THAT RARE ‘REGULAR WOMAN’
Octavia Spencer has an Oscar for her performance as the spirited Minny Jackson in “The Help,” and multiple nominations across the awards spectrum for performances in “Fruitvale Station,” as a commandeering mother, and as mathematician Dorothy Vaughan in “Hidden Figures.” But though film and TV roles keep coming, not many are custom-crafted with her in mind.
“I have very few roles written for me,” says Spencer, 47. So she was delighted when her agent informed her that she’d been the inspiration for a part in “The Shape of Water,” which filmmaker Guillermo del Toro wrote and directed. In it, Spencer is Zelda, a cleaning woman in a government facility who works the night shift alongside her mute best friend, Elisa (Sally Hawkins). “The Shape of Water” has been described as a period fairy tale and a quasi-monster movie. But in the scenes where chatty Zelda and facially expressive Elisa roam the halls, it becomes a film about how true friendship can elevate even the dreariest of landscapes. It has also earned Spencer another Oscar nomination.
Zelda pushes a mop at a job with a dismissive boss then deals with an unappreciative husband. Did that give you pause?
There was a part of me that went, “I don’t know how I feel about this.” I’ve played maids before, and she’s not a maid, but she’s definitely a subordinate, definitely part of the invisible realm of people in society. But for the first time, my character was just like every other woman, complaining about her relationship and talking about the things that were bothering her. It felt as if she was the most contemporary woman I’d ever played.
The fact that I got to be a regular woman? That was refreshing.
As with “The Help” and “Hidden Figures,” this film is set in the ’60s. What’s the upside of returning to this era?
There was a little less for me to do as far as my preparation. But you know what? 98% of the scripts I’m sent have everything to do with my race, not who I am as a woman. And it’s a very hard emotional place to be in, playing women with no emotional agency, who have no voice whatsoever about the outcome of their life. So I’m now to the point where if [a script] has anything to do with race and history, I’m not the person to come to.
‘I’ve played a gazillion nurses, and unless [she’s] going to do something completely different, I say no. But I never say never. ’ — OCTAVIA SPENCER Zelda has a lot to say. Your scene partner doesn’t. Is that challenging?
It was difficult, and I was glad to have other characters that talked in scenes. I’m dyslexic, I have a different way to get everything down. And to not have vocal cues to help me cement the dialogue in my mind? People naturally tend to zone out when people ramble. We start thinking, “OK, what do I need to get done today?” As I was preparing, even I’d zone out.
Is it true that your film debut came from asking Joel Schumacher if you could play a rabble-rouser in “A Time to Kill”?
Yes, and he said to me, “Your face is too sweet. You can be Sandy [Bullock]’s nurse,” and thus began my career as a sweet-faced nurse.
I’ve played a gazillion nurses, and unless it’s a nurse that’s going to do something completely different, I say no. But I never say never. How many mom roles are we all going to play? How many wife roles? There’s so few archetypes that we get to play that I’d be limiting myself if I said, “I’m never playing this again.”
During production, Guillermo del Toro is always assembling sequences from dailies. Would he ever show them to you?
Every day Guillermo would say, “Octavia, come here. I want to show you something.” And I remember the moment that Elisa starts hanging out in the lab, teaching the creature sign language. I got so choked up. I didn’t realize how emotional I’d feel.