And why she can’t stop smiling about it.
The mere fact thatLupita Nyong’ois sitting down for this interview signals a change in the times.
The difference in how horror performances tend to fare awards-wise now versus, oh, three years ago?
Claudette Barius/Universal
She’s actually getting the attention.
I love that spirit in him."
“That was challenging, extremely challenging.
Christopher Polk/Getty Images)
It was the most challenging task that I’ve been given in my career to date.”
In talking about the making of the film an often arduous experience Nyong’o is all smiles now.
But the demands of this new genre certainly made themselves apparent.
“I had never sustained the state of fear for so long,” she says.
“That exhausted me in a way that I just was not prepared for.
She continues, now speaking very slowly, “I was dog-tired making this film.”
They collaborated closely on the script, which she says was “always in a state of workshop.”
She goes on and on, but never trails off there’s a lot to say here.
It was not.”
“That took a focus that was depleting.
I never had my scene partner there.
They change your chemistry.
It becomes this human exchange.
It becomes a living, breathing thing.
I had to create that in my own absence.”
A blockbuster likeUsisn’t necessarily where Nyong’o expected to be making her next big awards claim.
(She also won an Oscar, for Best Supporting Actress.)
“Two, I am never, ever putting on that red jumpsuit again.”
“I didn’t even know those things existed!”
I love to love my work enough to play with it.
Because my work is play."
“Work that changes the narrative….
These are films that are changing the narrative, pushing the needle.
Revitalizing the potential of the work of this industry.
I love being a part of that.”
