Viola Davis is turning to TV in a big way! Just a few years after she lost the Best Actress Oscar to Meryl Streep, Viola is headed to ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder, a new TV series by Shonda Rhimes. Viola has done TV parts, guest-starring roles for the most part, before now. But this is her first time as the lead of her own series, and the fact that she’s working with Shonda Rhimes is a good sign. Plus, Viola will become the third African-American woman in a lead role on prime-time network TV (after Kerry Washington and Halle Berry) after a drought that saw no black-female lead roles for four decades. Viola’s not making it about race though – not when everybody is asking her if her turn to TV means that she’s done with film:
Viola Davis, two-time Oscar nominee, is coming to TV this fall with How to Get Away With Murder. Why? Well, Davis gave a very honest answer at the 2014 TCA Summer Press Tour.
“The attraction was the material, yes. I think that I was—I think the day of choosing TV over film and TV somehow diminishing your career as an actor or actress, I think, has changed. I think people migrate towards material, especially after they reach a certain age, certain hue, certain sex. And I have to say, and I will be bold enough to say, that I have gotten so many wonderful film roles, but I’ve gotten even more film roles where I haven’t been the show. It’s like I’ve been invited to a really fabulous party, only to hold up the wall,” Davis told the crowd of reporters who erupted in laughter.
“I wanted to be the show. I wanted to have a character that kind of took me out of my comfort zone. And that character happened to be in a Shonda Rhimes show in How to Get Away With Murder. And so I did the only smart thing that any sensible actress would do, and I took it. I dove at it. And I love the fact that she’s messy and mysterious and you don’t know who she is. She’s not necessarily nurturing and, ‘Come sit on my lap so I can talk to you, baby.’ She’s not the kind of person that—doesn’t need God, Jesus, or Buddha, because she knows all the answers. She’s messy. She’s a woman. She’s sexual. She’s vulnerable. And I think—I feel extremely fortunate that I am alive and still active and this role came to me at this point in my life,” she said.
Davis stars as Annalise Keating on the new legal drama How to Get Away With Murder from Rhimes, Betsy Beers and Peter Nowalk. In the series, Davis plays an ace attorney and law professor who takes a key group of law students under her wing. It’s soapy, sexy and everything you want in a series from Rhimes.
“…Especially after they reach a certain age, certain hue, certain sex…” What an elegant way of dealing with those kinds of questions. Acknowledging the fact that she’s an African-American woman past the age of 40 and she’s at a point in her life where she wants to run the show. She doesn’t want to be the supporting character to the white savior. She wants to be a complicated, interesting woman in the center of storm, with other people supporting HER performance.
Oh, and she’s not completely abandoning film either – she’s got a supporting part in Get On Up, the James Brown bio-pic. Chadwick Boseman plays Brown (and I think Boseman is probably going to be up for some big awards this year) and Viola plays the mother who abandons him as a child.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I hope the show is good and does well. Viola deserves good things. Central Falls, RI is not an easy start in life.
I love this woman, but Shonda Rhimes couldn’t write her way out of a paper bag.
Great actress, looking forward to this new series.
Good for her! She’s for sure shading The Help here. She’s been very outspoken about her role, or lack of, in that movie. That she felt unheard and unappreciated on set. So I’m very glad for her that she gets to be the lead. She deserves it!
Oh? I didnt know she had misgivings about The Help. Thank God for that. The Help was an awful film on just so many levels, it left me with a headache just thinking what could have been. I felt bad for her and Octavia that those characters were probably the most “empowered” (power GIVEN to them by a 19 year old white girl – thanks Emma Stone) roles they had ever been offered.
I’ve seen a couple of interviews where she said, though her character was supposed to be reserved (I haven’t seen the movie) that the camera should have been on her more – to pick up on her nonverbal emotions and reactions and that those would have rounded out her character. She expressed her concerns and they went unanswered.
I remember they were joking at the Oscars (or the Globes) that Viola & the other black actors were sitting at the “maids” table. Emma Stone & Jessica Chastain were sitting with Meryl & other famous people, separate from the “maids.”
