Actor, director, filmmaker, NAACP Image-Award winner and Oscar Nominee, Ava Duvernay looking as amazing as ever, covers Essence’s “Black Women in Hollywood” March cover.
ReadΒ a few quote’s/excerpts from the trailblazer in the upcoming issue which hits newsstands on Friday, February 17.
βI want to do what I want to do for as long as I want to do it. I donβt have children. These films are my children. So this is what I will leave. Iβm going to give them all the love and nurturing I can and send them out into the world to do what theyβre gonna doβ¦β
AVA ON βHER CHILDRENβ:βI want to do what I want to do for as long as I want to do it. I donβt have children. These films are my children. So this is what I will leave. Iβm going to give them all the love and nurturing I can and send them out into the world to do what theyβre gonna doβ¦β
AVA ON HER APPROACH TO DIRECTING:βI donβt have to approach film like a man would, or like anybody else I read about, because itβs personalβ¦so thereβs no right way or wrong way. Directors talk about their process but that doesnβt have to be my process. My process is where the sets feel very familial, where I like to know my cast personally and where I value who people are more than their namesβ¦[Itβs important to] imbue the sets and the experience with a sense of myself, a sense of warmth, a sense of family, not shying away from the thingsβ¦that make me a Black woman, and just embracing those things and letting that come out in the material itselfβ¦β
OPRAH ON AVA AS A DIRECTOR:βI saw Ava on the set ofΒ Selma, out in 104 degrees, finding knee pads for some of the older women who needed them. Sheβs walking around handing out knee pads: βMaβam, here. Put this on your knees. Maβam, I think you should have some water.β And sheβs got a whole thing of waters. She, the director, comes from behind the camera and sheβs passing out waterβ¦β
DAVID OYELOWO ON WORKING WITH AVA:βWho we are intersects with what we create, and Ava is someone I genuinely adore spending time with. I refer to her as my sister because I feel like Iβve known her far longer than I have. We barely need to say words for me to know what she needs out of meβ¦βΒ [Excerpt:Β βHis goal, adds Oyelowo, is to continue to doing projects with her forever: βUntil the day I dieβ¦ββ]