“Caucasian women have to stand in solidarity with us. And they have to understand we are not in the same boat.”@ViolaDavis gets real & talks her career in Hollywood in her latest interview with #PorterEdit Magazine: https://t.co/VnTRMdgQZQpic.twitter.com/wOg0qzmaS9
— The Root (@TheRoot) March 3, 2018
The game-changing opportunity that came with playing Annalise Keating :
"I’m 52 and darker than a paper bag. Women who look like me are relegated to the back of the bus, auditioning for crackheads and mammas and the person with a hand on her hip who is always described as ‘sassy’ or ‘soulful’. I’ve had a 30-year career and I have rarely gotten roles that are fleshed out, even a little bit. I mean, you wouldn’t think [these characters] have a vagina. Annalise Keating has changed the game. I don’t even care if she doesn’t make sense. I love that she’s unrestricted, that every week I actually have to fight [showrunner] Peter Nowalk not to have another love scene. When does that ever happen?"
To play a woman in touch with her own sexuality and desire :
"I always felt in playing sexuality you have to look a certain way, to be a certain size, to walk a certain way. Until I realized that what makes people lean in is when they see themselves. There’s no way I am going to believe that all women who are sexualized are size zero or two, all have straight hair, all look like sex kittens every time they go to bed and want sex from their man, all are heterosexual. I am mirroring women. I always say it is not my job to be sexy, it’s my job to be sexual. That’s the difference."
The wage gap in Hollywood :
“Caucasian women have to stand in solidarity with us. And they have to understand we are not in the same boat.”
If the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements would have gained momentum if brought forward by women of color:
"No. Recy Taylor came forward in 1944 when she was gang raped by six men in Alabama. Tarana Burke was the founder of the #MeToo movement in 2006. There are plenty of black women who have come forward. I don’t think people feel we deserve the same empathy. Or investment. We are not as valued."
You can read her entire interview @source 2
source, source 2