Making movies in the middle of a pandemic is not for the faint of heart. And you’re not even fighting for progress in Hollywood.
On Saturday, candidates for the awards season virtually met for a panel at the Sundance Film Festival organized by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association called “Women Breaking Down Barriers: A Change in the Industry”
The HFPA conversation focused on female voices with a panel composed of Halle Berry (“Bruised”), Zendaya (“Malcolm & Marie”), Andra Day (“The United States vs. Billie Holiday”), Sia (“Music” ) and Robin Wright (“Land”).
Zendaya, who made a video call from her trailer on the set of the next movie “Spider-Man”, spoke about what prompted her to produce for the first time in “Malcom & Marie”, which was filmed last summer during the pandemic.
While she wanted to be creative during the blockade, Zendaya said she also wanted to help part of her “Euphoria” team back to work, asking “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson if he could write a script for her.
She and Levinson are “very close,” she said. “He called me every day to write pages and talk about it for hours.”
Since they were on the set of “Malcom & Marie”, “it was a very close-knit and familiar thing because these are the members of my ‘Euphoria’ team,” said Zendaya, who joined co-star John David Washington and Levinson, who directed.
“It was the first time that I put my own money into something, I am doing my own hair and makeup, everyone is doing five different jobs because it was a minimal team. I was bringing my own clothes and using them on the stage ”.
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The team also made money when “Malcom & Marie” was sold to Netflix, she added. “I think it is important to take care of our people.”
Berry applauded the younger actress’ initiative. “At 24, she can have an idea and realize it and get enough support to achieve it … I think that says a lot about where we got – and that’s what makes me want to keep fighting, because of Zendaya at 24 years old, a black woman can do this. She is positive proof that things are changing. “
For Berry, making “Bruised”, in which she plays an MMA fighter, was in itself a bruising process. “It was one of the most difficult things I have ever done,” said the star, who described the difficult battle he experienced when preparing to drive for the first time.
Still, “as a black woman, I have never felt more empowered in the past two or three years,” she said. Berry’s current focus is on telling stories from a female perspective, even if it bothers her colleagues.
“We have a different view of the world and it’s time to have this lens. And I’ll tell you when I was making my film, some of the people I worked with who were around me tried to force me to tell the film through their lens , those male lenses that they understood. And I would have to fight and say, ‘No – this looks strange to you, guess what? Yes. You are a man, I am a woman! My reality of being a woman is different than you think what is! ‘ “
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“The same story told through a woman’s lens is an entirely different narrative,” agreed Day, who debuts as an actress in the role of Billie Holiday in the next Hulu biopic directed by Lee Daniels.
The “Rise Up” singer said she did not intend to direct a film for her first role. “I didn’t expect to act like that anytime soon or start with a role like this. I didn’t want to do that when it first came to my attention – Why I love Billie Holiday … I was nervous, I was terrified. I said ‘no’ several times, “said Day, adding that she was finally convinced to do so to shed light on how Holiday’s activist song,” Strange Fruit “, made her an FBI target.
The filmmakers shed light on other struggles they faced in making their films.
After Sia cast Leslie Odom Jr, in her next film “Music”, “I was told I couldn’t cast a black woman and a black man because ‘then it would be a black film … and it wouldn’t be commercial,'” said Sia . “I was like, disgusting, guys.” (The role ended up being for Kate Hudson.)
“I’ve heard it all my life,” replied Berry.
After Robin Wright talked about how the producers convinced her to star in “Land” to avoid scheduling conflicts with other possible actors, Sia also revealed why she appeared in her film, although she did not intend to. “
“The same thing happened to me,” said Sia. “I chose Katy Perry for a small role. And she left the week before. And then we sent it to Beyoncé’s people. I don’t even know if they understood, but we were like, fingers crossed. And then it was the day before the shoot, I thought , (expletive) I need a pop star. Oh, I’m a (expletive) pop star! I can do that! “
This article was originally published in USA TODAY: Sundance: Halle Berry says Zendaya is ‘proof’ of change in Hollywood