Even during the round table discussion she was trying to talk about the struggles in Hollywood due to her colour & Charlize would not let her finish her thought. Kept interrupting her till Viola just stopped talking.
I remember that round table discussion. Clooney trying to mansplain and Charlize making it all about her while supposedly supporting Viola. Made me mad as hell. Only Fassy seemed interested in what she had to say and tried to get her to continue what she was saying but Mizz Theron just had to jump in again.
Can you tell that was the moment when I decided I couldn’t stand Charlize?
Anywho, love Viola and I’ll be watching her new show even though the fact that it’s Shonda gives me a pause. She usually starts out strong then falters.
I never saw that but those round table discussions sure do reveal character, don’t they? I have seen a couple where I went “Woa! This person is really a jerk”. Thanks for sharing.
I love Viola and I hope this is a big hit for her.
@I Choose Me
That’s why I love me some Fassy. He seemed to be genuinely interested in *what* Viola had to say about race, age, women in HW, and you had Clooney and Theron interrupting her. Constantly. Those roundtable things are what made me dislike Clooney. All he does is monopolize the conversation and it is all ME ME ME. In every single roundtable he’s ever been in. And it’s not organic in anyway…..it’s quite forceful.
I have to say, I really liked The Help. (The movie, didn’t read the book so I don’t know if the character is different there.) I thought VD was great in it and, more than Octavia Spencer (who I thought hilarious) should have won that year. I think it can be really hard to play a character who is stoic and normal (ie no twitches, eccentricities or anything else to go ‘actory’ on) and it’s often the more difficult and underrated performances. Octavia Spencer got to be ornery (the pie!) and funny where Viola didn’t but I thought her understated nobility was the more powerful performance. Meryl’s performance I felt was more ‘actory’ than Viola’s that year–and she was playing a larger personality–and I think VD was robbed. She said a lot with her body language, expression and with her eyes so I can understand if she was angry or frustrated about the camera not being on her to pick up on it more.
Love her. Hope she gets everything she wants and more.
Love her so so much too! She is so so pretty on top of classy and sweet! I hope that show goes Gangbusters!
Me too. I am SO EXCITED to see her get in there and do her thing! I feel like she has depths that have yet to be explored. She is such a good actress, I feel fortunate that she is working on a project where we get to see her every week. Even if it is crap writing, she is so talented that she’ll make it amazing.
As a white woman, I also feel a responsibility to send a message to networks that I will watch shows with strong female characters. That the race of the lead actress being different from mine doesn’t deter me, that the quality of the actress lures me in. I was going to say I don’t need to see “me” to watch…but that isn’t entirely true. I DO identify with Viola and possibly this character: in her being a woman over 30, being a woman with a career and a focus that is not just on clothes and boys. I want to see more “real” female characters, and it seems this will be a step in the right direction.
Love it! I hope more women support this show in droves to show that black females of a certain age can be the stars of successful shows!
I hope they support it in droves as well!
I wish I could set my dvr months in advance so I could set the recording for this show right now!
🙂
I love this woman so much, I hope it’s a huge success for her and she really gets to shine. She’s incredibly talented and seems to be such a good person too. TV is where most of the good material is anyway, but I wish she’d gotten some with a little more weight, like True Detective or something. For me Shonda Rimes shows usually fizzle out after a season or 2, but I’m hoping this one is better.
Don’t forget about Nicole Beharie on Sleepy Hollow.
I was hoping for True Detective as well.
But Shonda Rimes shows do at least pick up awards or at least nominations–Kerry Washington, Sandra Oh, Katherine Heigl–did Ellen Pompeo ever get nominated? So hopefully there will be room for Viola as well. TV really is the place for women now–especially those who, as she puts it, are of a certain age or hue. Looking at the nominees this year, there’s not really a clunker in the bunch and quite a few that could’ve/should’ve made the list as well. Much different from the several years of the Oscars where it’s really between 2-3 and the rest seem like so much filler.
