I’ve been watching The First Lady on Showtime, starring Viola Davis as Michelle Obama, Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford and Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt. It’s so much better than I expected and is an entertaining re-enactment of the way these women challenged convention and changed history. All the actresses are quite good in it, with Viola getting the most attention as she’s playing the most recent first lady, a woman who is near universally loved and respected. It’s not a spoiler to say that this week there’s a scene between Viola and the actor playing Rahm Emmanuel, Michael Aronov, that’s phenomenal.
As I mentioned in my last story on this show, I doubt that anyone could play that role as well as Viola. She’s one of the best living actresses today and she is excellent at capturing Michelle’s strength, drive and partnership with Barack. Viola also makes some of Michelle’s signature faces, and she leans on Michelle’s pursed lips and expressions. It’s not that bad and I don’t find it distracting! There are memes and tweets about Viola’s expressions on that show which were mostly posted in a light-hearted way by Black Twitter. These were picked up by the press and mischaracterized somewhat. Viola spoke to the BBC news about the criticism of her performance and she admitted that it hurts.
Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis has hit back at critics over her portrayal of Michelle Obama in the new US TV drama series The First Lady.
Some viewers said Davis was overly pursing her lips, with many complaining her facial expressions were distracting and insulting.
Speaking to BBC News, Davis said it is “incredibly hurtful when people say negative things about your work”.
Criticism, she acknowledged, was an “occupational hazard” of acting.
“How do you move on from the hurt, from failure?” the 56-year-old asked. “But you have to. Not everything is going to be an awards-worthy performance.”
But in a trenchant riposte, Davis said: “Critics absolutely serve no purpose. And I’m not saying that to be nasty either.
“They always feel like they’re telling you something that you don’t know. Somehow that you’re living a life that you’re surrounded by people who lie to you and ‘I’m going to be the person that leans in and tells you the truth’. So it gives them an opportunity to be cruel to you…
“But ultimately I feel like it is my job as a leader to make bold choices. Win or fail it is my duty to do that.”
The star says playing someone as familiar as Michelle Obama was “almost impossible”. “Either you’re doing too much or not enough,” she noted.
And she has no idea what the woman in question thought of her portrayal. “I don’t have any personal contact with Michelle Obama,” she said.
Viola is promoting her memoir, Finding Me, which just came out yesterday! I received my copy and have read a few pages. It’s conversational and pulled me in. I’ll definitely finish it. (Read our story about Viola’s interview with Oprah for more on her memoir.)
As for the criticism, I don’t think this is failure like Viola said. I think much of the chatter is being twisted for headlines and stories, and a lot of it is based on screenshots that don’t capture her performance. This show only just came out and the the response was to the first episode. How many people complaining actually watched it and how many were just knee jerking to the screenshots of Viola pursing her lips? Michelle does that and her expressions are legendary. I also wonder if Michelle and Barack have seen this show or if it would be too weird for them to watch it. Michelle could shut this down by praising Viola’s performance, but I don’t know if she wants to step into all that.
viola, get behind me.. we're not going down without a fight https://t.co/KOZLHGZNba
— charles 🛸 (@LittleCharlesTV) April 17, 2022
Viola’s upcoming movie, The Woman King, looks good! (Last slide.) There was a trailer shown at CinemaCon but I can’t find it online.
Viola nails it. Loving this series in spite of coming in skeptical of our beloved Michelle would be portrayed.
I think because Michelle Obama is still so familiar and still in the news on occasion, it is a bit jarring at first to see Viola as Michelle because you sense the similarities but something is off. Then as you get used to the portrayal you forget about the real Michelle.
And also I wonder if the very harsh eyebrows they give Viola at the beginning affect it as well. I know Michelle had a bit of a makeover with her brows but they didn’t seem so harsh on her in real life.
The performance itself is good and the show is interesting with all the three First Ladies.
And also because they are so close in age! Just two years apart.
In my eyes, Viola Davis can do no wrong. Ever. Can’t *wait* to read her autobiography.
Nah. I’ve seen it and it feels so anti Black to me. It’s turned Michelle Obama into a caricature, not a character and it’s made me feel ways about Viola.
And yes, I’m a Black woman myself.
The face mannerisms takes me out. I feel Viola could have done a wonderful job without the pursed mouth. Michelle naturally does it and Viola has to force it and you can tell. When Ms. Davis breathes is top tier acting, however this was a miss. It’s so distracting and cringy to me.
This 100%. It felt like a caricature. I love Viola, but this portrayal was not it. No one is infallible and can hit it out of the park every time. This was a rare miss for Viola.
I’m massively turned off by a single, less-than-20-seconds clip that I saw a couple of weeks ago of a promo for The First Lady….perhaps on twitter? was it on this site? Cant recall; but its of the Michelle character laying into the Barrack character in a convo abt security when he was a presidential candidate in the first campaign, I guess, and she said: “something-something……wanna know why……..its because youre a n*gger.”
I cant tell you how much of a punch in the gut that was because I really dont see Michelle as ever uttering those words, much less to her husband…..whatever the context. As much as they painted her as a huge liability to O during the first campaign for Pres, painting her as the angry black woman and spreading rumours that her college thesis was supposedly abt how she hated whitey – even that caricature of Michelle was never saddled with uttering the word “n*gger.” Plus the look on Viola’s face as she looked at her ‘husband’ in that moment when she said it…..
