By Lindsey Bahr, Film Reporter
LOS ANGELES (AP) --Octavia Spencer is a movie star. She has been for almost a decade since audiences and Oscar voters fell in love with her as Minnie in "The Help." Since then she's gotten two more supporting actress Oscar nominations, one of which was for a film that became another "surprise" blockbuster ("Hidden Figures"), ramped up her production company, acted consistently in film and television and written children's books. She even executive produced this year's best picture winner, "Green Book."
But there was one thing she hadn't yet done in her nearly 25 years in the business: Starred in her own film. She'd been a lead before, but she'd never been first on the call sheet. Until now.
The film that righted that wrong is "Ma," a Blumhouse horror movie in which she plays a small town woman who buys beer for some local high school students and lets them party in her basement, before things take a sinister turn. It opens nationwide this weekend, and it's unlike anything audiences have seen Spencer do before.
"There are only a couple of archetypes people are comfortable seeing me in. And for me, it's like, you know you might only be comfortable seeing me this way, but there are so many colors in this crayon box," Spencer, 47, said. "I want to play everything that you don't think I can do."
She'd found herself, despite all the success, being considered for only "nurturer" or "sage" roles. She wanted to stretch.
The only reason "Ma" came to her was Tate Taylor, who wrote and directed "The Help," but also has been Spencer's friend since they were production assistants together on "A Time to Kill" in 1995, dreaming about a move to Los Angeles and a career in movies.
The script Taylor saw was written for a white woman, but he thought of Spencer nonetheless.
"She had expressed to me she was frustrated," Taylor said. "She's grateful for her career but she was being offered the same thing and never the lead. Women of color just don't get the lead unless they're a slave or a maid."
So he called his former roommate (they lived together in a mid-city Los Angeles duplex for seven years), and proposed this semi-deranged film that would be a departure for both of them.
"I said, 'Well, usually black people get killed in the first 15 minutes of a horror film,'" Spencer said. "And he said, 'Not only do you not die within the first 15 minutes, but you actually do all the killing.' I thought, 'Ok, I'm interested.'"
The script needed some work, though. Ma didn't really have a motivation, she was just crazy, and Taylor changed that.
"The things that he changed weren't based on race," Spencer said. "It was just giving her a backstory, to give her a reason, in her mind, as to why she takes such a dark turn."
But ask Spencer what her dream role is and the answer might surprise you.
"I always say, the part of producer," she said. "Not only do I get to create opportunities for myself but for other people. I still live by that. And if there is something that I'm dying to do, if it's not written, as a producer, I have an option now to create it for myself."
She'd been optioning books going back to her time on "The Help," but her first executive producing credit actually came about by accident when Ryan Coogler's "Fruitvale Station" lost $150,000 of its $900,000 budget.
"I put in some money and then I started making some calls to people… I don't even know that I had the resources. I just knew that it was important for me to do," Spencer said. "We were not going to let it die on the vine, and I had just worked with people who I knew had the resources and so I called."
She got some nos, but those people regretted it and have since kept bugging her for whatever else she's got.
"I say, I'm not going to call you unless I need you again and you know when I make that call it'll be something worthy of your time," Spencer said with a smile.
She's got a lot on her plate right now. She's jet-lagged, for one, having just gotten off a plane from London where she's filming the remake of "The Witches." She's also teamed up with LeBron James to produce and star in a Netflix series about entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker, as well as an AppleTV+ crime drama "Truth Be Told."
Her company, ORIT Entertainment, doesn't really have a mission statement ("I know people are supposed to have them," she laughed) but she knows what she's looking for.
"The truth is that I want to tell stories that allow for escapism. I want to tell stories that educate, that entertain, that hopefully inspire," she said. "There are people going through a lot of things and that two hours in the movie theater should be some type of enjoyment."
The name ORIT actually harkens back to a time when people didn't know her name. It was her first day as an intern in casting director Francine Maisler's office and she kept hearing Maisler call "Orit! Orit!"
"I was just sitting by the phone and finally mid-day one of the assistants in the office says, 'I think you're Orit,'" Spencer said.
She said loves Maisler, by the way, who was embarrassed about the "Devil Wears Prada" moment. And "Orit" kind of became her alter-ego. Besides, Spencer is worlds away from that time of anonymity now.
"At this point in my life, I will be heard," she said.
“Heretic” and “Maria” Set As Red Carpet Premieres At AFI Fest
The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced that Heretic, the psychological thriller starring Hugh Grant, and Maria, based on the life of opera singer Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie, will round out the Red Carpet Premieres section at this year’s AFI Fest. The Heretic Gala Screening will take place on Thursday, October 24, and the Maria Gala Screening will be held on Saturday, October 26. The complete Red Carpet Premieres section includes the world premieres of Music By John Williams, Robert Zemeckis’ Here, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2. All Red Carpet Premieres will take place at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre. The full lineup for AFI Fest 2024 will be unveiled on October 1.
“At the heart of AFI Fest is an unwavering dedication to celebrating the best in global cinema--together,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO. “We look forward to uniting artists and audiences once again to be inspired by the art form in a powerful sense of community.”
Heretic follows two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (portrayed by Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The film is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods and produced by Stacey Sher, Beck, Woods, Julia Glausi and Jeanette Volturno. The film will be released nationwide by A24 on November 8.
Directed by Pablo Larraín, Maria presents a tumultuous and beautiful depiction of one of the world’s most renowned artists and reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days in Paris, as Callas (Jolie)... Read More