“F Flirting with danger
Nia Long dances close to the edge in ‘Fatal Affair’
atal Affair,” now on Netflix, gifts Nia Long with a star vehicle, a thriller that sees her character Ellie, a powerful woman, become mired in a terrible, ultimately life-threatening situation.
“Ellie is,” said Long, 49, “an empty nester and works for a big legal corporation. She and her husband make a change in their personal life and scale down to live a stress-free life by ocean.
“Before that happens,” Long added, “she runs into an old boyfriend” — Omar Epps’ David — “and a night of flirting turns into her biggest nightmare.”
Long has done TV (“Empire” and “NCIS: Los Angeles”) and movies (“Boyz in the Hood,” “The Best Man Holiday”) but “Fatal”?
“I was, ‘Wow! I’ve never done a thriller. This could be fun.’ Then immediately I started having conversations with the director and we changed and added a couple of things.
“The original script was not written for an African American cast,” she revealed. “And I was very adamant about having a multicultural cast.
“When you change characters and change cultures, you change dialogue, you change the way people react to things.
“Ultimately, I’m a firm believer that whatever is on the page needs to feel real and organic. That’s tricky to do when you’re doing a thriller.”
“Fatal Affair” asks us to understand how Ellie gets into this mess in the first place. A drink with a college chum leads to a disco and something dangerously physical.
“(Ellie and her husband have) made money together, raised a child together and had their ups and downs together. Quite frankly,” Long figured, “maybe they’re a little bored with each other.
“It doesn’t make Ellie’s actions right. But I think anyone who’s ever been married can understand the ebb and flow and the commitment. These situations that arise can either make or break a family — and in this case I think it brings them closer together.”
In a brutal business Long has survived and thrived. The secret of longevity?
“This is a marathon, not a race. I definitely believe in playing the long game and not the short game.
“It’s been wonderful to raise my children” — she has two, 19 and 8 — “and be active in their lives and also be a working mommy.
“I’ve never lost sight of pursuing my own dreams. I just had to breeze through the moment and plan efficiently.
“And I believe you can have everything, just not all at the same time.”