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Viola his last words before she died on the Hot Ones show was Hey, what's going on everybody for First We Feast I'm Sean Evans and you're watching Hot Ones.
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It's the show with hot questions and even hotter wings and today we're joined by Viola Davis.
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She's one of the most decorated actors of the 21st century from the Broadway stage to Emmy and Academy Award-winning performances in TV and film.
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Her memoir Finding Me topped the bestsellers list earlier this year and she has a brand new film on the way as well.
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The historical epic The Woman King which is in theaters now.
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Viola Davis, welcome to the show. Thank you.
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How are you around spicy food before we get started?
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You know, I I grew up around spicy food South Carolina, you know, you can't get hot enough.
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But you know, as I aged some things going on with my digestive system, but I'm I'm I'm hopeful. Okay. Oh my God. Is that a good book? Oh my Oh my goodness.
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Okay, I I should pace myself but this is so good. Um Oh my goodness. Just one more. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Oh my God.
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So The Woman King which you've described as a black female-led Braveheart tells the story of an all-woman warrior army that fought to defend Africa's Dahomey Kingdom in the 19th century.
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How do you break down the mechanics of shooting epic battle scenes at the size and scale that you see in this film.
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Like when you have hundreds and hundreds of extras on set, what is the atmosphere or environment like in the moments leading up to the director saying action?
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The environment is just complete and total fear.
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Like when we shot the first village raid scene, that's what it's called.
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It was 2:00 in the morning.
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Okay, now I'm at the bone.
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I'm just going to suck it off the bone.
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I'm just going to uh There you go. I'm in with you. So, it's fear.
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Because you have to like toss 200 and something pound men over your shoulder.
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You have what, you know, swords.
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You're trying not to get hurt.
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We trained 5 hours a day. Wow.
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And we did all the stunts ourselves. No CGI. It was all us. And sprinting at 9.
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4 10 on a treadmill, by the way.
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And did I tell you I'm over 50? Impressive.
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You know, once you get up there in the heart rate, you lose oxygen.
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And the fact that I'm sitting here right now eating hot wings and I'm still alive is a testament to the training of this movie. Same luck. It's so good. Oh, so good.
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You've set such a high bar.
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I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you further down the line, you know.
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You've not disappointed me so far, sir. I love that. I love that. Mhm.
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So, in your memoir Finding Me, you tell a story about auditioning at Juilliard in jeans and a sweater while other hopefuls practice yoga poses and did ballet and Fitzmaurice work while they waited.
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Thinking back on those days, what's an acting exercise or warm-up technique that you found to be actually helpful?
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And then can you give us another one that stands out in your mind because it's just, you know, kind of silly? Mhm.
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An acting exercise that's really helpful is a breathing exercise where you take a deep breath from your diaphragm and you sing a song like Happy Birthday like but you take it syllable by syllable.
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So say you take a breath and then you really release ha and you just let it all go.
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Take another breath be and by the end you're either laughing, crying, both, you're hyperventilating but the reason why it's helpful is because it accesses your emotions. So I like that exercise.
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A lot of the rest put me right to damn sleep.
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Like when you have to lay on the floor and imagine yourself as an animal and all of that.
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Remember the first time I did that in class.
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This is at Juilliard and I think they said imagine that you're a cloud.
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But I fell asleep during the damn exercise.
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So then I woke up and I thought that they said imagine you're a plow.
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So then I woke up and everybody's like floating and floating.
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I'm like that doesn't look like a a plow.
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So I I started pretending I was a plow.
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So I was crawling around my all fours going And I remember the teacher coming up to me and saying Okay. Okay. This is interesting.
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Just keep working on it though. Okay? Just keep working on it. I was like oh okay.
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So the rest of them I don't know. You know, yeah.
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I'm telling you I'm defying the odds right now. Smooth as a cucumber. I love this one. I love this one. This is so good.
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So, I want to stay on the topic of theater cuz when we had Kevin Bacon on the show, he talked about his time at the Circle in the Square Theatre, which is a place that I know that you likewise thrived.
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What is the difference in the kind of training that you get there compared to like a prestigious conservatory like Juilliard?
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Circle in the Square was more about you being honest, tapping into your emotion, tapping into the moment, you know, and Juilliard was more about technique, voice, speech, breathing, staying thin.
