Somebody who understands and wants to just do a good job is ideal, and that’s what it was.
Tyler james williams professional#
She was here telling a story of a woman who gave her professional name. She wasn’t here trying to further her career. But I can honestly say, at least from my experience with her, that was not the intent going into it. She’s had a lot of awards conversations right now. I wish it was always that way, and rightfully so. There’s no other way I can really describe it other than ideal. To work with the lead, who not only feels the magnitude of the moment but has actively attempted to shun the role itself because of that pressure and what comes with it and understands the stakes, and is as tapped in as she was, is ideal. TYLER: It’s one of those questions we keep getting that feels like I’ll never be able to accurately answer it I’ll never be able to actually explain it. GLITTER: Tyler, what was it like working alongside Andra Day? So it’s just even more terrible, you know? So it was fun to portray. He’s just a brother that got caught in a terrible situation, and then he fell in love with this person. I’m not saying that he’s not at fault, but it’s just every time I get that question, it’s like, I just don’t know that I can say he’s a terrible person. I see so many people who have been in that kind of compromising situation, which you just can’t really blame them. I mean, I know that sounds terrible because everybody keeps talking about how he was just so bad and all these things, but I really don’t know, man. I feel bad for the guy because it was just a bad situation.
I look at the film, and I look at his situation within the film as with sympathy.
They may have had to do some things that they didn’t agree with to get themselves either out of that situation or to get themselves to a more successful situation. It just brought me back to a lot of people that I know in my life, a lot of people that have been put into very compromising situations. TREVANTE: It was fun because for me, at least in my experience as a Black man in America, you know, you see a lot of stuff and so reading the script and seeing him to be this person who was put into this situation. What was it like to play this journey from an FBI agent to an ally? GLITTER: Trevanti, your character’s journey was transformative. So I do think it’s very important, but I don’t think we should stop the conversation there. We make ourselves feel good because a bunch of people are represented, but I think they have to get past that and become more of a normalized aspect of our reality. I think one of the traps that sometimes happens with representation is that we kind of get into this checking off of boxes. It’s a ball that keeps rolling, and we can’t stop just because of “We’ve been here before” and “We’ve seen the blaxploitation era.” You’ve seen the boost of the ’90s, and we keep falling off of the wagon as if we think, “OK, cool, that’s enough, we’re good now.” I’m looking forward to when representation is less of a conversation and more of just “This story needs to be told by these grouping of people telling it themselves.” That’s what I’m looking forward to getting to. But I think, you know, representation can’t stop. We’re seeing more of our stories than we’ve ever seen before, contending, and they’re all really, really good.
TYLER: I think representation inside the platform that it’s never really had before, and I think now we’re seeing the power of it, particularly in this award season. GLITTER: Tyler, how important is representation in film for you and being a part of the process and telling Black stories such as this one? Lee’s just making the film he wants to make, and that’s what’s really brilliant about. I think there’s a lot of filmmakers who get scared about audience perception, whether or not they’re going to be received, and all that. He’s going to show you the reality, whether you like it or not. Also, the fact that he’s fearless in the way that he does filmmaking, he doesn’t care how what you’re seeing is going to make you feel. Acting isn’t acting it’s being– you have to be in this person’s skin, and any moment that you’re not, having someone there to call that out, to call you on that, is really valuable. I think that forced me to grow in a lot of ways because there was somebody looking for any inauthentic moment. He’s going to spot that out and shut the tape down and start over. He looks for any moment in which, you know, as actors, we pick up quirks here, and then we like try to act our way through things every now and then. His drive for authenticity is very unique.
TYLER: Lee has stretched me as an actor more than I think really any other director has. GLITTER: Tyler, what was it like working alongside Lee Daniels?