Colman Domingo and Ava DuVernay on the Madness, Missteps, and Money of Awards Season

One thing I noticed is you both, early on, dabbled in journalism in your careers. And I’m curious how you think that interest appears in your work now in film?

Domingo: In every single way. I think I have a journalistic heart. That’s the way I’ve always approached all the work, especially coming from the theater. My friend, Candace Allen, who’s a beautiful writer, says, “Oh, Colman, you’re an archivist.” And I was like, “What?” She says, “Everything you’ve been doing, you’ve been trying to archive who we are right now and really hold a mirror up to who exactly we are right now, the things we love about ourselves, hated culturally, all that stuff.”

And I said, “Wow.” And I had to admit she was right. I think it’s because back in high school, I was on the school newspaper, and that’s where I found my joy. I love writing about things. I watch humanity. It’s funny, I’ve become less shy and I’m sort of, like Ava said, in the center of the party, but I also love to be an observer as well.

DuVernay: You do?

Domingo: Raul [Domingo’s husband] will tell you that when I’m at home, he calls me “the cat” because I’m in my office with my books and I’m reading and I’m looking and I’m laying on the floor. And also, I’m very quiet at home. What about you, Ms. Ava DuVernay, your journalistic heart?

DuVernay: I just think it’s been tough for me to make movies that are not about something real. I can do it, but I don’t enjoy it as much as the ones that require research, the ones that require investigation, the ones that require interviewing, whether it’s When They See Us or 13th or Selma or even Middle of Nowhere, which was just so many interviews to uncover the real women’s stories for that, and certainly, Origin. I love doing DMZ and Wrinkle and those things, but there’s something that beyond a love for just the filmmaking, a deep sense of purpose and meaning in taking more journalistic approach to the filmmaking and the architecture of the story that just really, it’s my thing.