{"id":140960,"date":"2020-01-15T12:01:58","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T17:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/?p=140960"},"modified":"2020-02-03T17:38:22","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T22:38:22","slug":"exclusive-viola-davis-talks-troop-zero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/exclusive-viola-davis-talks-troop-zero\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Viola Davis Talks ‘Troop Zero’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Coming out this week on Amazon is the dramedy ‘Troop Zero,’<\/strong> directed by Bert & Bertie<\/strong> from a script written by Lucy Alibar<\/strong> and starring Viola Davis, Mckenna Grace, Jim Gaffigan, Mike Epps<\/strong> and Allison Janney<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Nine-year-old oddball Christmas Flint (Mckenna Grace) is obsessed with space and making contact with the aliens of the universe. When she finds out the prize at the 1977 Birdie Jamboree is getting her voice on NASA’s Golden Record<\/i>, Christmas forms her own misfit Birdie troop. Nothing can prepare them for the painfully perfect world of the legit Birdies. But, led by their reluctant yet fearless troop mama (Viola Davis) and Christmas\u2019s dad (Jim Gaffigan), they find glory in the most unexpected circumstances\u2014much to the despair of the ever-judgmental school principal, Miss Massey (Allison Janney).<\/p>\n

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For Davis, this is an opportunity for her to show off her comedic chops.\u00a0Davis has scored success in both TV and film in recent years, winning an Emmy and SAG Award for her starring role in ABC\u2019s hit \u201cHow to Get Away With Murder,\u201d<\/strong> and nabbing an Oscar in 2016 for \u201cFences.\u201d<\/strong> She was last seen in Steve McQueen\u2019s \u201cWidows.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Davis has also become a heavy-hitter behind the scenes with her production company JuVee Productions, which she co-created with her husband, Julius Tennon.<\/p>\n

Blackfilm.com recently spoke exclusively with Davis as she spoke about her experience on Troop Zero, what goes into saying yes to her projects and what it takes to get roles for a Black woman to be considered for an Oscar nod.<\/p>\n

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What was the attract to saying yes to this film?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Viola Davis:<\/strong> The fun.\u00a0The fun of it, to being in New Orleans of it, the being able to have my daughter. She does background working. It’s very cute. She’s so excited. But also the message and the message of someone who doesn’t fit in and who doesn’t feel valued. That very much was my narrative at that age; the bed wetter, the growing up black in Central Falls, Rhode Island and the being bullied and wanting so much to matter. Everything about it attracted me.<\/p>\n

I’m sure you’re getting a lot of scripts, but is this a rarity for you to get this sort of script?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Viola Davis:<\/strong> I probably don’t get as many scripts as you think,\u00a0but I do get a lot of scripts. Yeah, it’s a rarity because it’s a fun role. A lot of people don’t see me as fun until they meet me and they come to my house and they’re shocked. I could see the shock in their face that I’m fun, I’m loud and I’m a partier in the good sense. II’m not saying in a destructive sense, so this was a chance to sort of be more me. And that’s it.<\/p>\n

It’s a dramedy, and you said you don’t get a chance to do this often. Do you consider yourself having funny bones?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Viola Davis:<\/strong>\u00a0I know I have funny bones. Especially when I’m home and in private. My publicist will tell you that. Everyone in my life will tell you that. Here’s the thing.\u00a0And I say this about everything.\u00a0You can have a Meryl Streep size talent. But if you don’t have a Meryl Streep type role, no one’s going to see the Meryl Streep type talent. And it’s the same thing with your funny bones, You have to be offered and do that material that brings that out of you for people to see it. And I think that people have a tendency to think that if someone does such and such that means they’re funny. And that means you’re not. It depends on what you’re offered. It depends on what’s out there. It depends on how well it’s written. All those things, or else it’s not seen. You can have a great body, but if you don’t have a great outfit to show that great body, no one’s gonna see that great body. So that’s how my career has sort of transpired; so to speak.<\/p>\n

