Actress introducing twists to new role
of things, why not? I thought, maybe I should lean into that and go full- on silver hair. Instead, we gave her long hair.
How do you maintain longevity over an acting career? Once actors become known, they often get pigeonholed.
They get depressed. Morose. Bitter ( laughing). No, we’re staying away from that. I did two plays this past year: “The Rose Tattoo” at the Williamstown Theater Festival and “How to Transcend a Happy Marriage” for Lincoln Center Theater, and “Spider-Man.” All of them were very rich experiences and very different.
Of course, I’m always fighting whatever stereotypes one gets into and trying to change it up. Not because of some cerebral approach to it, but more from a soulful approach. As you can see in this, my big stretch is being from Brooklyn but playing from Queens.
You also got to play the villainous executive Mimi Whiteman on “Empire.” Was that a fun departure for you?
It was also challenging to me, to be that authoritative ... The suits helped. I’ve played a handful of sunny people, and I’d like to do something where I get to be either obnoxious or dark and angry. It’s hard for me to feel that way. That’s a whole other psychological dive, I suppose.
What is it like to win an Academy Award so early in your film career?
I don’t know what other people were expecting of me. I certainly was just at the beginning, so I didn’t have any of those expectations on myself.
Are you still able to watch movies in a theater, with a civilian audience?
That’s the most fun way, isn’t it? Especially with big movies like this. I can still remember seeing “The Fly” at midnight, here in Times Square, with a packed audience. The people were just high-fiving with strangers in the middle of the movie. It doesn’t get better than that.