Da’Vine Joy Randolph is having a moment. Over the past few weeks, she’s won Supporting Actress honors for her performance in Alexander Payne‘s “The Holdovers” from the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the National Board of Review, and five other regional critics’ groups (and that’s just so far). She has also been nominated in the same category by the Film Independent Spirit Awards, the Golden Globes, the Critics’ Choice Awards, and the Gotham Awards. And at this point, an Oscar nomination isn’t just likely; it’s a given.
READ MORE: Paul Giamatti Is Ready To Make A Western With Alexander Payne [Interview]
Last month, The Playlist first caught up with Randolph a week or so after the SAG strike ended. She was finally able to speak to the press about her role as Mary, the head cook at a prestigious New England boy’s school and a woman still in deep grief over the death of her son in the Vietnam War. The 37-year-old actress said she hadn’t paid much attention to the stellar reviews the Focus Features release received (she never reads them) but was happy the movie was connecting with audiences during the beginning of the holiday season, especially since the David Hemingson screenplay is set over the Christmas break.
“I think what is important is this is an imperfect perfect holiday movie and that we can reach people who probably are more the majority of the holiday season, of people who are struggling and going through things,” Randolph says. “Outside of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ I don’t know what else we have of a more realistic… but even ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ wraps up in a nice, pretty bow. We leave you cliffhanger a bit…So, I like that, that it’s more realistic in that way. “
Over the course of our conversation, Randolph also touches on Payne’s unique directing style, how both she and co-star Paul Giamatti supported newcomer Dominic Sessa, gives an update on her other major role, that of Detective Williams in “Only Murders in the Building“; and much, much more.
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The Playlist: So, I saw you for a hot second at a reception two nights ago, and that outfit you were wearing was f***ing fire.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph: Oh, thank you.
I also heard this through a little bee at Focus, was that the first time you’d been able to see Paul and Dominic since you guys shot the movie?
Oh, yeah.
I was just speaking to Dominic, and obviously, he’s going through all this for the first time. The strike was important, and a lot of great gains were made out of it, but knowing this movie was coming, knowing festival season was coming, how frustrating was it for you to have this strike happen and not be able to be part of its premiere and opening?
I don’t know. I think the overriding thing for me was I knew the importance of this strike and what needed to change and come into effect, and I had just hoped and prayed that when we really needed to be doing press, we could do it. I also think that we were lucky in that I felt like we had a strong offering of our talent to give that could speak for itself and that we didn’t need any gimmicks or campaign-type things. It was enough. Secondly, we were grateful to have someone like Alexander Payne who can, at the beginning of the press tour, carry it. Listen, I think as it got closer, I was like, “Ooh, it would be really nice if we could…” I wasn’t too concerned about the festivals. I kind of was like, “Oh, we’re going to be on strike for the summer,” but the premiere itself and when we’re actually coming out. So, I’m so happy to be here and be doing a press junket with you ’cause I didn’t know if that was going to happen. We lucked out; it ended on the eighth, and we released it on the 10th. It doesn’t get better than that.
What was it like, though, to not be able to say anything publicly about the movie, but to see all these great reactions from screenings, to see all the rave reviews?
So it’s funny; I don’t read reviews at all. I never have. I actually don’t know in detail, but that’s intentional. I’ve also told my team, “Don’t tell me. Please don’t tell me.” But I am grateful to know that it is being received well and people are connecting to it. That’s the most important thing to me. It means a lot to me that viewers of all different types, not just critics, not just journalists, but individuals who are watching this are connecting to it. I think what is important is this is an imperfect, perfect holiday movie and that we are able to reach people who probably are more the majority of the holiday season, of people who are struggling and going through things. Outside of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” I don’t really know what else we have of a more realistic… but even “It’s a Wonderful Life” wraps up in a nice, pretty bow in the end. We leave you cliffhanger a bit and him leaving, and you don’t know where he’s going to go. You’re not really sure what Mary’s going to do, and you hope the boy graduates on time. So, I like that, that it’s more realistic in that way.
What about this project made you want to take the role?
