{"id":61013,"date":"2011-08-07T12:04:58","date_gmt":"2011-08-07T12:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/0de2709a84.nxcli.net\/0-kjasnb\/2011\/08\/07\/the-help-mary-j-blige-interview\/"},"modified":"2018-12-18T12:44:27","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T12:44:27","slug":"the-help-mary-j-blige-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/the-help-mary-j-blige-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"The Help\/ Mary J. Blige"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Help<\/a>An Interview with Mary J. Blige<\/strong>
\nby Wilson Morales<\/p>\n

August 7, 2011<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Coming out this week is the ‘The Help<\/a>,<\/strong>‘ which is based on the bestselling novel by author Katheryn Stockett<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Directed by Tate Taylor<\/strong> and set in Mississippi during the 1960s, the film stars Emma Stone<\/strong> as Skeeter, a southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer. In doing so, she but turns her friends\u2019 lives-and a small Mississippi town-upside down when she decides to interview the black women (played by Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer<\/strong>) who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families.<\/p>\n

Also featured in the film are Bryce Dallas Howard, Chris Lowell, Jessica Chastain, Allison Janney, David Oyelowo, Aunjanue Ellis, Cicely Tyson<\/strong>, and La Chanze<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Singing the lead single, ‘The Living Proof,’<\/strong> to the soundtrack of ‘The Help’ is Grammy winning artist and actress Mary J. Blige<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Blige is no stranger to lending her voice to soundtracks, having recorded ‘Stronger’ as the lead single from the soundtrack to the Lebron James<\/strong> basketball documentary ‘More Than a Game’<\/strong> in August 2009.<\/p>\n

Blige was last seen on the big screen in a supporting role opposite Taraji P. Henson<\/strong> in Tyler Perry<\/strong>\u2018s film \u2018I Can Do Bad All By Myself.\u2019<\/strong> She\u2019s slated to legendary singer Nina Simone<\/strong><\/a> in a biopic but filming hasn\u2019t started on that yet.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Blackfilm.com<\/strong> caught up with Blige as she spoke about her song for ‘The Help,’ the Nina Simone project, and her upcoming role alongside Tom Cruise, Julianne Hough, and Alec Baldwin in the film adaptation of the 80s jukebox hit musical ‘Rock of Ages<\/a>.’<\/p>\n

You\u2019re not old enough to remember that era. Why does it resonate with you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mary J. Blige: <\/strong>Well, my involvement with the film first of all it came through management and a guy by the name of Tony Siler at the label had a film in television. It resonated with me not just because she\u2019s a survivor. She ended up surviving to be able to tell her story through her book. The only way she was gonna survive was through walking in love and forgiveness and that\u2019s the only way I survived is through walking in love and forgiving people. And that\u2019s what inspired the whole song. My Aunt Larruper was a maid when I was a child, and both my parents are from Savannah, Georgia. And they would ship us down South every summer, so we got a chance to see a little bit of the help. My aunt was one of those women and she worked for a wealthy white family that loved her to death, like really loved her and she raised their children just like Aibileen would say, too, to the little girl, \u201cYou\u2019re smart, you\u2019re kind, you\u2019re important.\u201d I believe she was saying some of the same things to those children, so that\u2019s my relation to the film.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What inspired you to write a song for the film?<\/strong><\/p>\n

MJB:<\/strong> When I saw the film, I cried so much. I got angry. I went through so many different emotions but the thing that stood out to me the most is the courage that this woman had, the courage. Just based on that alone is what made me say, \u201cI\u2019m in.\u201d If she had been portrayed as whimpering, like \u201cOh, master this and that,\u201d and had simply conformed to the system that was trying to beat her down, I wouldn\u2019t have had anything to do with it. But she was like, \u201cI\u2019m gonna stand!\u201d And not only that, there was someone with a white skin willing to help her.<\/p>\n

Do you think today’s generation fully understand how life was in the 50s and 60s with segregation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

MJB:<\/strong> It\u2019s important for them to see how far we\u2019ve come and it\u2019s also important for you to see the courage we had to have. Someone had to have the courage to say I\u2019m going talk to save us all and of course I would tell them to see it for that reason. Someone has to stand up and break the curse or the cycle or whatever it is so we can all have what we\u2019re supposed to have in life.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now that you have appeared and acted in a few film, would there a hesitation on your part if a role was offered to you to play a maid? Do you have some reservation in not knowing the role but knowing you\u2019ve been sent a role to be a maid? Is there something that goes through you that says “no, I can\u2019t do this as a black actress because I might be disrespecting the race by doing that?”<\/strong><\/p>\n

MJB:<\/strong> This is a business at the same time and okay, “I\u2019m not gonna play, I\u2019m not gonna play a hooker.” That\u2019s what I\u2019m not going to do. I\u2019ll play something in charge. I\u2019ll play a gentleman\u2019s club owner. Why not? Playing a maid is honest. It\u2019s what the situation was and that\u2019s the job that you have. That\u2019s the work that was given to you and if you feel that you can play it, play it. I wouldn\u2019t, I would not say don\u2019t do it. I say do what works for you. If you\u2019re comfortable with playing a prostitute so be it. If you\u2019re comfortable with playing a maid, so be it. If it doesn\u2019t bother you, that\u2019s everybody else\u2019s issue however they feel.<\/p>\n