Nuh-uh……you were wrong, Viola. And I’m completely turned off the very idea of even glancing at this thing….movie?…..series?……whatevs.
Very disappointed in Viola.
The age difference between the Obama actors is very distracting. 16 years shows & V looks like his mother.
It’s a very mannered performance, something I’m surprised to see from Viola. The only one of the actresses who hasn’t leaned on mannerisms is Michelle Pfeiffer. Gillian Anderson is a little heavy handed also. Whoever told Viola that what she was doing with her mouth was “good” gave her very bad advice. She’s a great actress, are you playing the woman or her mouth? Play the woman.
Exactly, I do think there’s an element of consideration for how the performance is directed and edited that we don’t always think about when reviewing a performance. I haven’t seen this show yet, but if we are talking about expressions in between dialogue it absolutely can be left in or out. For stage it’s different but when she mentions being on the edge of doing too much or too little, an actor relies on the director and editors to get the balance just right.
I haven’t seen the show but saw a clip of it on an Entertainment show. I was distracted by her duck lips when she was talking. Did the producers not tell her to maybe tone it down a bit? It was too much. It’s ok to be honest. Viola is an amazing actress, super talented, but this was not her best role.
I disagree with Viola about the need for critics. I have wasted time and money and more time on bad shows when I should have listened to the critics. I mean, it isnt like the actors are going to come out and say don’t waste your time. This movie is sh*t. Even when they know it is sh*t.
Also, she could have done without the pursed lips. It isnt necessary and borders on parody. Sorry, Viola, but that’s my opinion.
Agree. It’s not a good performance but she’s and actor and criticism comes with the territory. She’s done so much stellar work, she needs to just chalk it up and move on.
Abuse is unnecessary, but criticism in and of itself certainly serves a valid purpose. I’m not sure I understand what Viola Davis meant by that. She’s a phenomenal actor but no one’s perfect.
Viola’s performance is outrageously distracting and baffling because it’s insulting and amateurish, like caricature.
They must have just offered her the part without ever auditioning her and seeing her take on Michelle.
Damn that’s harsh. I enjoyed the first episode. Viola was simply trying to mimic Michelle’s facial structure. A task I admit is too difficult to achieve. It’s not that noticable and I forgot all about the criticism while watching. Still a nice performance.
Viola Davis seems to be giving as great a performance as the script allows – which based on the trailer alone sounds atrocious.
So it’s not just screenshots, there’s also a short clip. I watched that and I was shocked. It came across as a caricature, which is really disappointing.
I don’t have Showrime to see this so wondered how the actual series would turn out. The memes about Violas performance are hilarious and glad to hear her performance is more nuanced, because all we’re seeing are pursed lips and raised eyebrows, like she did Michelle dirty. Speaking of which, why does she have penciled on eyebrows? They should have plucked them thin but not pencil them in like a drag queen. Ugh, so distracting. Another thing is Michelle was in her 40s in the White House, so when she was initially cast, thought Davis might be a bit old for the role. She could play Michelle now but for those who have seen it, does she convey Michelle Obama fairly well?
I saw the clip of her and the Rham Emmanuel character and my first thought was why does she keep doing that with her lips. I saw other clips and it’s more of the same. The pursed lips were unnecessary, exaggerated and distracting and I agree with the people who called her out on it.
Sorry Celebitchy. The performance was bad, Michelle Obama should be offended not praising Viola Davis. I think most black women who saw this were offended by it.
It was offensive. I was trying to avoid saying it, but yep…it was.
This portrayal will be a dark mark on her career. I know a lot of Black women are not going to stand behind her after it. It was sheer vanity. She has neither similar looks nor build to Michelle, and had to affect a lot of mannerisms for a woman who is deliberately understated. It was an insulting performace, and the role should have gone to a (yes) younger actress that could better vanish into the role. She had no business taking the role.
If you are not a Black woman, you need to sit this one out. The performance was a disgrace and extremely insulting to Michelle Obama. Viola has rightfully been savaged for the bizarre choices she made in this role, which played into a lot of racist tropes about the former first lady.
Turns out one can share this opinion regardless of skin color.
Oh no. I haven’t seen it yet, but plan to. I love both Michelle and Viola so I hate reading all this. Hmmm.
I was really bummed and a little baffled at Viola’s interpretation of Michelle. The facial expressions weren’t remotely reminiscent of her and like others I found it totally distracting. I usually love, love Viola’s acting so I’m sad that she missed the mark. In all fairness it was a herculean task to take on the role of one of our most beloved First Ladies.
Please fellow celebitches don’t be dissuaded from watching the series because on balance it’s great!
My love of both ladies will keep me from watching more of this and I agree with the above poster that the age difference between the leads is distracting … I feel like this was a legacy casting decision.
I’m sorry, am I missing something? I don’t associate Michelle Obama with lip pursing like this at all. I feel like Viola saw Michelle do that once in a speech or an interview and then just went crazy.
I’ve been watching Richard Burton interviews lately, he made a strict rule not to read or hear any of the reviews of his work. He thought that both good and bad reviews could do him harm. Viola is so talented I hope they’re not finished giving her Oscars. Based on what I’ve read above, I don’t need to see this one.