Can you talk\u00a0working opposite Mckenna Grace because it’s basically you and her throughout the film along with\u00a0Allison Janney and a few of the kids?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Viola Davis:<\/strong> Awesome.\u00a0She’s a baby in my opinion. She would cringe at this, but you have to like let it go McKenna. You’re my baby. Okay. So she’s a baby in one sense. And so grown in her soul in really way beyond her years in terms of understanding things in the abstract now, understanding kindness and altruism and respect and how to speak to people, and how to take the in. Very mature and on the outside, just a kid. And so it was a joy working with her. I felt very respected, but at the same time, I felt like she came to the set prepared, and ready to work. So she’s a joy to work with. I’m sure anyone who’s ever worked with her has come away saying one of the greatest experience.<\/p>\n

What did you pick up from Bert & Bertie that you can probably take on to your next project?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Viola Davis:<\/strong>\u00a0The beauty and the strength of collaboration.\u00a0Not everyone understands that; not in the business of narcissism and ego, where it’s all about self. Where people mistake their presence for the event. This was true collaboration because they had to work together. They had to respect each other in order to create this film. They are both working for this one entity, and they did it beautifully. If there were disagreements, I didn’t see it. If they were then they had a sacred space where they could voice whatever they felt like, and they came to a mutual agreement upon it. That’s my takeaway because it is in short supply. It’s intro supply in the world, but it’s in short supply in this business. And that’s what we do. We have a collaborative art form. You have to rely on the actors, and actors have to rely on the director, they have to rely on the script, and they have to rely on the First AD. First AD has to rely on the set designer, and so you have to rely on each other or else you can’t do it alone. That’s my big takeaway from it. Collaboration.<\/p>\n

I read somewhere where you said it was more fun on a set because, and not to sound sexist. you said it’s a female director, female writer, and female stars in this movie. How is that different from the other films you’ve worked on?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Viola Davis:<\/strong>\u00a0I’ve had fantastic environment so but it’s female energy.\u00a0There is feminine energy, feminine energy being love, collaboration, and kindness. Not to\u00a0say that men aren’t aren’t kind and all of that and then not about love, but nurturing.\u00a0All of those things that women value that is a part of our\u00a0physiognomy. It’s just a part of who we are. And when you’re in an environment where you are being nurtured, when you feel the kindness, where you feel the love and respect and you feel, hug, hold, and really don’t have to articulate yourself that much to be understood, there is a comfort in that. And when you find that comfort, it’s easier to be creative.\u00a0The big secret so much of what you do is and I think this is safe to say as an artist is the imposter syndrome. There is a lot of stress involved in creating this stress. Is someone going to find me out? Is this going to work? I’m not good. Do they like me? All of that stuff is sort of marinating inside of you. So it’s good to be in an environment where\u00a0there’s someone who could take some of that away.<\/p>\n

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You’re\u00a0working opposite Allison again. How much fun was it back on the set?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Viola Davis:<\/strong>\u00a0Awesome. She’s a broad and so am I in the greatest sense. Her, Octavia Bryce, Jessica, Emma, I mean they are my loves. They are my safe place. I could not see Allison for the next 20 years. If I see we have no teeth and we’re at an elderly home, I’m still going to love her more than anything in the world. So there’s that ever since The Help. That’s what it is and also just as an artist, she’s there and she going to be there.<\/p>\n

What goes into saying yes to what you want to do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Viola Davis:\u00a0<\/strong>A lot of things. I know a lot of people say I look at this aspect, that aspect. A lot of things go into it. Sometimes it’s just about being able to spend time with my daughter. So I’m not away from her because I’m never away from her for very long. Can I take her out of school? Can I not? Is it a part of the world that I want her to see? Sometimes it’s the director. Sometimes it’s a script. A lot of times, right now, it’s about the script, okay. And sometimes it is, it’s about the money. So that I know that I can retire at 60. And I could sit on my behind for 10 months out of the year and know I could still take care of my mom, help friends, do all of that. There’s a lot of things that go into it. But here’s the thing, and I gotta say this, otherwise, it’s socially irresponsible. The fact that I can actually say that I have a choice puts me in very privileged territory. 95% of actors are unemployed at any given time. The 1% in this country make about $500,000 a year, the 1% in our industry, make 50,000 dollars a year or more. That’s 1%. Okay, so the fact that I could sit here and say well, sometimes about the money or sometimes about that. It’s very privileged. Yeah. So, I want to say that.<\/p>\n

