Lee Daniels didnt want to touch the story of Billie Holiday. Lady Sings the Blues already existed after all. The 1972 film with Diana Ross and Billy Dee Williams showed him Black romance and a Harlem like hed never seen on screen before. It was the film that made him want to be a director.
But it wasnt her full story. Holiday, hed come to realize, was an unsung civil rights hero who was targeted by the U.S. government for her drug use and her protest song, Strange Fruit. Its this story thats told in The United States vs. Billie Holiday, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. The film debuts Friday on Hulu.
I was like, where have I been for all these 59 years? How come I dont know this story when I sort of know everybodys story, or I thought I did, when it comes to Black history, Daniels said. It made me think about the many stories that arent told that we dont know about. And so I had to tell the story.
He even called up legendary record producer Berry Gordy, who produced Lady Sings the Blues, to get his blessing.
I just wanted to do her right, Daniels said. I was so terrified.
Naturally the biggest challenge would be finding the right actor for Holiday. He didnt know what he was looking for should he go for a named actor? An unknown? A singer making her film debut, like Ross had 50 years ago?
At the suggestion of his manager, he met with Andra Day, who had been nominated for a Grammy but had never acted. It was something Day had been thinking about, but she figured before she did anything, shed take a few years off and really learn the craft.
When she sat down with Daniels, Day told him, I dont think I should do this.
Still, they formed a connection over Billie, who shed loved since age 11, and the fact that they both thought this was a terrible idea. Then Daniels saw a tape, filmed in secret by Days acting coach, of her transforming into Holiday, and he was sold. It had to be Day.
Making the film was a challenge, though. Daniels shot on film, which ate up a large part of the budget, and he wanted to make sure to depict her world and all its glamour, so all the money they could scrape together is on the screen.
Theres a beauty of working in independent cinema because I dont have to answer to anybody but the actors and my crew, Daniels said. “Theres no outside interference from suits who dont know anything about our culture. It was great to just do us. Everything you see on that screen is us. Its our soul.
Day was grateful that the start date kept getting pushed back. She had about a year and a half to prepare, which started confusing her mother when shed drift into Billie-isms in real life.
My behaviors would change. I was smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol and just wilder than Im used to being, more emotionally vulnerable and open, Day said. Im a Capricorn, I keep that (expletive) on lock.”
Getting into character turned out to be the least of her problems. Getting out of character was another story. It even alarmed Daniels.
I get emotional talking about this girl because shes getting ready to be mega famous after this, Daniels said. (But) I was terrified for her as we were as we were coming to an end. One of the last things that we shot was her singing All of Me and I said, its time for you to release Billie. Youve got to sing it as Andra now…She couldnt do it, she could not leave Billie and she knew she let me down. So she started crying.
Day did not, in fact, let Daniels down and the tears made it into the final moments of film, but the next thing he did was to book a vacation for his lead to Tulum, Mexico. He split the cost with the production.
But Day was too attached. Even after she got back, she had trouble letting Billie go and would get excited to do additional shoots, which felt like purpose again.
And the commitment is earning her awards buzz and a nomination at Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards.
Its that Lee Daniels effect, she laughed. The Daniels-produced Monsters Ball got Halle Berry her Oscar and then Precious, which he directed, got a nomination for Gabourey Sidibe and a win for MoNique.
Daniels is still a bit heartbroken that the film wont be released widely in theaters after he fought so hard to shoot it on film, but after the protests of last summer he knew he needed to get it out.
We had that incident that just changed America and everybody went to the streets and you couldnt make that up, he said. We could have pushed it to next year. But I thought it was important to release it right now, given everything that was going down in America.
As for Day? Billie is still there in some ways.
Im still trying to navigate it, Day said. But Im not out on a cliff anymore.
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Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr
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