“I just feel like some things are just too good for me to be in.”
But she wasn’t about to let it pass her by that quickly.
So theKing Richardstar put her best foot er, photo forward.
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor in ‘Origin’.Neon / Courtesy Everett Collection
It got DuVernay’s attention.
A job that became very personal, for a variety of reasons.
In the process, she experiences some devastating losses that deeply impact her life.
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor in ‘Origin’.NEON
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: There are so many different emotional beats that we see on Isabel’s journey.
How did you navigate each of those?
Did you compartmentalize and just take one thing at a time?
Jon Bernthal and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor in ‘Origin’.Atsushi Nishijima/Courtesy of NEON
AUNJANUE ELLIS-TAYLOR:With a journey like that, you have to take it one day at a time.
You have to be like,This is what I’m going to do today.
You want to stay honest.
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor in ‘Origin’.Atsushi Nishijima/Courtesy of NEON
You don’t want to perform.
I didn’t want toperformgrief.
So I took it moment by moment and tried to just meet the moment.
So how did you find your way around that?
Well, I live with it.
Isabel had a romance with her mother a beautiful romance with her mother.
And I had a romance with my mother.
My mother was the love of my life.
So I know what it’s like to have that snatched away from me.
[Laughs] She was my gossiper, my fellow sister gossiper.
She was all of those things to me.
And so I was able to employ that in service of what I had to do with the film.
It’s such a deeply profound and emotional and quiet moment.
So what was it like to film that scene?
We shot that scene at this palace in India…
The backdrop of it was just stunning.
There was a certain peace about it.
I felt like I was the only person on the planet.
I was that alone.
In fact, Ava said that that is what Ms. Wilkerson said she did say to her loved one.
But listen, if I am talking to someone in that situation, it’s going to sound ridiculous.
I was a mess during that scene.
You had to protect yourself, you mean.
That, and protect the character.
But that’s not whosheis.
In moments that I felt demanded boldness, she would be withheld.
In moments where I wanted to yell, she chose silence.
And that was very hard for me because it made me feel like I wasn’t doing anything.
I want to start with Jon Bernthal.
Did you, by chance, suggest him to play Isabel’s husband?
No, I didn’t.
I remember teasing him one day about his short shorts.
[Laughs] That was about the limit of our communication.
It was a partnership that we built.
I have such fondness for Jon Bernthal.
He’s such a lovely human being, and truly one of the best actors ever…
He’s brawn, but he is brain he’s incredibly smart.
And he’s an incredibly sensitive cat.
He walks in love, and he cracks me up.
I’m glad people get to see him this way.
Your other reunion isNiecy Nash-Betts, your costar fromWhen They See Us,as Isabel’s cousin, Marion.
These two have a really deep connection.
What were you most excited to show with that relationship?
She is such an honest actor nothing comes out of her mouth that’s not believable.
When she opens her mouth, she opens her mouth in truth.
And I love working with actors like that because you get permission to not perform.
It becomes so easy.
You just get to breathe.
And I just enjoyed working with her.
Do you feel that?
And if so, what do you think changed?
Yeah, I think it started probably about 10 years ago.
It was that simple.
And the reality of Mississippi is that it is a neo-Confederate state, period.
I stopped accepting no from people, from directors and cast.
I just stopped it.
But I also stopped accepting no from myself.
And I look at it as nothing less than that.This interview has been condensed for clarity and length.
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