Exclusive: Gugu Mbatha-Raw Talks ‘Beyond The Lights’Posted by Wilson Morales
November 9, 2014
Coming out this week is the Gina Prince-Bythewood‘s romantic drama Beyond The Lights, starring Gugu Mbatha Raw, Nate Parker, Minnie Driver, Colson “MGK” Baker, Danny Glover, Aisha Hinds, Aml Ameen, Tyler Christopher, and India Jean-Jacques.
Beyond The Lights is the story of Noni Jean, a hot new artist who has just won a Grammy and is primed for stardom. But the pressures of success compel her to nearly end her life until she is saved by a young police officer named Kaz. They fall hard for each other, despite the protests of their parents who want each to focus on their own career ambitions. As far as Kaz’s father (Danny Glover) is concerned, his law-and-order work is only the first step towards a future career in politics. Kaz knows what it’s like to be groomed for greatness, and he has a way of looking right through Noni’s camera-ready facade that throws her off her game. But he might be the missing piece to unlock her artistic potential.
For Mbatha-Raw, this has certainly been a breakout year for the British native. Having been seen opposite Tom Hanks in 2011’s Larry Crown followed a starring role on NBC’s short-lived series Undercovers doesn’t make her a newcomer by any stretch but her visibility this year has increased by a wide margin.
With the exception of Taraji P. Henson, w , has there been a black actress in two prominent lead roles in one year, let alone be directed two black female directors. Earlier this year, Mbatha-Raw starred in Amma Asante’s period drama Belle.
With both roles, she recently received Best Actress nominations in the upcoming Gotham Awards (for Beyond The Lights) and British Independent Awards (for Belle).
Blackfilm.com recently spoke with Mbatha-Raw on being cast in Beyond The Lights years and it finally making it to the big screen.
When you got the role over five years ago, did you ever think it was going to be filmed?
GUGU MBATHA-RAW: You’ve got to have faith. (laughs) You’ve got to believe that you’re working towards something. I remember a good friend of mine sent me this quote from Martin Luther King when the dates kept getting pushed back, and I think it was something like, “You’ve gotta take the first step even if you can’t see the first staircase,” and to me that’s what we did with this film. Even though it wasn’t greenlit we still continued and we shot a presentation of an eight-minute short. Even though the dates weren’t confirmed I still got in the dance studio and started training and got with the vocal coach and started singing. If you start working towards something with a belief in your heart that puts a good vibe out there and hopefully it comes to fruition. You never know, you just have to believe.
How was that time period knowing that the studio had a different opinion of you even though Gina kept fighting for you? The studios always want a name, but you knew you were right for this part.
MBATHA-RAW: I was always working. At the time I was doing a TV series called “Touch” and then I went on to do “Belle,” and all along I was still meeting with Gina and we were developing the character. You can’t get bogged down in that stuff, the politics of Hollywood. (laughs) You have to just do your thing and be the best that you can be. So for me, in many ways it was galvanizing, it made me more focused to prove that I could do it, so I’m thankful to anybody who wasn’t sure because it gave me more determination. You’ve gotta look at it in a positive light.
How would you best describe Noni Jean?
MBATHA-RAW: She’s a complex character. (laughs) There’s two Noni’s in this movie, really, and she sort of evolves from one to the other. On the surface is a seemingly confident, sexualized pop princess with a whole glittering career ahead of her, but on the inside she has very low self-esteem. She’s never really had a chance to develop a sense of self-worth and she’s kind of been manipulated and exploited not only by her mom but by the industry and her record label. She’s sort of in this fragile position of everybody thinking they love her and her not really loving herself. Really, she’s kind of a strong woman that has to reach a crisis moment to be able to redefine her own identity.
Was there any part of your own life that you took into this role?
MBATHA-RAW: Well, I took hours and hours of sweat and tears preparing for it! I’m very different to Noni, and that was one of the joys of playing this role, that it was far way from my natural self, and that was a great challenge. For me, I responded to the Noni at the end, the free Noni. There’s a lot of me in the movie, but the character is quite different from my day-to-day life. (laughs)
You’ve done a lot of other films, how physically challenging was this compared to those other projects?
MBATHA-RAW: Totally different, I think. It’s a very challenging schedule, we shot the movie in 28-days, in the middle of which I was at one point working 7-days a week between singing in the studio and dance rehearsals and shooting and fight and stunt rehearsals. This was pretty challenging physically, on par with “Undercovers” where I was doing a lot of stunts. The schedule’s kind of roughly the same, but when you believe in a story it’s surprising what you’ll put yourself through. (laughs) For me and for Gina we were really committed to the idea of changing the conversation, providing an alternative inspiration for young girls to aspire to and being comfortable in your own natural self and not put on armor every day, pretend to be something you’re not. For me sometimes it’s the belief in the message of something that gets you up at four-in-the-morning and into your fourth hour in the dance studio.