Can you talk about ‘Rock of Ages?’<\/strong><\/p>\n

MJB:<\/strong> I don\u2019t start shooting till the 25th but we did the table reading and it\u2019s good. I play a gentleman\u2019s club owner. But she\u2019s very beautiful. She\u2019s super fly from the 80s and she is the light in the dark place. No matter where we go, wherever we are, whatever we have to do, there\u2019s a job for us to do in those places. So if you\u2019re a maid that maid had a job to do. It\u2019s about the history of these people and what they had to do. So you have to compartmentalize and separate and give people a break already.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What’s the status on the Nina Simone project?<\/strong><\/p>\n

MJB:<\/strong> Well, the film got pushed back to October because of the ‘Rock of Age’ schedule and how close everything was. My relation to Nina Simon is not only she was a great artist she was like so many of us, you know, I don\u2019t want to say it because every time I say it I get, I don\u2019t want to say it. She just was an amazing woman and had a lot of courage. She was an activist. She stood up for what she believed in and that\u2019s my relation to her. she stood up for what she believed in but the side of her that nobody sees. She was human and she went through a lot of human things based on the information that I have that I read. I would like to get more from whoever I need to get it from so they can stop saying things about me because I won\u2019t get it from them but come give it to me if you want me to have it. So yeah, it\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n

How do you key into step back into another time? You\u2019ve got to shed all of your experience today as a 21st century woman in order to accurately portray somebody living in the 1960s. How do you key into that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

MJB:<\/strong> You have to do a lot of research. You have to go on line. I have a lot of YouTube of her and I, you know, just watch her, study her, read about her, talk to different people about her but mostly you gotta get in. You have to look at this character and just become whatever she was and you have to do like I guess go and go watch time pieces on her. You have really dig in and get a coach. I have to get a dialect coach. A dialect coach helps you with how she pronounced words and piano coach and just everything that comes with it you have to get involved.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Is there anything out there today you think that people could really latch on to that they\u2019d be willing to give their lives up for? Do you know think that people today would just be willing to do what these women did? Because they would have lost their lives for telling their stories in a real sense.<\/strong><\/p>\n

MJB:<\/strong> Yeah, there\u2019s a couple of things. This a tough one, this interview. I think how women are treated, period. This should be what women should stand up or hold together or ban together to get us, you know, fair chances and more respect in all the businesses that we\u2019re in because, you know, if we turn forty we\u2019re nothing and nobody. If men turn 40 they\u2019re everything. But if we all, you know, as women ban together and just say or just have one woman and say well, I\u2019m not gonna go down like that. I\u2019m not going out like that and that\u2019s what Aibileen (played by Davis) did. She said I\u2019m not going out like that. Well, I\u2019m saying the same thing. I\u2019m not going out like that. I don\u2019t care what you think or believe about me. I believe something else.<\/p>\n

How far could that happen like the Wal-Mart case? This class education progressed to Supreme Court. I mean there was evidence everywhere and it was millions and thousands and nationwide and this was in court. Because they have a non discrimination policy they didn\u2019t complain about discrimination. And it would cost Wal-Mart too much. That was the other thing. We need to step backward and look beyond what we saw in this age.<\/strong><\/p>\n

MJB:<\/strong> Women and children are suffering greatly and if people would get together like those women in that movie for that things could change but no one wants — no one has. People are scared because their jobs are like walking on tightropes. If a bomb goes off everybody falls and lose it so it\u2019s hard. It\u2019s hard right now and people are compromising because they want a paycheck, you know, and I understand that. That\u2019s understandable. I got a family to feed but who\u2019s gonna be the sacrificial lamb? Somebody\u2019s gotta do it.
\n\"\"<\/a> Do you find yourself at a career crossroads where you have to choose between music and acting or do you think you can always keep them parallel or if they intersect?<\/strong><\/p>\n

MJB :<\/strong> I don\u2019t think I\u2019m gonna have to choose between music because this is what I love, it\u2019s my first love and my fans love me for it. As far as acting it\u2019s something that I\u2019m in the water testing, trying, it\u2019s working. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll become Meryl Streep because I\u2019m gonna — I don\u2019t want to just play anything. I don\u2019t want any role and a lot of things I\u2019m nervous to do. So I\u2019m gonna do the stuff that, you know, that I can do, that\u2019s believable, that people will believe me for.<\/p>\n

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The HelpAn Interview with Mary J. Blige by Wilson Morales August 7, 2011 Coming out this week is the ‘The Help,‘ which is based on the bestselling novel by author Katheryn Stockett. Directed by Tate Taylor and set in Mississippi during the 1960s, the film stars Emma Stone as Skeeter, a southern society girl who […] More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":62613,"comment_status":"1","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,143],"tags":[900,901,902,405,904,905,907,908,910,912,5551,1934,5552,914,2158,919,4441,550],"reaction":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-61013","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-interviews","8":"category-read","9":"tag-allison-janney","10":"tag-aunjanue-ellis","11":"tag-black-maids","12":"tag-bryce-dallas-howard","13":"tag-chris-lowell","14":"tag-cicely-tyson","15":"tag-david-oyelowo","16":"tag-emma-stone","17":"tag-jessica-chastain","18":"tag-la-chanze","19":"tag-lead-single","20":"tag-mary-j-blige","21":"tag-mary-j-blige-interview","22":"tag-octavia-spencer","23":"tag-soundtrack","24":"tag-the-help","25":"tag-the-living-proof","26":"tag-viola-davis"},"yoast_head":"\nThe Help\/ Mary J. 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