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Viola Davis gets red hot on the cover of The Wrap magazine’s Emmy Comedy-Drama Issue. Inside, she talks about bringing authenticity to her “How To Get Away With Murder” character where everyday women can relate, she tackles the “isms” of Hollywood and that iconic “wig scene.” Get it all inside….
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The beautiful Viola Davis graces the cover of The Wrap magazine’s Emmy Comedy-Drama Issue, bringing the heat in a strapless red hot flowy dress. Photographed by Corina Marie Howell, the strikingly gorgeous ABC starlet poses it up in two looks that show off her style and grace. But aside from serving up some flawless flicks, the veteran actress gets candid about her role on the hit series, stereotypes in Hollywood, and much more.
In the cover story, the 49-year-old Emmy contender dishes on how she strives to portray the ruthless defense attorney/criminal law professor Annalise Keating in “HTGAWM” as a real person and not just a television character. She said, “I always say I hold it up for the regular people out there. There’s still something very human in each episode, and when I say ‘human,’ I mean flawed.”
Being a woman of color in Hollywood certainly comes with obstacles, but when you’re an African-American woman of a certain age in the industry, it definitely comes with even more challenges. But, Viola says she’s not deliberately trying to defy the odds. She's just doing what she does best and just so happens to be breaking down barriers. She dished,
"I say that that makes me happy that you said that. I’m not trying to defy odds. I feel like I just move through life doing what I do and I think that, in doing that to the best of your ability, I think that’s the most progressive thing that you could do in your life."
So true.
The Tony Award winning actress also talked about how the iconic “wig scene” came about. She said taking off all of her make up and pulling off her wig wasn’t an issue for her because she never wanted to"be the Vogue woman.” She revealed, “I want to present women as they really are.” And we love her for that.
The veteran actress also talks about possibly making history as the first African-American actress to win the outstanding actress in a drama Emmy, struggling with not feeling sexy enough for roles, and more.
Below are the highlights:
Annalise is such a flawed heroine, obviously it makes it interesting for an actress to play–but why do you think there’s still such rooting value for her?
Well I’m happy that you say that, but I just felt like in the midst of this fiction–which it is, it’s fiction, it’s a soap opera, it’s salacious, it’s tantalizing and all that–I felt like there should be something in each episode for women to look at and feel like it was familiar. To feel like Annalise is familiar. Taking her wig off, me not being a Size 2, me being obviously 49. I always say I hold it up for the regular people out there. There’s still something very human in each episode, and when I say “human,” I mean flawed. Things that we probably do in private that we don’t want anyone else to see. But when we see it in actors and when we see it onscreen, it makes us feel less alone. And I felt like which each episode I tried to at least achieve that in the midst of this kind of pop fiction. And I think that’s why people root for her.
As we were talking about challenges in the industry, I mean, you must obviously see online reports with statistics of lack of roles for women or anemic amounts of female directors, writers etc. in Hollywood year after year. Yet you are an actress that is defying every single sort of stereotype or issue that Hollywood is facing: ageism, sexism, racism. What do you say to that?
I say that that makes me happy that you said that. I’m not trying to defy odds. I feel like I just move through life doing what I do and I think that, in doing that to the best of your ability, I think that’s the most progressive thing that you could do in your life. I think that when you stifle your voice in any way to kind of meet the status quo is when you stifle your voice and that part of you that can make a difference.
The wig scene is iconic. I mean it will be one of those scenes like “Melrose Place” when Kimberly took off her wig — that we will be talking about 20 years from now and it’ll be on “Top 50 TV Moments” lists. Was that written already even before you stepped into the role? Or did you collaborate with Pete and Shonda and sort of talk that through? Or was the scene something that you said “I want to do this?”
Well, I didn’t want to be the Vogue woman. I didn’t want to be the woman who came in with the sexualized–I say sexualized, not sexy, because sexy is a certain self-consciousness to sexuality–I say that Annalise is sexual. Every time you see that sexual, mysterious, kind of cold woman, she always looks like she has that blow-dried hair and that dewy skin and, you know, those Double-Zero clothes. I did not want to be that woman because I don’t know that woman. And I’ve been watching that woman in movies for several years. And I felt like this was my chance to woman up. Because I think that how we are as women, just in real life, is very interesting. And I think that in the hands of a woman–and I’d like to think that, in my professional life anyway, I have a certain braveness and boldness–I want to present women as they really are.