It was a fully realized, multidimensional, complex character. It was stuff on the page for me to work with, not for me to try to make, if that makes sense. Oftentimes, as a woman of color, you’re very limited in the resources that you get and the words you get to say, and the not counting lines, to be clear, it’s not about how many lines. It’s the quality of the lines; it’s the detail. It’s the backstory, not just showing up out of nowhere to be of help or service to someone or something and then disappear. So, I was very grateful for all that stuff to be laid in there and that she had a fully realized life. So that is what originally, outside of Paul or Alexander or anyone before my personal self and reading that script was where I leaned in that I was like, “Oh, wow. They get it. They already get it.” So, I knew I would be in great stead.
Shooting the film, it’s you and Paul, who are both clearly veterans with lots of credits on your resume and you’re working with Dominic. It’s the first time he’s ever shot anything in any capacity. From your perspective, what was that experience like to see someone come in as a lead trying to balance this for the first time?
Well, listen, number one, he’s an old soul. Number two, Alex hired him for a reason, and it was a very intimate, quiet, slow process of making this film. The film you watch also, I think, mimics the process and how we made it, deliberate. We took our time. We were gentle with it. For myself, and I know Paul for sure as well, we just wanted to create and foster a good working environment for him and a good creative incubated space for him. By Paul and I going to the same school, Yale, for graduate school, I think we took great pride in almost as a badge of honor that we were his first and that we wanted to set a precedent for him of this is the kind of room you should be in; this is what you should expect. So yeah, it was beautiful. He soaked everything up like a sponge. He asked lots of questions. He was inquisitive. He wanted to know, and it was great. It never felt like a newbie in that sense where we’re waiting for him to catch up. No, he definitely held his own. But again, I think it had a lot to do with the process. It’s different when you’re on a project where from the top to the bottom, everyone is on board with the vision. Sometimes, oftentimes, you’ll have some of the actors or the director is, the writer is, but not the director, you know what I mean? Or the DP and some of the actors, but not the director. So, for everyone to be on board is a game changer. I’ve had only a few instances of that. I would probably say it would be “Only Murders” and “Dolemite Is My Name,” for sure, “Dolemite,” where we knew, “Oh, this is Eddie [Murphy’s] passion. This is his heart, and now we’re all going to get on board and embody his dream.” So, when that happens, the atmosphere is completely different, and it already takes the work to a whole nother level.
I want to ask about working with Alexander. Compared to all the directors you’ve worked with so far in your career, what makes him stand out?
I would say just how intimate it is. Listen, I’ve been with many directors, great prolific directors and ones that really care, but I think he takes extra steps. [In] other situations, I would have to ask, “Oh, is it possible if I could have this?” Or, “Would that be O.K.?” Where when you come on to set those things are already there. The other thing would be that there is no video village, there are no monitors. We’re filming in natural light. There is no set in the sense of a produced set. It’s all in natural settings, and he sits right next to the camera. The cameraman is here, and he’s literally right here, standing next to the camera. So, there’s an intimacy as well as you feel like you’re doing it along with him as a team.
In that context, are you someone who, on other projects, normally will be like, “Oh, I’m going to walk over to just see what the last shot looked like, see what we’re doing?”
Not me, personally. In my process, like the same thing with reviews, I don’t engage in it because it would take me out of it. So how I like to work is I do extensive research and do my homework, so to speak, and figure out all the ins and outs of who this woman is. Once I feel like I’ve gotten to a good place with her, I [don’t] throw the book away, but I then throw myself in the given circumstance, and we can do whatever. Meaning, at that point, I’m here, and we’re doing what we need to do. I’m not pre-determining performances. Basically, if the director said to me, “O.K., now we’re going to do this at a school. O.K., now we’re going to do this at the aquarium,” I can still, you know, move and transition accordingly. So with that being said, if I’m starting to look at myself on the monitor, what am I really looking at? How pretty am I? How my clothes fit? Did that look aesthetically? I’m not looking at the acting. Are we really looking at the acting when we’re looking at the monitor? Maybe some people are, but I don’t deal with it, so because it would take me out of it. Now I’ll say, if nothing else, we’re being analytical now of our thing. That’s not my job to do. My job is to be in the given circumstance and live, and I’m entrusting the director to be the pilot who guides us.