This is really a great move for any actress. Financially this is a blessing too. A weekly TV show brings all kinds of media attention. But can be a great investment for your future, if there is success.
Plus it keeps you on the short list for movies. Women have to hustle to keep their faces out there. And that whole snob thing about not doing TV is gone. Since it is a gamble to base your life on being a “movie star”. Being a successful TV actress can pay off huge now.
You are right, financially TV is a great opportunity, especially if they hit 100 episodes and get syndication. You are set for life if that happens.
Looking at the list of various female Emmy nominees, you can see how much crossover there is. Most of the nominees move between both mediums: Claire Danes, Kerry Washington, Robin Wright, Maggie Smith, Kate Mara, Margo Martindale, Jane Fonda, Melissa McCarthy, Helena Bonham Carter, Cicely Tyson, Kathy Bates, Jessica Lange, Angela Bassett, Ellen Burstyn, Julia Roberts…And those are women of color, who are middle aged or senior citizens, different weights and so on. TV just really seems to be where it’s at for playing great characters if you’re a woman.
You go, Viola.
what is so crazy about an actor wanting to work?
In the UK, we’re still waiting for a black female lead on TV. Meh. It’s getting better – see Zawe Ashton, Antonia Thomas, Angel Coulby, Sophie Okendo, Lenora Crichlow et al – but no show carried by a black woman. Angie le Mar gave up trying to get her sitcom made and did it herself, putting it up on YouTube. It gets my goat.
Really Sixer? That surprises me.
I always think of the UK as being way ahead as far as diversity. It was so refreshing for me to be watching shows five years ago as a young woman, and seeing really good characters being played by PoC.
Desmonds?
Edit: After typing above, i really thought about non white shows or leads and after Desmonds went off the air, the only one i can think of is ‘goodness gracious me’.
the surviving members of Desmonds variously decamped to USA and doing very, very well – exception ‘porkpie’ in EastEnders. The actors out of goodness gracious me seem to be the only aAsian actors allowed on British TV, and show calling for an Asian character seems to only draw from that pool of actors or their mates – see every single asian character in East Enders…..
@ Marty – nope. We are behind. Very much so. Or at least, in terms of leads.
@ LAK – I was thinking more of drama, really. Desmonds was so ahead of its time and it seems nigh-on criminal that we failed to build on it. There’s also the Kumars, but again comedy, and I agree the situation is even worse for British Asians (note to American commenters: Asian means Indian subcontinent in the UK).
I think one problem is that the BBC casts from a limited pool of agencies, which is why you see the same people over and over again, regardless of ethnicity.
I think I said to you before, LAK, that I’ve nothing against diversity casting in the way the Shonda Rimes shows do it. In fact, I think, in terms of getting us where we want to be, it moves us on. But, from a personal point of view, I find the resulting dramas less satisfying because the characters end up as stocks – the gay one, the black one, the woman in a position of authority, the tomboy, etc. I’m interested in storytelling and auteurs getting to put their visions on TV as well as cinematic film, so I prefer colour or gender or orientation blind castings. I’m trying to think of some examples – Laurence Fishburne as Jack Crawford in Hannibal, or Angel Coulby as Guinevere in Merlin. I’d dearly like to see more of that.
And I would really like to see a show carried by a black woman or an Asian of either gender. We’ve got Luther. Now we need more.
Sixer: The Kumars actors were formerly populating Goodness Gracious me!!
I feel the same way regarding authenticity in entertainment, but i also think the problem isn’t just the small pool of agencies, it’s also the types of shows put on as well as a singular lack of imagination when it comes to casting.
What’s a non white character supposed to do in a tea time Regency revival [ps i love those, but that’s another discussion]?
i think if British TV and film made more experimental television, we’d probably see more diverse cast and not simply shoving non white actors into parts because the government said they had to.
on the other hand, you have shows like ‘Skins’, ‘Dr Who’ or ‘Misfits’ that are very popular with the teens that are colour blind in terms of casting and on the other you have wall to wall regency/victorian revivals that make it impossible to cast anyone who isn’t white.
