Viola Davis has already won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and two Tonys, and on Monday night she became just the third person to receive an EGOT and Film at the Lincoln Center’s prestigious Chaplin Award, a feat achieved only by Mike Nichols and Audrey Hepburn.
At Monday’s Chaplin Awards gala in New York, which Lesli Klainberg, president of Film at Lincoln Center, said is meant to recognize Davis’s “whole career” and “honor someone whose career is still ahead of them,” told the acclaimed actress and producer The Hollywood Reporter that what she really wants to do is direct.
“I feel like I have a director’s head,” Davis said. “I love tapping the potential of (other actors). And I always watch movies that say, ‘If only that beautiful actor had done this, this, and that…’”
For Jessica Chastain, one of Davis’ many A-list collaborators who came out to honor her, her The help co-star can do “whatever she wants” in the future.
“I think she’s in a place now where she can just choose what she’s into and what she’s excited about,” she shared. THR prior to the event. ‘I hope so for her. She is an EGOT winner. She is a bestselling author. She’s conquered just about everything. She has the most incredible life, and I just hope for Viola, whatever she’s feeling, it’s her next journey that she gets to do it.
Inside, Chastain, who also worked with Davis The disappearance of Eleanor Rigby and learned “how funny” the acclaimed actress is, praising Davis’ groundbreaking career.
“When I see a movie like The Queen of Women, it has Viola’s fingerprints all over it. Such a movie with a female director and a cast of powerful black female leads can be made in Hollywood today because of Viola’s lifelong advocacy for women of color,” said Chastain, before adding, referring to the critically acclaimed film’s remarkable shutout. this year Academy Awards, “maybe a movie like that could be nominated for an Oscar someday.”
The Queen of Women director Gina Prince-Bythewood, who opened up about the message she says was sent by the lack of Oscar recognition in a recent play for THRindicated she was encouraged by the entertainment industry’s reception to her comments.
“So many people, so many companies (have) shared the (piece), and that was the point,” Prince-Bythewood shared. THR Monday night. ‘I can’t just talk about it. I need to inspire others to talk about it and make changes. So I hope there will be changes within the Academy. But I never want to let that crowd in The Queen of Women and the success we had and the miracle that this movie was made.
It’s Davis’ leadership by example that, according to Klainberg, made Film at Lincoln Center want to recognize her this year’s honor.
“She stands out for the way she’s really blazed her trail and is a unique presence in the movie industry,” Klainberg said of Davis. “I think about her career. She has been a real working actor for years. She had minor roles in movies and probably wasn’t recognized as she should have been because when you look back at these movies where she only has a few scenes, it’s fascinating.
Despite all her acclaim, Davis said she was still “shock” about being presented with an award previously received by Spike Lee, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Barbra Streisand, Tom Hanks, Jane Fonda, Meryl Streep and other Hollywood titans.
“That’s what prices do. You’re always like, “Me, little old me?” And then you run with it before they take it away,” Davis shared THR for the event of her astonishment at the honour. “I’m a little nervous because I’m shy. I’m introverted. You have a lot of people talking about your career, your life, you watch life unfold on screen, so I want to be there. I want to be able to handle it. And I want to feel like I’ve earned it. For too many years I felt like I didn’t deserve this. I really want to feel like I deserve it. So I am preparing for it.”
Prince-Bythewood echoed Chastain and Davis’s “funny” and “shy” assessments of this year’s honoree.
“You think it’s Viola Davis, she’s just walking around, but she’s very shy but also incredibly funny,” she said.
Inside, Streep recalled Davis delivering a great performance over and over again Doubt as the pair filmed the same scene multiple times.
Davis finally accepted her award after excerpts from her filmography and speeches by Chastain, Streep, Prince-Bythewood, Steve McQueen, George C. Wolfe, and Jayme Lawson.
“I have an opinion or fantasy, whatever you want to call it, that every artist creates for the purpose of love,” Davis said in her speech, taking the time to poke fun at her nearby alma mater Juilliard by saying that the acclaimed school “kicked my damn ass.”
“I mean, I love you, Juilliard, I really do,” she said. “But man, I had a lot of Texas-sized margaritas before I went to a critique session.”
Finally she said, “Ultimately, we are here to love. And the love and the connection starts with yourself and then I share it with you. And I share it with you because I love and that’s all there is.”
