“I don’t believe that films are like McDonald’s.
“It’s too much pressure.”
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: To start, why did you want to take on this role?
Credit: Matt Kennedy/Lionsgate
JENA MALONE:It felt important.
I don’t really scare easily in the sense of taking on roles that are perceived to be challenging.
I really liked the script.
I feel fortunate to be a part of this project.
I think it’s going to be a really important film.
How did you prepare for the film?
I didn’t base this character on anyone really, no.
I mean, I did a lot of research, obviously.
I felt like it was my job to be more of a historian at that moment.
It was really brutal.
Do you see your character as a bridge between past and present?
What did you do to see to it you represented that?
Yeah, I mean, its almost like the bridge is built.
The bridge is racism.
They’re doing the exact same thing.
One is more invisible with their trauma and the other is more openly self-important and grandiose with it.
So I think more visibility is really the difference.
I think pre-this film, I would have thought that things were very different.
It’s a real wild thing to unpack.
What’s interesting is you mentioned the microaggressions.
She makes you feel so awful.
It’s so intense.
People don’t realize the brutality of it, as it sits side-by-side with chattel slave torture.
It’s just as brutal in its own way, you know?
I felt like I had to make that feel violent because those were more the feminine brutalities.
It was not [really] through physical violence.
What was it like working with two directors in this instance?
Did they seem to have separate responsibilities or sort of work as one?
They have separate gifts.
Gerard is very much like an embodier, or poet.
He has the language, [and] gets very excited about things.
And Chris is like this silent meticulizer that is holding the whole ship down.
I don’t know, that’s such a beautiful complimentary energy.
I was likemore couples should direct.
It’s already so fleshed out, but it felt like it felt really, really beautiful.
It felt much more fluid and natural.
I already respected her work as a singer-songwriter-poet-activist-artist.
What I felt is that she’s just such a thoroughbred.
What was the most memorable day on set, working with her?
That was the hardest.
That was a real thing.
We didn’t want it to just be the sort of misunderstood female fight.
We really wanted brutality, and the stakes; that heroic female strength that comes out of great need.
So yeah, that was super fun.
That was super wild.
How has this experience changed you at all?
I think it definitely opened up a space for me.
I didn’t know how to talk about race.
It just gave me strength.
So I think it’s been a gift to me in a lot of ways.
