WhenEW recently spoke with Roquemorebefore the show’s premiere she talked about loving the challenge of the time jumps.
“I got to know her over a five-year span.
So much changes over five years.
Courtesy of OWN
In film you get the whole script, so you know where your character is going to go.
But on TV its getting revealed to you as we get each new script.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Xosha and Alano really burned it up in this first season.
Did you know they would?
They did a chemistry read, right?
AVA DUVERNAY:Yes, they did a chemistry test.
Do you all want the room?”
And it wasn’t that.
It’s been interesting to work within the creative confines of that.
So if we get to go to a second season, there’ll be a second couple.
It’s been interesting though as I look at the feedback on social media.
It feels that folks are really in tune with him.
Because I felt myself siding with her frequently.
[Laughs] And I love that about the series, that it depends on the person.
I was talking to Gayle King actually.
She was saying, “Why is she so mean to him?”
I said, “He’s not being mean to her.
Let me tell you all the ways.”
Afterwards she was like, “I didn’t see it like that.”
It was just the intimacy between these two people.
Clearly, music was an important element to you.
There’s incredible statistics about the numbers of Americans who’ve never left the country.
And so, it was a fun to deep dive in the writer’s room.
It was really the writers who came up with those specific cues.
And then we went out and we got those songs.
So I feel like that’s been really successful.
I handpicked the four directors whose work I was familiar with, or I’ve worked with before.
Deborah Kampmeier was a director on [DuVernay’s other OWN series]Queen Sugar.
Same with Tanya Hamilton, same with Aurora Guerrero.
Basically, it’s a film.
Go out there and shoot it out.
Give me untraditional frame, untraditional blocking.
Take the material and stretch yourself."
And they all really rose to the occasion, so I’m pleased with what we got back.
What was it like working with her?
It’s hard to really put into words what it means to have her on set.
She’s 96 years old.
She stands on her own without anyone helping her.
She dances, she laughs, she makes jokes.
Care to share thoughts on your intentions or what you might have secretly wished for them?
It was written for you to interpret it as you will.
And really, what I wanted was for the ending to be satisfying, right?
And not on the nose.
And so, that was really what we were striving for from writing the very first episode.
More than happy, satisfying is what I was going for.
So I really want to let people interpret it for themselves.
The finale also featured some top shelf cameos during the epic birthday party that Gently throws for Miss Luma.
Quincy Jones popping up as an admirer and contemporary was some tight casting.
What was the inspiration for choosing him?
Well, it was trying to think of someone, “Who could Miss Luma know?”
And so, we really needed someone weighty to be able to authenticate that.
I’ve met [Jones] a few times socially.
It’s a scene with Miss Tyson."
He said, “Baby, tell me where to go.”
And he showed up one day, and they ad-libbed that, and it was fantastic.
Wait, they ad-libbed that scene?
Yeah, we had talked a little bit about the shape of it.
But really, put those two together, and what are we going to say?
There’s nothing we could write that’s as good as them just talking.
Literally, I thought about Evan and Gently doing that scene.
And then it was, “Oh gosh, what if we could get Loretta?”
Yeah, that was the hope.
And I’m just so happy people embraced it.
It was the top freshman scripted series on basic [cable].
And so, I love making it.
Are you plotting next season in your head?
Yeah, we know what we would do if we got to season two.
Obviously, in the current climate, all that is on hold.
So we’ll see what happens.
We’re all going to come out into a new world when this is over.
In the meantime, just living in the moment, cherishing the day.
