Playwright and screenwriter Suzan-Lori Parks adapted United States x Billie Holiday from Johan Hari’s 2015 book on the war on drugs, Chasing the Scream, and the film, which will premiere on Hulu in February, portrays the US government’s search for Holiday for his use of heroin in the context of the FBI’s efforts to suppress his “Strange Fruit” performance, which the government feared would galvanize anger of black Americans.
Day, in her first significant role as an actress, appears alongside Trevante Rhodes, who plays a mysterious figure who appears behind the scenes one night and ends up having more complicated motivations than those of a mere fan. Garrett Hedlund is Harry Anslinger, the leader of the FBI’s anti-drug efforts aimed at Holiday, and Natasha Lyonne (as Tallulah Bankhead) and Da’Vine Joy Randolph are women in the vibrant circle of friends and Holiday lovers.
For Daniels, who received Oscar nominations for best film and best director for his 2009 film Precious: based on Sapphire’s novel “Push”, and who produced the 2001 Monster ball, the 1972 Diana Ross / Billy Dee Williams movie about Billie Holiday, Lady Sings the Blues, was formative. “At 13, I saw [Lady Sings the Blues] in Philadelphia and I saw two black people in love, Diana Ross and Billy Dee Williams, “says Daniels, now 61.” They were beautiful, impressive. This fashion was fabulous. It was all that I grew up as a downtown child in Philadelphia, except it was in Harlem and it stank of my life. I’ve never seen anything like it. That’s why I ended up driving, which is strange because I ended up directing her story, but it wasn’t a story. It was a lie. It was make-believe. “Where the 1972 film was a romanticized portrait of Holiday’s relationship with her fourth husband and road manager, Louis McKay, who maintained control of her property, Daniels says,” I really wanted to show the Blacks the love that we don’t have. I don’t see it often – it’s flawed and messy, but it’s beautiful. “
Before starting his film, Daniels said he called Motown label founder Berry Gordy, who produced Lady Sings the Blues, to ask permission – and I did it. “I don’t think I would have made the movie if he said, don’t do it,” says Daniels.
Early on, several people, including Daniels’ manager and agents, encouraged him to consider Day for the role, but he resisted. “I don’t like to be pressured into anything,” he says. But he had a meeting with Day “and she was charming and embodied Billie’s spirit,” said Daniels. “I sent her to an acting coach because she hadn’t acted before. And the acting coach, at the time, turned on her iPhone and showed me getting ready and getting into character. Just in those 30 seconds of shooting, I saw Billie Vacations without The game was over. There was no acting. There was just being. “The next day he sang” Strange Fruit “in a formal audition for Daniels, and his cast was sealed.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter. Chain United States x Billie Holiday on Hulu.com.