How amazing does actress Kerry Washington look?
Yesterday, she was spotted out and about yesterday in New York City while doing promo rounds for her new film, ‘Django Unchained‘
with Jamie Foxx. She is also promoting the DVD release of her new hit
drama series, Scandal, which premiered on ABC earlier this year. In the
series, Kerry plays Olivia Pope, a crisis management expert who gets drawn into a Scandal of her own while on assignment at the White House.
During her promo runs this week, Kerry stopped by VH1’s Morning Buzz
to chat about her role on ‘Scandal’ as well as how she felt about being
the first African American woman to have a leading role on a network TV
drama in over 30 years. She also joked around about her relationship
with Judy Smith, the Washington fixer whom her character Olivia Pope is based on.
Check out a few excerpts from her interview below:
On being the first African American woman to have a leading role in a network TV drama in more than 30 years
In all fairness, there are people who have really been bringing it on cable. People like Regina King, Jill Scott, Jada Pinkett. On network TV, the kind of TV that is in everybody’s houses, it’s been a long time.
On if she feels any pressure
I don’t really feel pressure to kind of uphold anything for history, but I feel like the pressures on the American people. Do we have the courage to tune in and think about our hero’s, our protagonist in a more inclusive way? Not everyone on TV has to look one way. We all have stories that deserve to be told and everyone has a place and seat at the table in our storytelling on TV and in film, so I feel like the pressures on you guys, not on me. But listen it’s working, you guys all tuned in and got us a second season.
Joking about playing the real life Judy Smith
It’s not the first time I played a real person. I played Mrs. Ray Charles, and I played Idi Amin’s wife in Last King of Scotland, but this is the first time I’m playing someone that could really destroy my life. She could like, destroy my reputation and ensure I never work again, cause she’s a fixer, she fixes things, so that’s where the pressure is.
I call her all the time for her input and feedback. I can call her on her cell but she never tells me where she is. Like if I hear there’s a scandal in Texas or in Paris I’ll be like ‘Where are you Judy?’ and she’s like ‘I can’t tell you Kerry.’ It’s very Scandalous.
On the biggest scandal Kerry has been involved in:
I try to stay pretty scandal free. I like to say the only drama in my life is the drama I get paid for. I try to keep it that way. It doesn’t always work out but I try to keep it that way. I guess I was doing this movie Lift once, my first professional lead role, and I was playing a shoplifter, a professional booster, and the director was asking if I’d ever stolen anything and I said ‘No of course not’ and he was like ‘Well you have to steal something, don’t come back to do the movie until you’ve stolen something.’ I went to a deli in midtown Manhattan, I still get heart palpitations when I drive by this deli, and I stole an apple. I was traumatized, but it was a really good apple to, I liked every minute of it. But when the movie was over I went back and paid for it! I gave her 75cent and she was like ‘What’s that for?’ and I was like ‘don’t worry, I just owe you.’
No comments:
Post a Comment