Let's talk about Perfilia.
Perfilia.
Perfilia.
Perfilia.
The betrayer.
Did you feel bad when you were beating him?
No.
Oh, my god!
I wasn't supposed to feel bad.
Victor!
I was supposed to feel bad.
Victor!
I think you're the coolest person I've ever met in my life.
Thank you.
You are so astounding.
Welcome to my living room, Tia.
Thank you.
It's so nice.
Very spacious.
Yeah, you know.
I love it.
Yeah, very minimalist.
I thought, like, by coming here, I would probably see, like, bodies everywhere.
In notebooks.
Yeah, like I took it home with me.
I'm so excited to meet you.
Like what?
I mean, I remember when I first saw 1001, I just was so blown away.
I was like, who is this person?
Where did this person come from?
It was such like a well of emotion.
I was like, I was totally riveted by what you did.
And it felt like, I don't even think she knows there's cameras on her.
It was that kind of thing you just can't look away from.
And it just felt like it was just coming from such a place of truth.
And I think that was for you also like a pretty big breakthrough, right?
Yeah, that was like my first real breakthrough.
Like I had just retired music and I was like, I want to pour into everything else that I love.
I don't want to be stuck in one box.
I want to.
And i remember, like everybody, like we don't think that's smart, you shouldn't retire music.
And i remember, just like when i took that leap of faith i was like okay, so what now?
I was so scared but i knew i had to walk on this faith journey.
You know, i knew it was a faith walk for me.
So maybe not even a month after i retired from music this role comes across my desk.
And I was just like, that's nothing but God.
I'm like, I knew I had a point to prove.
I had work to do.
And at that point, the role was mine to lose or mine to keep.
And I went in.
So it was like filming that, I knew that I had to really get in a certain bag.
So you had closed the door to a certain extent on music.
Yeah, I did.
I did.
And I thought I was closing the door, like, for good.
And I was okay with that.
You know what I'm saying?
Like I wasn't going to allow people to like back me into a corner, because I usually let people do that.
It's like, it would be me against the whole room.
I'm like, okay, well, maybe since it's me against the whole room, maybe I'm bugging.
You know?
Maybe I'm tripping.
I can take accountability, you know?
It felt like you brought that into it, though, in that part.
You know, it's like somebody against the world.
Yeah, exactly.
So in a way, it was like... a molting of that thing that you had to do.
Exactly.
It made it easier to find her layers and color, coordinate her layers and knowing when to you know it was a lot of work.
Yeah, but it feels like it's interesting because I've been thinking a lot about that word vocation, you know like what's our calling.
You know, acting is an element of that music, you know, for you.
It's an element of that, but like the source of it is something deeper.
It feels like you access that source so beautifully.
You know that it's coming out in that moment through the acting, but it feels like it comes from some.
I don't know, some real fiery furnace.
That's amazing.
Did you train in acting?
How did you make that transition?
I mean, I know you had done Stomp the Yard, right?
You're taking it back.
You're taking it back.
But, like, how did that play out for you?
Honestly, since a kid, I've just always been a character, you know?
And as I got older, just I... Like, kids would play, and I would watch movies.
And some movies was probably some movies I should not have been watching.
You know what I'm saying?
But it was just like I've always been into just how an actor can emote in just a different emotions.
And I think it's really crazy, because growing up like that at a young age has made me extremely like, emotionally mature.
You know what I'm saying?
So it's just like, it made me empathetic.
It made me an empath.
It's just like cause I always wanted to be Julia Roberts, or you know, like it was just Kate Winslet.
It was, I was just, I would feel it in ways.
It's like, girl, you ate.
You eight years old.
What do you mean?
Why are you singing Titanic while all the kids is playing?
You know what I'm saying?
Like, but that was me.
So as I got older and I got into music, it's kind of like music, just kind of like bullied everything.
It was my first love, of course, but being signed to a label is kind of like that was first.
Everything else was kind of put to a backburner.
I didn't have.
I didn't get the opportunity to go to classes and you know, study it the way I would have liked to you know.
So it was kind of like, just everything being put into one box and that's just not what i wanted so i started directing and i realized that i wanted more i'm like okay music videos it's fine because at this point i was directing for everybody in the music industry but all my stuff was always like narrative so i was like yeah i want to do television and film in regards to like the directing space so once i started to feel like in the music space on top of the fact that I felt like my art wasn't really being appreciated.
I was like I need to pour into other things that I love and stop putting it on the back burner for what this person may feel like I need to do or that person may feel like I need to do.
And particularly like storytelling, like that was such a passion.
Exactly, yes, it was such a passion.
So it was just like coming into acting And coming straight into 1001.
I had to train myself and I had to use my life and my experiences, you know.
And it's crazy, because it always makes me think, like, timing is everything, you know?
And I always say, the weight is not punishment, it's preparation for what's already written for you.
Had everything went my way and I wasn't claustrophobic.
Yeah, if everything went my way when I wanted it to go my way, I don't think I would have been the same Inez in 1001.
I wouldn't have been the same Profitia in One Battle After Another.
I think I had to go through some real shit.
I had to feel some shit to know how to channel these emotions.
At one point my mom worked in the foster care system.
