Gina Torres On the Power of Surrendering, the Humanity Of the Moment, Spreading Kindness and Her Newest Project '911: Lone star'
Several times, I think part of evolving and just being on the planet is being as agile as you can with the circumstances that you find yourself in. That doesn't have to be negative, sometimes it’s incredibly positive and you have to adjust. It can sometimes be as difficult to adjust to success as it is to adjust to failure. Shifting your expectations and broadening your skillset, in either situation, is imperative for your own survival.
Such a big part of our culture with social media is trashing people who are in the public eye and trashing celebrities and sometimes they bate you. And I say that without judgment because what I think people need to understand is that none of us are equipped, I truly mean, none of us. The human existence is not equipped to deal with and thrive in that kind of judgmental, relentless, and unforgiving fishbowl. All people see is adulation and that everyone loves them and they are getting all of this attention. There is another side of the coin to that so how you react, shift, and deal with both sides of that coin really determines your happiness, joy, and success as a human being and as a person. The same can be said of the depths of your art and your craft. Are you being stunted? Are you putting yourself in a box? All of those questions are questions that I know I have asked myself and, how do I get out of this rut? (laughs)
The first step to all of that is to surrender. I think most people think, well, fight back and change, but no (laughs). The very first step is to take a breath, two, or five or as many as you need and surrender to the moment and say: here I am. What do I need in this very moment in time? Then you just start taking little bites out of it. What do I need to do today? What will I need tomorrow? What’s important to me in this moment and constantly check in on my own happiness. Has it taken a hit in my own hands or by outside forces that I cannot protect myself from?
Before the world ended, I was in New York City shooting a pilot, and it became clear that ABC was not going to pick it up in June or July. I was thinking, I don’t know what the industry is going to look like, or how they are going to be able to figure out how to make this work and keep hundreds of people safe because it takes hundreds of people to make a show in close quarters. It’s like every day would be a super-spreader event (laughs)—it’s just the nature of the business. So while everybody in the industry was asking themselves that question, my rep got a call that said Tim would like to talk to me about joining Lone Star. I had known him since he was one of the head writers from Firefly. I thought, okay, I loved him as a writer—he wrote some of my favorite episodes—and I was a fan of Feud and American Horror Story. I said if he wants to talk to me, I am all ears. I went on a Zoom conference call, he pitched the character to me, his intent, and the story arc that they were hoping to make happen. There were no poker faces, it was like yep, good to me!
She is a woman who left her role as an EMT at the height of her career to start a family; she did so happily and never looked back. She had twin girls, who she has been raising for eight years, and her husband is a restaurateur but covid forced him to close down his restaurant and forced my character to go back to work. So we find her at this crossroads that many, many women and families are experiencing in real-time.
No, actually, we are playing frontline workers and so I will say that the responsibility of getting it right looms large and heavy on all of us. If we hadn't been portraying them as heroes before now, which I think they did a really good job of doing so, they are doing it even more so now. We are putting an even a finer point on what it is asked of these workers because at the end of the day, we have lost so many to the pandemic. They have sacrificed a lot and many have even volunteered. What has moved me the most, with the stories we have told this far, is that their humanity is front and center in the stories that we choose to tell; I love that and it is so important. You never forget that amidst all of these epic rescue stories we get to tell and portray, you never loose sight of the fact that these are real people—they are vulnerable, fragile and impossibly human in every possible way, other than this super-human skill set that they possess.
Again we focus on the humanity of the moment; she has been away so the question is, does she still have it? She has been doing knees and toes and knees and toes (laughs) and packing lunches for a while but does she still have what it takes in the field, which is very specific. I love that we get to see that she is who she is and that part of her has not changed. We also get to see her own relief in the knowing that she is still that woman as well.
Yes and no, it’s a little bit harder for us, we lovingly refer to them as the covid police. Unless we are in front of the camera doing a scene, we have our masks on. There are some scenes that we actually have our masks on. It’s that dual reality, where you just finished a scene and finish the day, someone comes around and says put your mask on.
Just more! More! (laughs) I mean really, that’s the only answer to that question is just more opportunity, more diversity, and more storytelling through varied lenses. That’s what I want to do. I am just completely enamored, besotted, with Bridgerton right now. I am like, yes, yes, look how beautiful that is, that’s perfection. You cannot tell me that is not perfection. Who doesn’t want to see that? I look to the cast of Lone Star and we are sitting talking, we all couldn't be more different and then the same and it’s beautiful. It’s such a privilege and a dream. It’s like a waking dream to look at all of these faces who hold important positions in our production. I have been doing this for 30 years. I’ve seen a lot a lot of good stuff and stuff you keep your head down and walk through because there was always that fear well, shit, if I am the one who says something now, it’s my head on the pike, but that has changed too. I would say certainly in the last seven years, my experience has been more than opening, more of a desire to work with and listen to actors of color.
So often and because it was just the power structure or paradigm of the industry, and all over the world in all forms of business, you just had white men everywhere in charge and occasionally white women. They told the stories that they wanted to tell and they portrayed the people and certain groups of how they saw them or perceived them to be. I am happy to say that there has been a generation of writers, directors, and producers who now are aware of their whiteness, aware of their positioning and have become willing and dare I say woke enough to say: I want to get this right. I am still a white man; I am in a position of power, and I need your help to do it. It takes a certain type of humility to then bring people along and keep that door open and promote more people of color into positions of power; and more women into positions of power and not to perceive it as a threat but as an asset.
My first love is being in front of the camera. I love acting, I mean that. As long as I can remember my lines and do a good job, I want to do it for as long as I can. But yes, absolutely, I am always looking for new projects. I do want to hang my shingle out and have my production company, find content, create content and tell stories. I am a storyteller, first and foremost, as anyone who has ever been bored by me at a party (laughs).
Kindness. Really, I am just focused on kindness and really putting as much into the world—as much kindness and understanding—as I possibly humanely can. I don’t want to sound Pollyanna, (laughs) but we have had quite enough of the other. I just want to be heard; I want to be seen and I want to do the same for others.
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watch new episodes of ‘911: Lone star’ Mondays on FOX at 9pm
A few special thank you to Gina, Toby, Tiffany and the 42 West Team