Director Lee Daniels was determined to bring Billie Holiday s story to a new generation chicagotribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chicagotribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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What did Andra Day do to prepare for her title role as the star of “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” director Lee Daniels’ gripping new film about the transcendent jazz and blues singer’s soul-sapping battle against racism, addiction and relentless government persecution?
A more apt question would be: What
didn’t the three-time Grammy Award nominee do to prepare to play Holiday in this Paramount Pictures production, which begins streaming Friday on Hulu?
The role, which marks Day’s film debut, has earned her growing Oscar buzz and a 2021 Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama. She threw herself into playing the famously gifted, troubled and tormented Holiday with so much focus and commitment, body and soul, that it seems as if Day’s life depended on it, not just her budding acting career.
Ms. Pat at BET+, and discovered its writer, Brooklyn playwright Jordan E. Cooper, at a show at New York s Public Theater. With the success of
Empire, he has a seat at the table now and wants to open that door for up-and-coming diverse voices, says Marc Velez, president of television at Lee Daniels Entertainment. He s got great taste, and he can tap into the zeitgeist before all of us see it.
Daniels found time to direct a feature for the first time since
The Butler in 2013, he says, partly because
Empire and its spinoff,
Star, have ended. Another planned
Empire spinoff featuring Taraji P. Henson s character has been shelved, he says. It s time to move on, Daniels says. We did it with
Billie Holiday s story depends on who s telling it
Audra McDonald as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson s Bar and Grill, at Circle in the Square in New York, March 24, 2014. There are almost as many interpretations of her short life and enormous legacy as there are books and films about her, including the new biopic starring Andra Day. Sara Krulwich/The New York Times.
by Robert Ito
(NYT NEWS SERVICE)
.- For Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, the story of Billie Holiday, the legendary jazz singer, came to her in dribs and drabs. When Parks was growing up, she said, our parents would tell us, She had a tragic story. And then, as we got a little older, She used drugs. And then as we got a little older, my mom would start saying things like, you know, they got to her. But she didnt really get into it.