Halle Berry says Zendaya is ‘proof positive’ that things are changing in Hollywood
Sundance Film Festival panel thrown by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association called “Women Breaking Barriers: An Industry Shift.”
The HFPA conversation focused on female voices with a panel comprised of Halle Berry (“Bruised”), Zendaya (“Malcolm Marie”), Andra Day (“The United States vs. Billie Holiday”), Sia (“Music”) and Robin Wright (“Land”).
Zendaya, who video-called in from her trailer on set of the next “Spider-Man” film, opened up about what drove her to produce for the first time on “Malcom Marie,” which shot last summer during the pandemic.
While she yearned to be creative during the lockdown, Zendaya said she also wanted to help get part of her “Euphoria” crew back to work, asking “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson if he could pen a script for her.
She and Levinson are “very close,” she said. “He would call me every day that he would write pages and we’d talk about it for hours.”
Once they were on the set of “Malcom Marie,” “it was such a close-knit, familial thing because these are my crew members from ‘Euphoria,’ ” said Zendaya, who was joined by co-star John David Washington and Levinson, who directed.
“It was my first time putting my own money into something, I’m doing my own hair and makeup, everybody’s doing five different jobs because it was a skeleton crew. I was bringing my own clothes and using them as set dressing.”
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The crew also made money when “Malcom Marie” sold to Netflix, she added. “I think it’s important we take care of our people.”
Berry cheered the younger actress’ initiative. “At 24 that she can have an idea and go get it done and get enough support behind her to get that done… I think that says so much for where we’ve gotten – and that’s what makes me want to keep fighting, because of Zendaya at 24, a Black woman can do that. She is proof positive that things are changing.”
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“The same story told through a woman’s lens is an entirely different narrative,” agreed Day, who makes her acting debut playing Billie Holiday in the upcoming Hulu biopic, which is directed by Lee Daniels.
The “Rise Up” singer said she didn’t intend to lead a film for her first role. “I didn’t anticipate I would go into acting this soon or start with a role like this. I didn’t want to do this when it was first brought to my attention – because I love Billie Holiday … I was nervous, I was terrified. I said ‘no’ multiple times,” said Day, adding that she was ultimately convinced to do it to shed light on how Holiday’s activist song “Strange Fruit” made her a target of the FBI.
The female filmmakers shed light on other struggles they experienced making their movies.