Do you have any perspective for singers having played a starlet who lives this glamorous life? Looking at Beyonce and Alicia, do you get perspective on what their lives could be like?
MBATHA-RAW: I absolutely do. I don’t pretend to know what it’s like to be in one of those artist’s shoes, but I certainly have newfound respect for the artist with longevity, because it’s somewhat a disposable industry and very much the new hot thing and people burn out very quickly. I have a huge respect for the real singers, the real artists that are able to maintain their sanity and not get drawn into various types of abuse. It’s a potentially exploitative industry if you’re not surrounded by healthy people. I have a huge respect.
Part of watching a love story is the audience has to feel connected to the two stars. There has to be that chemistry. You and Nate have been working on this for a period of time. At what point during the process of making this movie did you guys feel connected as opposed to not really knowing each other?
MBATHA-RAW: There still is an element of that, because I met Nate a year before we shot the movie, briefly, in an audition situation, but still you don’t know the real person. Nate came into rehearsals a few weeks before we started shooting and I’d been working several months on the character so I think that’s the thing. When you have real actors you have to jump in! Even though you don’t know each other very well you have the characters so it’s not about you, your ego you have to put aside and connect to these two characters that you’re creating. In many ways there’s a freedom to that, the script has been written, these guys fall in love! That’s what you have to invest in. Gina did a beautiful job of writing a very romantic story for us and it’s all on the page, every beat is very nuanced in terms of the development of their relationship. She had a very clear idea of that. Nate’s such a great actor to work with, he’s very committed, he’s got a lot of integrity. Like his character Kaz he’s a principled guy, he stands up for what he believes in and that really comes through. It’s refreshing to see a decent leading man, not a bad boy. A real rock for my character.
Then there’s Minnie. I’ve watched her career for a long time and it’s great to see her in a bigger role. Talk about the dynamic of working with her and that “momiger” dynamic.
MBATHA-RAW: Minnie’s amazing, I loved working with her. She is so funny, naturally as a person, and it was great to develop this mother-daughter relationship with her because she could have potentially played it in some monstrous way and she actually made it subtle and you really understood where she was coming from and the desperation of her character. Also, she made it manipulative in a very female way, that sort of snake-y quality to her. It was great, and one of my favorite scenes with Minnie is that confrontation scene, she was so committed to that.
You’ve had the pleasure of working on two films directed by two females coming out in the same year, and you’re playing a Brit in both roles!
MBATHA-RAW: It’s so nice, especially since before Belle I hadn’t played a British role for three years!
How was it working with two female directors?
MBATHA-RAW: Specifically for this movie it’s great, really great! In my experience in film I’ve worked a lot more with female directors than male directors. That’s kind of more what I know, actually! (laughs) Women are able to, instinctively, create more multifaceted female characters. I think it’s the point of view that’s interesting, Gina’s view revealing behind the glamor may not have been shown by a male director. I think it’s a female story and a message of female empowerment and taking your identity back, as opposed to the fantasy girl which could potentially be more interesting to male audiences. (laughs)
Wrapping up, is there an album coming up based on your singing, and can you talk about your upcoming movies with Keanu and Will?
MBATHA-RAW: Yes, I think they’re going to release the soundtrack to the film, I don’t know whan, probably sometime before the movie comes out. For me, the singing element was all tied up with this character, so I don’t have any plans for a hip hop career! (laughs) Acting is my thing and this is a great experience, but it’s nice to put on a role and take a role off. As much as I love Noni I don’t want to play her for the rest of my life. I’m an actress first. I just finished “The Whole Truth” in New Orleans, directed by another woman Courtney Hunt, and that’s a legal courtroom drama with Keanu Reeves and Renee Zellweger in which I play a defending attorney, so it’s a very different vibe, and just about to start a Will Smith project with the working title of “Concussion” which is about brain injuries in the NFL. For me I’m very excited about that movie because the script is so good.
What role are you playing?
MBATHA-RAW: I play Prema Omalu, who is Bennet Omalu’s character’s wife. She’s a nurse from Nairobi and sort of the heart of the story, she’s his moral guidance throughout the story. It’s an important story that’s challenging to American culture, potentially controversial, and a really important story of one man who believed in something and had to challenge a big corporation, so I’m really excited about that.
And how many Nina Simone songs do you have in your collection?
MBATHA-RAW: (laughs) I grew up listening to Nina Simone. I used to dance around the kitchen listening to “My Baby Just Cares For Me,” that’s my favorite one, and I also love “Strange Fruit.” That became my favorite song, I discovered it when I was 17 at drama school. We did an animal project and I played a bat, and did an interpretive dance piece to “Strange Fruit” and it give me the chills every time I hear it, her version is just phenomenal. Of course, “Feeling Good,” what a classic!
Beyond The Lights hits theaters on November 21, 2014.