I remember one woman wrote me after that scene when I take the wig off, “That’s me except I still have the retainer in my mouth.” It’s not always about being pretty. But it is about uncovering and feeling comfortable with the way we are and the way we look when we’re in private. You know, as soon as you walk through the door, what do you do? You take off your bra, you let your titties sag, you let your hair come off–I mean my hair. I mean, I don’t have any eyebrows. I let my eyebrows be exactly what they are. And it’s me. And I wanted that scene to be somewhere in the narrative of Annalise. That who she is in her public life and who she was in her private life were absolutely, completely diametrically opposed to one another. Because that’s who we are as people. We wear the mask that grins and lies.
Shonda recently said at a conference she was speaking at, “I’m done talking about diversity.” Then just last week we had Maggie Gyllenhaal for TheWrap Magazine who also mentioned that Hollywood’s facing ageism and sexism–and now you mention women of color– so I would like to touch on racism too. Why do you think it’s taken so long for females in the industry to start speaking out about all of these issues?
I don’t know why it’s taken so long. I do think it’s time, though, for people to step in to an arena where they’re not confined. Where there’s no restrictions based on their art and their voice. And I think that there’s a restriction when you label someone just in terms of their sex and their race. Because I think that there is an expectation of who you need to be within the confines of that. I just mentioned that with the black women, you gotta be sassy, you gotta be sexy, your hair has gotta be a certain way. It’s very iconic roles that have existed in the past for black women. Like I said, I don’t want to have any structure. I don’t want to have any kind of reins put on me. I want to be absolutely human in my role.
I don’t know as a person what I’m going to do tomorrow, so I don’t know what Annalise is going to do tomorrow based on the situation she’s placed in. I don’t want to necessarily be likable all the time and I think that’s what Shonda is saying. I think that she probably gets a lot of pushback on feeling like, “What is your responsibility to people of color?” “What is your responsibility to women?” And I think her whole thing is like, I just want to write. The one thing is when you put pen to paper as a writer, it’s just like when you tell a story to your kid at night. You just want the world to be your oyster. You don’t want any fences put up and I think–I’m imagining–that’s what she’s saying about diversity.
To the point earlier of you defying odds in Hollywood: You have a starring role in broadcast network TV show where you are having sex scenes with a hot man – I’m assuming – 10-15 years your junior. You recently made a movie with J. Lo about two female vigilantes, the kind of female movie that studios barely make anymore because it’s all about superheroes right now. Again, it just adds to the list. You stand to make history as the first African-American actress to win the best drama Emmy? What do you feel when you think about that?
It hasn’t happened yet, that’s how I feel. I’ve gotten used to that with awards, I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t want to walk around thinking anything is going to happen, but I do know that I always say, it’s something Robert de Niro said in his commencement speech at NYU to school of the arts, I always have in my head the three words, “And then what.” After the awards, after the red carpet is rolled up, after the show is no longer on TV – cause it will happen, either sooner or later, it will happen – and then what? My career as an actor is much bigger than Annalise Keating, it’s much bigger than an Emmy award or an Oscar. So and then what? And my job, and I will keep reiterating it, is to create people. And I always hope that people see that.
When you talk about your lack of choice, have you personally had a situation when you were being considered for a role and you felt that blatant sense of them thinking you weren’t sexy enough?
Absolutely. All the time. But, and I’m going to reiterate this, this is not how I feel in my personal life. I feel sexual, I feel happy, I feel alive. I sometimes feel insecure, just like any woman, but I feel pretty good about myself at 50. That being said, when you do see a woman of color onscreen, the paper-bag test is still very much alive and kicking. That’s the whole racial aspect of colorism: If you are darker than a paper bag, then you are not sexy, you are not a woman, you shouldn’t be in the realm of anything that men should desire. And in the history of television and even in film, I’ve never seen a character like Annalise Keating played by someone who looks like me. My age, my hue, my sex. She is a woman who absolutely culminates the full spectrum of humanity our askew sexuality, our askew maternal instincts. She’s all of that, and she’s a dark-skin black woman. Some people who watch TV have acknowledged that and understand that. But I encourage you to search your memory and think of anyone who’s done this. It just hasn’t happened. I hear these stories from friends of mine who are dark-skin actresses who are always being seen as crack addicts and prostitutes.
So is it really stereotyping in casting?
In general. Just in general. And it’s not anything that is just perpetuated by White America or just perpetuated by Black America. It’s just a cultural understanding that you’re just not a part of the equation when it comes to sexuality and I think that people mistake your lack of opportunity with the level of your talent. And it’s not true. If the opportunity is not out there for you to play it, then you don’t see it. If you give someone the opportunity in a narrative to be able to show that range, I’m telling you, they’ll go for it. The people who are talented will go for it.
Check out Viola’s full interview here.
Below are a few outtakes from her spread:
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Gorge.
Also, check out a few clips from her interview below:
Photos: Corina Marie Howell for The Wrap
