{"id":832,"date":"2015-04-26T20:28:16","date_gmt":"2015-04-27T01:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/culturated.com\/?p=832"},"modified":"2015-05-12T17:09:55","modified_gmt":"2015-05-12T22:09:55","slug":"monique-interview-movies-hollywood-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/monique-interview-movies-hollywood-race\/","title":{"rendered":"MoNique Interview On New Movies & Hollywood’s Old Race Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was the writer Louisa May Alcott who once said, \u201cI am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.\u201d The thought of causing ripples to the status quo is enough to make most people steer clear of drama.<\/p>\n

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But Mo\u2019Nique<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>ain\u2019t most people. Somewhere between playing lovingly boisterous mother Nikki Parker on The Parkers<\/em> in the early 2000s and her Oscar-winning turn as abusive mother Mary Lee Johnston in Precious<\/em><\/a> in 2009, she\u00a0learned to sail her own ship. So when film industry folks came down on her for not campaigning for Precious<\/em>\u00a0during awards season as much as they would have liked, she weathered on.<\/p>\n

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Some have condemned Mo\u2019Nique<\/strong><\/a> for her outspoken ways, and rumor has it she may have even been blacklisted<\/a><\/strong>. Others have applauded her. <\/em>We here at\u00a0Culturated just wanted to make sure Mo\u2013 who\u2019s executive producing and starring in the powerful new drama Blackbird<\/em><\/a> this month\u2013 had a platform from which to tell her side of the story.<\/p>\n

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\"monique<\/a><\/p>\n

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Mo\u2019Nique, where in the world are you right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m in this place called Happy Village. And when you come here, you must have smiles.<\/p>\n

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Okay, I\u2019m wearing a big one right now.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then you are always welcome in the Village.<\/p>\n

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When I look at the box office standings, only two\u00a0of the top 15 films have blacks in primary roles. When you hear statistics like\u00a0that, how does it make you feel?<\/strong><\/p>\n

What it makes me say is independence. It makes me feel like we can do this our way, and not be in a position of waiting for someone to say, \u201cOkay, now it\u2019s your turn and we\u2019ll give you a shot.\u201d But when I see that, that is not something new that we\u2019re seeing, is it?<\/p>\n

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\"monique_interview_2015\"<\/a><\/p>\n

No, not at all.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s been going on for a long time. So you can do one of two things: Either you can stand around and say, \u201cPlease let it be my turn next,\u201d or you can take your turn.<\/p>\n

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How long did it take for you to get into that mindset?<\/strong><\/p>\n

You know, DeMarco, I think I\u2019ve always had that mindset, but didn\u2019t know how to go about putting it into action. I think I\u2019ve always felt like, \u201cWhy can\u2019t we do it differently?” Why are we sitting around waiting and saying, “Please call and let this phone ring”? And then when [my husband] Sidney [Hicks] and I figured out how we would do it differently, that’s exactly what we did. That’s why I made this beautiful film coming out April 24, called Blackbird<\/em>. Now, I\u2019m gonna say that a lot during this interview, okay? And every time I say it, baby, I want you to print it!<\/p>\n

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