I totally get it. You talked about doing research for your roles. Was there anything in particular that you researched or found about that period that informed what you did as Mary?
Oh, everything. I am a very visual person. So, even when I do red carpet looks, I have a whole mood board in which I’ll pull images for hair and nails and makeup and the color swatches. I’m really in-depth in that way, just for a red carpet. So, when I approach a character, I do the same thing. I’m pulling visuals for how I think their hair would be, their clothes. I will do extensive text analysis work where I’m going through where they came from, what was their backstory, their before story, before we met them story, where are they going, all that kind of stuff so I could really get engrossed. Then, in particular, to this one, I added on smoking because [Payne] really wanted her to be a smoker. We talked about it in our first meeting, and I was like, “I don’t smoke.” He was like, no problem. I’m sending you a gift in a couple of days, and I got two big boxes of cartons full of cigarettes.
Real or clove cigarettes?
I had a mix. Most of them were fake ones, but we had to switch them out because of the quality of some of the fake ones. They either burn too fast, or it’s like this big plume of smoke. Halfway through, I was basically, what do they call them? It has the Indigenous person on the front. It’s a blue pack.
Oh, yes. I know what you’re talking about. I don’t smoke but…
But that brand, yeah, that brand in particular, sometimes sets will use if you want better than a fake one, but it’s not as bad as a real one, that’s the good in-between. So American Spirit or something? I don’t know.
Yes, it is. It is. Yeah.
Yeah. So those were the ones that when we were filming it, I then was transitioned on to those. A cigarette is a whole nother character, and there’s a rhythm and a natural cadence that you have to get accustomed to because an avid smoker, a cigarette is an appendage. It’s another finger. So with that being said, it’s very relaxed. It’s almost like almost dangling and falling out of your hand. It’s inconsequential or hanging and falling out your mouth. That takes practice and knowing when to put it up to my mouth. When do I pull? When do I say my line? When do I let out the smoke? There were times when we would do certain takes, and I’m like, “Oh, we killed that take.” He would be like, “Do it again. The smoke did something, or do it again; you were puffing too much.” So, it was just something that I had to get accustomed to. Then lastly, the other thing in regard to this show was the dialect.
They were like, “Oh, I think it’ll be fine. You’re from Philadelphia, you’ve lived in New York for several years, a northeast general.” I was like, absolutely not. I sound very New York or very Philadelphian, and Boston is very different.” I worked with a lovely, lovely dialect coach, Tom Jones, and we got so specific. I love to research. So, we got so specific that we found a late ’60s, early ’70s African-American Boston dialect. That’s why there are certain sounds that she has that sound like, “Oh, huh, that’s different,” because the Boston dialect or any dialect, is different in different periods. How people talk in the ’60s is different from how people talk now, or the ’60s, I’m not even saying colloquialisms or slang, but literally the sounds that they make. I couldn’t be sounding like Mark Wahlberg; it’s different. You know what I mean?
For sure.
That’s not what she would sound like, and then secondly, then culturally. You know what I mean? Your race, that’s a different sound as well. So, we got really specific with that and all that stuff. The clothes, the hair, the cigarettes, the dialect, all of that was super helpful in grounding me in my character.
There’s one other project you couldn’t talk about during the strike, which was the latest season of “Only Murders in the Building.” As a mainstay in all three seasons so far, have you been told, “Hey, we’re shooting in such and such a month. Keep that period open; get ready for Season 4”?
So let me ask you, ’cause maybe I’m releasing information that’s not supposed to be told. Is it public knowledge, has there been a release of saying that there’s a Season four, yes or no?
Yes. Hulu announced the fourth season.
O.K., We’re trying to figure it out in negotiations now. I think since the first season, we all, all meaning Selena [Gomez], Martin [Short], Steve, [Martin], and [showrunner] John [Hoffman], we all…You remember the people that are in a pilot, you bond in a certain way. We all realized and we were like, “Oh, yeah, this is a thing. This is a thing that will last throughout the conceit and concept of this show.” Yeah, we’re working it out to figure out now in regards to scheduling. That’s all it really comes down to. But they’ve been really awesome with scheduling of trying to figure it out. But yeah, I’ll be there.
“The Holdovers” is now playing in theaters and available for digital download.