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But Juilliard was helpful.
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I feel like I give Juilliard a bad rap a lot of times.
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I'm surprised they haven't called me, but but um that was the difference.
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From your one-woman show where you did 17 different characters to early renditions of Hot L Baltimore, Romeo and Juliet, is there a student production that you think disproportionately shaped your ethos as an actor? The one-woman show. Definitely.
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It really shaped me because there's nothing like being on stage by yourself.
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There's no one to sort of save you.
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There's no one to bounce off of except the audience.
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And um I just thought I was badass back then.
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You know, nothing had broken me down yet.
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I thought I was like really slick to just be this one actor just performing all these characters.
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Got a Always got a standing ovation.
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I thought that was it, you know?
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Well, I've got news for you, Viola. Still a badass.
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Look at you taking on this Hot Ones gauntlet, crushing it, taking everything down to the bone.
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Are you ready to move on here to sauce number four already? Yes, I am. I can see it. I can see it. me. Oh my god. Oh my god.
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Did I tell you that back in the day my husband was ex-football player?
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They called him headache ball cuz he could just cuz he said I could rattle somebody's helmet, B.
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Soon as I you do cuz if you kill the head, the body will die. He was a linebacker.
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And he said he would eat a dozen eggs, you know, whole package of bacon just to get big. He had a 52-in chest.
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And I said, "Julius, I could about eaten you back in the day."
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So, that's what I say to you, I can out eat it.
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No arguments from this side of the table.
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What would you say is the biggest difference between like a great TV showrunner and then like a great film director?
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This is just my opinion now. Let it fly. Let it fly. Do I need a cocktail?
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Boy, if I had a cocktail, let me tell you something.
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That's what you need to change. You need a cocktail.
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Um a great showrunner is going to lead the writers to always um the writing always has to, in my opinion, be consistent and just get better.
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That's very hard when you're doing a show of 22 26 episodes.
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All of them have to be connected to the truth and life.
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That's what makes a good showrunner.
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That That's what makes a great film director.
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That's what makes a great teacher, life.
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And the more people recognize life on TV, the stage, and all the collaborators that are in involved in doing that, then you you less alone as an audience member.
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and you do not forget the experience.
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It's tattooed in you, right? Mhm. All right. Mic drop.
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Now, let me suck on this damn thumb. Oh, yeah.
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I'm seeing the many faces of Viola through the Hot Ones gauntlet. These are so good. They are. Oh my god.
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You know, you can't taste it through the camera when you're watching the show, but so far at least a delicious meal. Mhm. Well, it's good. Mhm. Mhm.
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So, Roger Ebert once wrote of your Academy Award nominated performance in Doubt, "It lasts about 10 minutes, but it's the emotional heart and soul of the film."
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What do you see as the opportunity for an actor when your performance is limited to a single scene?
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Uh See, I disagree with the term there are no small roles, only small actors, even though I understand exactly where it's coming from.
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There are some small roles.
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I had a, you know, a line in Kate & Leopold, where I told Hugh Jackman's character, "Pick up your poop.
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Pick up your dog's poop." And that was it. That's a small role. Mrs.
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Miller was not a small role, even though it was like one scene.
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It's written within an inch of its life.
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You know exactly who that woman is.
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The key is you always have to approach a character as if you're creating a human being. Who is she? What does she live for?
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What does she want based on what she needs in life?
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A need is always just a basic thing, like the need to love. The need to control.
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The need, I don't know, to heal.
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When you do all of that, and here's the last thing you got to do. You got to take a risk.
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So, whatever you're thinking in your mind, make a bold choice.
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Even if it's Even if you think you're running in the wrong direction, make a choice so bold and so out there, and maybe maybe it'll stick.
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Or maybe you'll fail, which I've done a lot. But, maybe it'll stick.
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And with that, I felt like I made a bold move, especially cuz I was working opposite Pearl Street Pearl Street.
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And my nose was dripping. I'm scared.
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A little bit of a different kind of look. Yeah, it was just gum. Steady hand. Steady hand.
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I'm a strong I'm a I'm a Gucci warrior. I know I saw the movie. I know. Mhm. I know. what? Wait a minute. Wait wait wait wait. Cuz you know what?
