AW: What is your intention with your art?

DB: My intention is to move us forward. Through my work, it’s like opening a window or even a door for people to step in and experience. It’s about fostering empathy for each other’s needs and desires in life so we can care enough to make a difference. When I started with “Orange is the New Black,” I saw the power of art in giving voice to the voiceless, celebrating diversity, and advocating for change. Art can be activism, and I witnessed my counterparts like Laverne Cox and Uzo Aduba eloquently speaking for their communities, inspiring me to use my voice for progress.

AW: When did you first realize you had something unique?

DB: It started with high school; I was 17 and had just gotten into Juilliard. I was asked to do a monologue for some donors for my high school. All of the donors were white, older women. I was terrified to perform Bernie’s monologue from August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson,” which speaks about the ancestors. I’m thinking, I’m a little black girl about to talk to these white women about ancestors – How are they going to relate to this? And they did. So, I learned the power of being a vessel, an artist whose work travels beyond our skin tone. Further than female, male, gender roles, sexuality. It’s really heart to heart, spirit to spirit, human to human.

AW: How did you foster such a gift?

DB: Well, my initial stages to cultivating that would be church. I kind of always give credit to the church because they’re so interconnected, and that’s where I got my start. They’re both very theatrical, and I say that respectfully because both in theater and church, the goal is to move people, make people feel and leave differently, better than the same way they entered into the space. And that’s what actors are trying to do.

AW: That’s a core memory for you.

DB: I saw how to connect with people from watching my pastor and the choir. I watched singers and the choir move me to tears, and that was something that made my spirit stir. I always remember something the previous president, Joseph W. Polisi of Juilliard, said: “The work doesn’t stop,” so I’ve been doing just that in this industry, learning from my mistakes and getting another opportunity to try differently in another role.

AW: When you think about legacy, what would you like to add to the tapestry of black actors that have come before you and leave to those that come after?

DB: Hattie McDaniel, the first plus-sized, dark-skinned black woman to be the representative and show that we can break barriers is huge for me. That is my purpose, to show women like me can live in different worlds and environments [depicted] in cinema and television that break the barriers of what they think they know. We’re in the sci-fi space; we’re romantic interests in rom-coms, we’re in Victorian times or cowboy – we can do it all. That’s what I want my legacy to be and to even transcend my wildest dreams in this industry.

AW: How do you think we disrupt that space and build value?

DB: We gotta just do it ourselves. We have to reach back and pull each other up when we get a chance. I watched Essence Black Woman in Hollywood and was so inspired every time I came to that event. I was in awe because these women were giving us space to be seen and share our stories and testimonies with one another. I realized there wasn’t a space for Black Broadway women, so I created with two other sisters, [an organization] Black Women on Broadway, where we could celebrate our wins and beautiful scars when these institutions don’t see us.

AW: What heals Danielle to then heal others through film?

DB: Every day brings something new. It’s about the search for wisdom and finding what refills my cup. Whether it’s a moment with my hair and makeup team, our ritual dance “the swag surf” to remind me to enjoy life, or quiet moments with family and music, I seek out those moments to refuel, especially during overwhelming times like press campaigns. It’s a lot to refuel yourself, just being quiet and listening to some PJ Morton or gospel music or using the calm app – it’s essential.

AW: What ways does the re-imagine film adaptation add to “The Color Purple” Legacy?

DB: We’ll discover the impact with time, much like the initial rejection of the first one in 1985. Over the years, there’s been a noticeable shift. Now, before our movie even released, we’ve witnessed this transformation. It’s become a significant part of our legacy, offering black women the opportunity to be the “sheroes” of their own stories, without relying on a white savior or male figure to rescue them.

AW: How do you continuously grow as an actor, mom and wife?

DB: Wisdom, wisdom, wisdom. It is embodied in the meaning of Sofia’s name. It is about embracing change and shifting thoughts. It’s easier to stay in a negative space, but pulling oneself out requires effort and willingness to redirect energy. I seek wisdom everywhere, whether through podcasts like Jay Shetty’s or listening to minister Mike Warward from FCBC [First Corinthian Baptist Church] in Harlem. When I feel low or drained, I search for inspiration from figures like Viola Davis and Maya Angelou to refill my cup and propel myself forward.

AW: What makes you feel good?

DB: Getting a good old hair moment going on. It doesn’t have to be straight, either! It can be a good old set of curls and coils, you know, but or braids or dreadlocks. I don’t know, but a fresh hairdo, some good lashes, and a beat face [getting your makeup done], honey. That’ll do it for me.

AW: What is one word to describe the mark you’ve had in your acting career so far and the same word to describe the legacy you want to leave behind? 

DB: Authenticity. It is okay to feel how you feel. You have to learn how to navigate that respectfully in this world. Being authentic has served me well. It served me with acting. It served me in my day-to-day life. It served me with being a mother and a wife. That’s a part of what my legacy would be, too. I want people to remember me as my authentic self. Whether they’re reading my articles, watching my movies, seeing me marching at a women’s rights [event]… it’s just who I am. I think that’s the only way that nobody can be better than you.

** edited for continuity

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That theme is central to Alonso Ruizpalacios’ “La Cocina.” The opening scene follows Estela (Anna Diaz) to a popular New York restaurant where she seeks work as an undocumented immigrant. Later, we find that Estela plays only a small part in the chaotic story that ensues in the bowels of the restaurant. Her scene conveys an asphyxiating, intentional sense as if the director demands that you watch his film under pressure. This is not your typical meditation on class conflict or social injustice. He does not want you to sit back and feel sorry for his dirt-poor heroes. He wants the viewers to feel as smothered as they do.

