Actress looks glorious on the cover of Variety magazine
Veteran actress Viola Davis looks glorious on the cover of Variety magazine. The actress, who is promoting her latest film 'Widows' spoke to the magazine about what it truly meant to be a black woman in Hollywood.
Wearing her beautiful mane of hair in tight curls, Viola beams on the cover of Variety. The 53-year-old is glowing as she poses in a red one-shoulder dress.
Viola proudly talks about her latest project 'Widows' directed by the legendary Steve McQueen whom she speaks very highly of for allowing her to be unapologetically herself.
Take a look at excerpts from the interview below!
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On being allowed to be herself: It was a familiar dilemma for Viola Davis. What to do with her hair?The star of the upcoming film “Widows” needed to know what kind of wig or extensions she should wear to play Veronica Rawlins, the leader of an unlikely band of robbers scrambling to pull off a dangerous heist. Director Steve McQueen’s answer shocked the Emmy-, Tony- and Oscar-winning actress. “I said, ‘Your own hair is beautiful — just wear it that way,’” recalls McQueen. “Veronica is a wash-and-go kind of girl.” For Davis, the decision to appear on-screen in close-cropped, curly hair was liberating and represented an important social statement.“You’re always taught as a person of color to not like your hair,” she says. “The kinkier it is, the so-called nappier it is, the uglier it is.”
On her role in new film 'Widows'- “This kind of role isn’t usually out there for a woman of color,” says Davis. “Widows” is a female-driven enterprise, offering up meaty roles for Michelle Rodriguez, Cynthia Erivo and Elizabeth Debicki, who play the other members of a gang of widows who must pull off a heist in order to pay their husbands’ debts to a drug dealer.
“People try to be too nice with women,” suggests Davis. “They keep them pretty. They keep them likable. They cater to male fantasies. They cater to the male gaze. This film didn’t do that.”
On giving her daughter the upbringing she never had: Genesis’ world is very different from the one her mother grew up in. Having willed herself up the ladder, Davis feels compelled to speak publicly about her troubled childhood because she thinks that people at the bottom of the economic heap are too often shunted aside. They’re either ignored or demonized.
“We like to be around winners in this country,” says Davis. “We like to be around pretty, rich people who have resources. That’s who we cater to. Everyone else is a burden. You cost us too much money. You’re seen as lazy.”
Davis’ father was an alcoholic who, she has said, could be violent toward his family when drunk. Her early life was unsettled in other ways too. She remembers having things thrown at her and racial slurs hurled her way as she walked to school. The Davises were one of the few African-American families among the immigrant enclaves that had sprung up in Central Falls. It’s a past that’s still a major part of her present.
“If I didn’t talk about my journey, I would be denying that 6-year-old girl who was hungry, who wet the bed, but who also was tough,” says Davis. “She also dreamed big. She also was a lot of fun. A huge part of who I am is still trying to please her.”
On Gender parity: Another, more tangible battle rages around a related subject: Gender parity, the idea that women should get paid as much as men for equal work, has become a hot-button issue in the entertainment industry. Reports that Michelle Williams (“All the Money in the World”) or Claire Foy (“The Crown”) drew significantly smaller paychecks than their male co-stars despite commanding more screen time touched off a push to close the compensation gap. Davis is all for that battle, but she says there’s a form of economic injustice that’s just as pernicious. Women of color don’t get paid less than just male actors — their salaries pale in comparison with those of white women.
“There are no percentages to show the difference,” says Davis. “It’s vast. Hispanic women, Asian women, black women, we don’t get paid what Caucasian women get paid. We just don’t. … We have the talent. It’s the opportunity that we’re lacking.”
On often being one of the only women of colour in the room: Davis doesn’t think change is possible unless executive suites across Los Angeles become more inclusive. “We’re not even invited to the table,” she says. “I go to a lot of women’s events here in Hollywood, and they’re filled with female CEOs, producers and executives, but I’m one of maybe five or six people of color in the room.”