Yes to most of that. Although, I’d love to see a POC play Tess of the D’Urbevilles or Mr Darcy! Why not?! Did you ever see Macbeth on the Estate with David Harewood as Macduff?
It’s true that the youth/teen channels (E4 and BBC3) are doing better, though. And you’re right about experimental TV. Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and Adeel Akhtar are fabulous in Utopia.
I am glad she is back on TV. I remember her parts in ER and Without A Trace. In both parts she played a mother who lost a child. She was great in both and I will be watching her show.
It’s amazing that when ‘without a trace is mentioned, people tend to gloss over Marianne Jean-Baptiste. The woman was phenomenon in SECRETS & LIES for which she was nominated and she was a big part of a well received TV show for years and still goes unnoticed.
I agree that Marianne Jean Baptiste is amazing.
That was not my intent LAK because we were talking about Viola. But I about MJB as she is a fantastic actress.
Werk, Viola! I loved her in Prisoners!
I am so hype for her show to start!! I literally can not wait. Viola teaming up with Shonda Rhimes will be like Scandal on crack, it’s going to blow our minds. Viola’s acting captures audiences because she makes you think she is exposing her soul, it’s really just kick ass acting.
I agree, I think she will blow our minds! 😀 So excited!
+1 more. AND she will get a love (or sex) interest. The kid from Harry Potter (Alfie Enoch) catches her in the act.
She has been in this business for so long with so many supporting roles. It is great to see her able to shine. Funny how she has evolved from those roles on ER, Without a Trace, and Law and Order: CI (the school security guard from hell) and Law and Order: SVU (remember she was trying to get prostitutes off the streets?)
Side note: Chadwick Boseman looks like he is going to be an awesome James Brown. The trailer makes me giggle every time. ” That ain’t no D%$^ Mashed Potato.”
@Rusty,
I think Viola always played a lawyer on SVU. There was a different actress, who played a nun, who was trying to get prostitutes off the streets. She had a recurring role and even became the victim of Martin Short.
http://www.charlaynewoodard.com/
@delorb And then they killed Sister Anne off senselessly and I am still mad about it.
@rusty I hope this is the breakthrough for Chadwick Boseman. He was talked about for 42 (which he was great in).
I love her hair here, her dress, her overall styling! That warm brown color really makes her glow. Keep these stylists/makeup artists/hair stylists Viola.
Nothing really to add, just want to say I love Viola Davis. Also, kudos to Shonda Rimes… I quit Grey’s after season 3 but I love Scandal and will check out this new show. I’m glad she is able to bring woman and POC to primetime.
I agree. Viola deserves good things. Being that it’s a Shonda Rhimes show, I hope it doesn’t go left like Grey’s and Scandal. I’ll definitely be tuning in.
Extremely excited about this. My first Viola Davis picture was Doubt, and she was amazing. For the short time she was on screen, she made a lasting impression. I went on to see her in WAT, Eat. Pray. Love., which she was amazing in and The Help. Had zero idea Charlize and George were such b!tches to Viola. They’re permanently on my sh!t lost. Never liked Clooney anyway. I mis Marianne Jean Baptiste. She was amazing. But I’d like to call the audience’s attention to a very handsome and sexy former wizard actor that will also be starring in How to Get Away With Murder, Mr. Alfie Enoch. He is very intelligent, speaks French fluently, and was also in Corialanus with Tom Hiddleston. Enoch is a very talented actor, and I hope he and Viola get really great reviews and the show does very well and goes into syndication. I will definitely be looking out for it. On another note, Shonda Rimes isn’t that bad of a writer. I just think Grey’s Anatomy’s run was too long.
After seeing the round table, Michael Fassbender is now my biggest crush. Sorry Tom, Fassy won fair and square.
Not a huge Shonda Rhimes fan but this is a good opportunity for Viola and I don’t blame her for taking it.