The film centers around Pedro (Raúl Briones), an undocumented cook trapped between his estranged family in Mexico and his dire circumstances in the U.S., and Julia (Rooney Mara), a Caucasian waitress barely surviving. These two characters have a fleeting affair that leaves the girl pregnant. For a moment, both begin to believe there is a glimmer of hope. But when harsh reality hits them again, as it does for everyone in the restaurant crew, Pedro causes mayhem. And when the place gets trashed, and he himself is covered in food gunk, his furious boss asks: “What do you want?” Pedro has no answer.

In Aaron Schimberg’s “A Different Man,” Edward (Sebastian Stan) lives in New York, condemned to isolation due to his grotesque facial skin deformities. Although the story develops into a confused psychological thriller that appears to lose touch with a sense of reality, the first third of the film maintains the viewer’s interest by exposing the man’s struggles adapting to a hostile world. The external hostility is not directed only toward Edward, who hides beneath the mask of his physical condition; on the contrary, people like his neighbor Ingrid (Renate Reinsve) develop a strange fascination and even attraction toward him. Instead, the hostility is innate to the decadent city where buildings rot away and people suddenly drop dead.

Many other films carry out the theme. In Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias’s film, there is “Pepe,” a hippopotamus who wonders under what unnatural circumstances he was captured, transferred from Africa to America, and killed. In Mati Diop’s documentary “Dahomey,” stolen African artifacts are awakened from the long night of their exile on their way back to their origin, and in Piero Messina’s “Another End,” where the living wish to die and vice versa.

More than all of the above, Matthias Glasner’s “Sterben” (Dying) deals with the problems of our time in an astonishingly direct and honest way. In a press conference at the festival, the German director talked about how his film emerged from his experience of caring for his dying parents on the one hand and his newborn daughter on the other. “Sterben” elicits laughter and tears as Tom (played brilliantly by Lars Eidinger), a middle-aged orchestra conductor, finds himself in a complex set of circumstances to which he can never effectively respond.

Missing his father’s funeral because the electric car runs out of electricity in the middle of nowhere; caring for his ex-girlfriend’s newborn as a “half, non-biological father,” and getting caught in the crossfire; trying to keep his music composer friend from dying by suicide; listening to his mother admitting that she never liked her son and attempting to communicate with his renegade alcoholic sister … are just some of his daily situations. What threads them all together, though, is Tom’s gnawing feeling of inadequacy. Is it still our world? – he asks in an astute moment of artistic expression.

As usual, the Golden Globes had a strong presence at the festival, including a widely-praised party/event at the China Club on Feb. 16. Reps from the Golden Globes Assn. were also among the 100-plus entertainment journalists who attended the press conference with Martin Scorsese, the Golden Bear Honoree this year. He was asked to comment on the contribution of film festivals to international cinema. “Paying attention to the individual voice, the individual artist,” Scorsese responded; “a film festival has the opportunity to introduce to the world different points of view, basically making the world closer and smaller, meaning people knowing each other and knowing each other’s cultures.”

One could add that a festival like Berlin’s helps the world “become closer and smaller” thanks to its vibrant multi-culturalism but, most importantly, because its program collectively explores issues that are consciously or subliminally dealt with throughout contemporary everyday life.

If the question is what we want, could the answer be … we want everything? Could it ever be that Pedro gets the girl and the job, too? Love and decent pay? Can Edward be healthy and happy? Can Pepe, the hippopotamus, live peacefully in the African rivers? The living go on living? Can Tom simultaneously care for his loved ones and have a fulfilling artistic career? Can he do the right thing? And if we find that the answer is, yes, we could have all of it, that a whole life is still possible, then we might as well concede that the world is still ours.

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The Golden Globes has been a cornerstone of the film and television industry for decades. The awards have become a global symbol of artistic achievement, known for recognizing the ability to honor excellence in national and international entertainment.

The application submission deadline is 6 pm PST, Friday, March 8, 2024. Applications submitted after that deadline will not be considered. To be eligible as a Golden Globe voter, you must be an entertainment journalist working for an internationally-based media outlet. To verify your journalistic work, submit at least five (5) examples of your published or aired work within the past 12 months.

Interested individuals can visit the application portal to access the new voter application. The application form includes sections for personal and professional information. For more information and to apply, visit here.

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The ceremony aired live on CBS and Paramount+. Nielsen ratings said the live broadcast earned 9.4 million viewers one day later. However, final figures put the audience at more than 10 million, up 50% from last year and its largest audience since 2020. The Golden Globes was the second-largest live-streamed CBS special event on Paramount+ in terms of average minute audience (AMA) and reach.

The 81st annual Golden Globes scored an additional 6 million streamed views on Penske Media’s Harmony Platform in its first 24 hours, bringing total views to 16 million. That platform includes such sites as Variety, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Robb Report, WWD, and Vox.

In other good news for the making-a-comeback Globes, several doomsday predictions never occurred. Some websites in December said no stars would show up. (They did). Multiple sites also reported that 64 Golden Globes voters were “threatening to withhold their final ballots” to protest that they wouldn’t be seated in the Intl. Ballroom at the Beverly Hilton. As it turns out, only a handful made the threat, and all of them voted.

The 64 individuals in question are “legacy voters,” meaning they were members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association who carried over into the new Golden Globes organization when the HFPA was dissolved. Those legacy voters are part of the 300 individuals worldwide, in more than 70 countries, who voted on this year’s awards. And, despite some weather warnings, it didn’t rain on the show.

The 2024 engagement is excellent growth for The Globes, as it’s undergone significant organizational change and ignites even more hope for the future.

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