Andra Day lost almost 18 kg to enter the role of Billie Holiday for the Hulu biopic

Andra Day is already gaining buzz for her film debut in the United States vs. Billie Holiday.

And the twice Grammy nominee made a great effort to make her first performance a great one.

She lost almost 40 pounds to enter the role of Billie Holiday in the Lee Hulu biography film, detailing her process for Leslie Odom Jr during Variety’s Actors on Actors.

The 36-year-old said, ‘I basically abused my body for a long time. I’m kidding and I’m not kidding. I got the job at the height of 2018. Reading everything I could find. Listening to each interview.

– Apparently, I ran out of pictures of Billie Holiday on the Internet. Apparently, the internet will say that you have reached the end. ‘

She added: ‘I made my family go through this; I put myself in that. I went from 163 pounds to 124 pounds. She spoke like her and I don’t drink or smoke, but I started smoking and drinking alcohol.

‘Not that I recommend that people do this; I was just desperate because this is my first role. I just asked God to give me all the pain and trauma. I asked him to give me his pain and his trauma. ‘

Day also detailed why it was important for her to change her voice to sing like the iconic jazz singer.

She said: ‘That was an initial decision that we immediately made to sing. Every time I sang a song, I said, OK, Lee is going to hear this and he says goodbye to me. But I would not have done that if they had said, “Do it with your voice”.

– That to me would probably be a no. There is victory and there is pain in your voice. So, for me, it was like we had to make it, we have to understand, you know what I mean? It will have to be my interpretation, but it has to be there. ‘

Cheers to the Fall offers a terrifying performance by incorporating Holiday into the first trailer for The United States vs. Billie Holiday, which debuted earlier this month.

She stars as the title song and icon for Civil Rights in the untold story of her 1939 song Strange Fruit, which protested the lynchings of black Americans, making her an FBI target.

Day stars alongside Trevante Rhodes, Garrett Hedlund and Natasha Lyonne in the film, which opens on February 26 on the streaming platform.

While the long-awaited story is tragic to see, Day’s performance is sure to captivate audiences and honor Billie Holiday as few can.

Day recently joined director Lee Daniels for his interview for the cover of V Magazine, in which she revealed why she accepted the role: ‘The truth of everything really mattered to me. Because, as Lee knows, we laugh at it a lot of times – at first I was terrified. I was hesitant and thought, “I don’t know if this is a good idea.”

She also credited Diana Ross ‘performance as Billie in the 1972 biopic:’ Besides, I loved Lady Sings the Blues. I love Diana’s performance. So it was actually part of the reason I didn’t want to do that. She killed the paper. It’s beautiful what she did.

‘But Lee, I remember we sat down and had dinner at Soho House, and the first thing I really liked was actually its energy. We come together for the good and the bad. It was his character and his need for authenticity that I really liked. ‘

Meanwhile, Daniels admitted that he initially didn’t want her for the role: ‘My managers, the people who work with me, were like, “[Andra] is who you have to hire. “And I said,” F *** you. “I said,” Poor girl, she doesn’t stand a chance. ”

‘But then we met and when I first looked at her, I saw her spirit. I have goosebumps. She was not a desperate actress who just wanted to do this. I could tell that she was questioning whether she was good enough. For me, it’s when you know you’re really dealing with a perfectionist. She wanted to do the role justice. It’s everything you are looking for as a director.

Take Andra’s Day in the United States vs. Billie Holiday, which opens February 26 on Hulu.