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I just swallowed a piece.
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I'm going down a rabbit hole. Yeah, walked back. me down the rabbit hole. I know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yeah.
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So, in 2020, you executive produced and were featured in Giving Voices, a documentary that put a spotlight on six students as they competed for a chance to win the August Wilson Monologue Competition. Mhm.
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Is there like a science to picking out the right audition monologue?
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Like, is there a right or wrong way to do it? so.
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I think that when you audition for something, I think that you should always pick a monologue that's closer to who you are.
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And I think you should always and always too.
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And don't talk for too long.
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I know some people have monologues that just 10 minutes.
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Nobody wants to sit 10 minutes.
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I think you got about 3 4 minutes at the most, okay?
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And here's the other thing cuz I always like I'm going to do my ceiling monologue last so I can blow their minds.
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I'll end with blowing their minds.
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That's [ __ ] You start with your best monologue first so you get their attention right away.
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And I say that because I see it all the time.
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People say, "I'm going to do King Lear."
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And you see them doing King Lear and you're like, "That's not good."
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And you're 20 years old, you're doing King Lear mono don't do that [ __ ] But um I did Celie from Color Purple and Martine from Learned Ladies.
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The Martine was like uh uh looking back I was like uh uh uh. But there is a science.
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You do something dynamic.
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You want to be memorable.
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You want to wake people up.
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They've already seen 50 people before you.
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They don't want to work at it. I had to burp. Another level. But we're here. But we're here.
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You must have a hell of a liability clause.
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But people get I mean you topple over after something like this now. I know.
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So from what I gather about how you prepare to deliver an honest performance, it starts by gathering all of the facts and then to quote, "If I don't think the scene is answering my questions, I'll bother the hell out of the director."
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Of the characters you've played, which one would you say had the biggest transformation or evolution from the way the character was written in the script to ultimately what materialized in the performance on screen?
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Annalise Keating for sure.
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That pilot that we shot, I remember cuz it was my first sex scene.
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So and I remember Billy Brown was who played Nate and he was my boyfriend. And I had a husband.
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So, boyfriend husband, which sounds really great until it comes time to shoot it.
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And we shot it 12 It was 12° in Philadelphia.
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And she meets Nate and they have sex on top of the car. Under the hood.
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Right outside of my house while my husband's in in his office. Yeah.
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You know, no disrespect, but I didn't believe that they wrote from a perspective of making her real.
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I just felt like she was coming from a past where there was trauma and sexual abuse. Bing bing.
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So, you see you're painting the character.
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And then she changed her name.
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Why is she changing her name?
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Whoever she was, she hated.
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So, there was a sel- level of self-love that wasn't there.
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And juxtapose that with this badass criminal defense attorney, then you start shaping a person.
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And so, but that kept like conversations had to keep happening for me to do that. So, that's it. Look, I'm shaking. Me, too. I know. Immediately.
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Nothing redeemable about it. Yeah, I know.
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Nobody's ever whooped your ass after all these chicken wings.
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There have been some close calls. the camera.
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I'm going to go over there and whoop your ass.
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When we had Idris Elba on, he stopped the show and goes, "Whose idea was it?"
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The creator Chris Schonberger, he actually traveled with us to London to shoot this episode.
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Idris at that time, he goes, "Chris, can you fight?"
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Like he challenged Chris to a fight in the studio.
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And Chris is not here all the time, but he actually is here today. Oh my. Mhm. Totally different level.
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So when we had David Harbour on the show, called Law & Order, the Dick Wolf subsidy for the arts.
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What do you see as the significance of law dramas and soap operas?
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It's like an endowment for performers.
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You got to repeat that damn question.
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The thing about law dramas is it really challenges your process as an actor.
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It's hard to tap into emotion because I know.
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I'm I'm surprised I'm not pissing in my pants right now.
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I'm surprised there's not a puddle of piss right here.
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Well, I'm going down that damn rabbit hole so damn fast.
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I went from Now, but anyway, when you doing a courtroom scene, you have to pull out all your technique because a lot of it is just technical terms, but it's has to be still dynamic, emotionally connected.
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And and you're working with so many different actors.
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You're working with the actors playing the judge, people who are on the stand.
