversary of his election.

LD: Is it?!?

NM: It is. Today is November 4th bro.

LD: Oh my lord, it is one year today. It is one year today that Obama was elected.

NM: That’s right. It flies by doesn’t it?

LD: Here I am in D.C. Let me go over and say hi to Obama.

NM: (laughter) Crack a brew with him like Skip Gates.

LD: (laughter)

NM: It reminds me that in preparation for this interview I went back over some of our old interviews and our previous conversations. In 2004 you expressed to me some of your dismay at the backlash you received from Monster’s Ball at the time from the African American community. Because you said that you felt like you made that film for your people, for the Black community and to get that kind of backlash that you received at that time was kind of hurtful. So with this film, with Precious, what is it that you’re offering to the community, to the African American community specifically?

LD: Well I hope that I wouldn’t see [that backlash] again from my community. Let’s try again. Let’s start out again. I always start out trying to make films for my community. Because it’s my community so you start with a demographic that you think understands you. So it was a horrible backlash for Monster’s Ball. I think that it’s all about the timing. I think that some of my stuff is provocative and to the left a little. Sometimes my community can’t deal with my provocativeness. But I hope that they embrace Precious.

NM: I’m sure they will. It just speaks volumes. I want to find out a little bit more about your process. Let’s talk about Mo’Nique for a second. Mo’Nique has been in a ton of films. Mostly she’s always cast in something comedic which is understandable because she comes from the world of stand up. But you were the first person, I think, with Shadowboxer, to recognize her dramatic potential and put it to use. Now, of course with Precious she delivers a dramatic performance for the ages. What is it about your vision that you are able to see this potential in these talents and what is it about when you work with them that you are able to get that level of performance out of them?

LD: Nasser, you’ve worked with me even as a producer. Can you answer that?

NM: (laughter)

LD: I think that you’re better [equipped] to do that.

NM: Alright. Okay.

LD: Why don’t you fill in the blank there. Even as a producer what it was like working with me?

NM: Honestly Lee, working with you as a producer was like working with you as a director. (laughter)

LD: (laughter) You see what I mean?

Writers note:

*Working with Lee Daniels, I found him to be a very passionate artist whose level of commitment to his work raises the bar for every one around him. Even as a producer he would come in between takes to offer notes to my cast mate and I about timing and pacing with regards to the delivery of our lines because he was aware enough to look ahead to his work in the editing room. After his adjustments, not only was the scene more sound from that technical standpoint but our levels of performance deepened because we were now pausing long enough to allow the previous line to resonate before replying, thus more effectively utilizing an actor’s greatest tool, listening. The result was a more textured scene that allowed the deeper emotional nuances of it to come to the surface. In my opinion it is Lee’s instincts that are his strongest asset as a filmmaker. He has been so successful because he has learned to trust them and any of his collaborators are wise to trust them as well.

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