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You are one of 12 Black women, including Cynthia Erivo who got Oscar nominated, to get a Best Actress nomination. During your Emmy win speech, you said it’s about getting the opportunity.\u00a0As we look now, people look and wonder how is it that we have only had 12 black woman received one nomination for Best Actress, and not come back to the plate. What does it take to even get roles to be in a position to be looked at?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Viola Davis:<\/strong> Volume.\u00a0The films need to be made, the films need to be greenlit. We don’t have the power to greenlight them because we don’t have any money. Let’s put this on the table. I don’t care how many people, I don’t care if they study movies, there is watching movies and it’s making movies. Those are two different things. Most people do not understand what it takes to make a movie. Just because your movie made a billion dollars at the box office does not mean you have the power and the money to just do films. I don’t have the power to do that. I don’t have that kind of money. So the films need to be greenlit. They need to be financed, and they need to be put out there and distributed in a way that they’re seen.<\/p>\n

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I could talk about this till the cows come home but basically that’s a better question for the people in power and not the people in need. You don’t ask the person who has not been invited to the party, why they weren’t invited to the party. Ask the person who’s throwing the party, but more than likely, no one’s going to put that mic in the mouth of a studio exec.They’re going to ask the studio exec, “So how is this Oscar season been? And how has it been working with so and so and such and such?” They’re not asked the hot button questions of “Why aren’t movies made with people of color? And women? Why aren’t those films being greenlit? Why aren’t they giving a proper budget?” I can’t answer that. I can only speculate. I’m doing my part with my production company in finding those emerging artists, in finding those scripts, in putting them out there. Going into those offices in the studio, arguing for those great directors, writers and producers. I’m the one doing that so I’m doing my part, but that’s all I can do.<\/p>\n

Where do we see you next? Besides TV?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Viola Davis:\u00a0<\/strong>Well, I’m film besides TV. I’m shooting Suicide Squad as we speak. I’m also doing the Sandra Bullock movie. I don’t I don’t know if it’s called Unforgiven but it’s a movie with Netflix. Ma Rainey is going to be coming out later in the year and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom for Netflix that the great great George C. Wolfe is directing with great actors. Great. Michael Potts, Glynn Turman, the Colman Domingo, Chadwick Boseman, Taylour Paige, and Jeremy Shamos. I love August Wilson, and he writes for us.<\/p>\n

Speaking of August Wilson, how did you working on the documentary Giving Voice that will play at Sundance in a few weeks?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Viola Davis:<\/strong> We produced it.\u00a0He is our historian.\u00a0Whether you’re nine years old, or 85 years old, there’s a role for you and every single August Wilson anthology. He lets us speak. He lets us live. He normalizes our pathology. It’s specific and it’s not just him just sprouting out facts and social statements. I have a thing where I feel a lot of times we just stay metaphors in movies at best; where people walk away from the movie and go, “What did it mean?” No one’s walking away from a lot of films going. “What did the Joker mean? What did Bombshell mean? What did Little Women mean? What did Marriage Story mean?” You’re just invested in the characters. That’s what he does for us. He left a legacy. That’s the biggest takeaway I got from August is he left something behind it’s good to live far past past his death.<\/p>\n

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If you can go back and do another play of his what would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Viola Davis:<\/strong>\u00a0I’ve done a lot of them. The role that I would do that I’m not old enough for and there are 50 million fantastic actors. There’s a lot, a lot of great African American actors out there. The people don’t know that they’re out there because they haven’t been given the opportunity. Then a lot of them are nameless and faceless, but they’re out there. So there’s a lot of great actors out there who can do the role but it’s Black Ruby from Gem of the Ocean.\u00a0Ruby is also in Seven Guitars. She’s also in King Headley. And actually Ruby and King Headley would be a great one for me. I would love to have an opportunity to do that. I’m getting on. I’m close to that age now. But Ruby in King Headley and in Gem of the Ocean.<\/p>\n