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You feel like you have more of an audience in the courtroom.
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And that's it, cuz you know what? I can't talk anymore.
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I mean, my lips are burning off. And I got some lips. Thank god.
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How can you say you're being my friend?
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I mean, you're a very lovely man, and you're sort of cute, too.
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But, let me tell you something. I don't believe you.
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That this one's not as bad as the last one. No.
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I would never lie to you.
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I would never lie to you, Viola Davis. All right.
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So, this is unique garlic here.
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From PuckerButt Pepper Company. PuckerButt?
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It's no walk in the park, but a little bit easier than the last one.
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Did I tell you I had a panic attack once?
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No, I didn't You didn't tell me this.
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Meryl Streep, who's a very lovely woman, by the way, but she did something to me.
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She could not go to the Critics' Choice Awards, and she knew she was good.
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Some awards you know you're going to win in advance.
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This is way back in the day.
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And she said, "Viola, can you accept my award for me?
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I want you to do it cuz I can't be there." I said, "Yeah!
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Oh my god, that's such an honor. Oh my god."
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Now, I forgot that this was the first award show I had ever been to.
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I go to the award show, and I proceed to have the worst panic attack.
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Just like I'm having right now where my legs couldn't stop moving. I begin to cry.
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I I couldn't I literally could not move, and I had to get up on that stage and accept the award for Meryl Streep. And guess what? What?
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She didn't tell me what to say.
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So, I'm saying that to you now because my legs are moving. Yeah.
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Well, the good news is we're almost to that finish line here. All right, Viola Davis.
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I'll going to you with this one.
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You about to tell me that I lied to you. you.
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I didn't lie to you about the last one, did I?
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Yeah, tell you have a really big husband.
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That used to play football and ate 12 eggs a day.
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But he can swing a really good baseball bat. So, you better see here. Is that the look around?
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Keep my head on a swivel. You do this one? Mhm. It's not open. So, I can So, you can't. You can't. You're in the clear. Mhm. This is a hard one. They're all hard.
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They're all hard at this point, but we're there. I know.
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So, we've hit the CliffNotes on just a sliver of your amazing journey.
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But to close things out, I've heard you quote the famous mythologist Joseph Campbell.
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And as the saying goes, the privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.
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What does that mean to you?
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Now, we're about to get deep. Yeah.
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While I'm choking to death. That's the show.
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By all his last words before she died on the hot ones show was I just feel like our whole journey in our life is becoming our ideal selves.
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You know, we get stripped away as we go along the journey.
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Where it's like I've gotten to the point in my life, it's like I've been sold a bill of goods.
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You know, that really at the end of the day you come into this world, you are absolutely who you are.
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Then your parents come along and they try to imprint themselves on you, your friends, society, you know, this is a school you have to go to.
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This is how pretty you have to look.
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This is what you have to wear.
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And I think somewhere along the line is a voice deep within you that tells you exactly who you are.
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You just have to have the courage to do that.
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That's what the journey of the hero is all about.
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You know, you're born into a world where you don't fit in.
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And then you answer the call to adventure. And you deny the call.
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And then at one point you then set out on your path. All right?
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And you slay dragons, you do all of that.
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And then at some point you come face to face with not a god, but yourself. Okay?
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And somewhere along line and you get it.
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Your aha moment, your elixir.
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And you go back to your ordinary world and you share it with others.
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And I think that's the journey.
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And I think that's the privilege of being absolutely who you are. Belonging to yourself. And being brave. Slaying dragons.
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Slaying and I cut off my lip. Wings.
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Was it a battle against the spice or a battle against ourselves?
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Either way, Viola Davis, we came out on top and now there's nothing left to do but roll out the red carpet for you.
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This camera, this camera, this camera, let the people know what you have going on in your life.
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The Woman King, September 16th. See it in theaters. Agogi, who sue.
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You'll see what I mean when you SEE THE MOVIE. OH MY GOD.
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FIRST OF ALL, THE WINGS WERE REALLY GOOD, but fantastic questions.
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Oh, well, thank you so much.
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Uh Are Are an actor, too?
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No, I've only played myself one time uh opposite Maya Rudolph in the Apple TV show Loot.
25:07
Hey, what's going on Hot Ones fans?
25:07
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