To hear the stories and to understand what mothers was going through and kids in foster care
It was just like, all of it was like preparation.
That's so heartbreaking.
Yeah, and that was like the last thing she was doing right before I got signed, right before she became my manager.
So it was like very- So you get to tell her story in a way too, right?
Exactly to also be a mom and experience what it feel like to feel like it's me against the world.
You know navigating, you know wicked industry and navigating life and navigating motherhood.
But it's funny that thing, because we feel like you know you can get so resentful like man, like why didn't I?
I had that chance and it didn't, and I wanted that thing to happen.
And this idea of like loving your fate, because it's like, it's exactly where you need to be.
It's not like, why did this happen to me?
It's why am I happening to this?
Exactly.
Right now.
I don't think that anything will fall into line.
I think, And that's why I feel like I thrive in roles like that, like complex roles, because it's just so much built up in me that I'm able to kind of like color coordinate every single layer of mine and apply a layer to this character.
Okay, so I do have a few layers for Perfilia.
Well, let's talk about Perfilia.
Perfilia.
Perfilia.
Faithlessness, you know?
The Betrayer, that word, but it's like a Shakespearean.
It's such a good name.
I really wish that it didn't mean what it meant.
Well, it's great that it means what it means because, in a way, it's beautiful, because it reminds me of Shakespeare.
He has names like this where they have such, you can judge it by that.
It seems to be faithlessness, right?
But in some way, she's the character that everything is in relation to as the movie plays out.
Right, right.
And that's a lot of responsibility.
But the second that opening shot, like you're walking with such command.
And immediately there's just gravity right there with the way that you're walking down that road scoping out that detention center, you know.
And it reminds me of like you as a dancer, like how you can see that the way that you command with your body, with the way you move up and down, there's a full awareness of what your body is doing and what is communicating for the story.
Is it something that you're conscious of or is it just like, It just happens instinctually.
I think it just happens for me.
Conversation is very important.
I'm an over communicator.
So if we have a conversation like and we're talking about what this scene feel like as if we're in the scene, it's kind of like I just do it.
And maybe it's like the choreographer in me is like everything is just like, it's just a flow, you know.
And like I said, most importantly, really understanding who the character is.
And for me, what makes it easy for me is definitely the color coordination of layers.
I have to, cause I'm like a visual person.
We talk about that, you said it twice, color coordination.
What do you mean?
So like when I say color coordinate, layers.
You have moments where like okay, the scene with Perfidia and she's walking out from the baby and Bob, She don't cry, but you see this face that she make at the baby.
And then you see the face she make when she look at Bob.
And all that happened in less than five seconds.
You get what I'm saying?
So it's kind of like okay, when I'm looking at baby Willa, like this is the color of, like she is my soft space, you know.
So I'm pink.
But then when I roll my eyes up, I'm instantly red, you know?
And it's just like, she's selfish.
And she's.
So I'm like literally, like Then when I walk out and this is the new consciousness, I'm blue, so I'm able to, you know.
So it's like those little tiny things.
And when do those colors come in, beforehand?
Or while you're doing it and in retrospect?
Yeah, while I'm doing it.
I think, of course, reading the line, I understand.
It's like I find it in real.
I work good under pressure, so I find it in real time of like okay, cool.
Like yes, perfidia is all of these things, but I don't think that she could just look at her baby and just be cold.
You can see she's so heartbroken by this thing but, at the same time, pulled by a real commitment to this ideal of what the revolution means and what it means to live a revolutionary life.
On top of that, she's dealing with postpartum depression yeah, so what that feel like and finding those layers of yeah i'm all about.
You know this.
But at the same time, i'm dealing with this and this is a reflection of No one's showing up for her.
And I'm all I got.
You know what I'm saying?
And I need to be free.
And you want me to sit at home and be, you know, and play house.
And that's never been the video.
On top of the fact that who really, you know, what is this a product of?
Of Bob, who I love, but also of Lockjaw, who...
I resent.
You get what I'm saying?
It's just so many different things and she's so complex because it's so many different colors in Pathedia.
Right, but she just needs to breathe.
She just needs to be free, which is the whole part of the revolutionary spirit for her, right?
Exactly.
So, for my sisters in need, we will strike.
Sincerely yours, Pathedia Beverly Hills, motherfucker.
It does feel like you bring so much of your own personality into these things, you know?
I think about that scene.
I think about the scene when you guys are by the campfire, you know, and you're just going wild, you're wild, you know.
Yeah.
Was there a lot of improvisation?
Yeah, it was.
And with PTA, you know, we always joke about the chaos to be determined, you know?
So it's a chaos TVD.
And that's what it says on the script.
So it's kind of like when we get there, he say...
Go?
It's like an invitation.
Yeah, he's like, my perfidia, do you.
You know, it's like when you have... something on a leash.
And when you release and you say that one word, it's just go.
It's just, that's what it is.
And how do you prepare for that?
Do you have like, I'm going to have some ideas about what I want to talk about.
For me, I feel like at the end of the day, this is still somebody else's vision, right?
So you want to make sure you respect the vision.
I think as long as I'm hitting on what that vision is, I kind of stay within the vision lane, but then just do my own thing.
How, how would I get there?
You know, like who is she?
She's this, she's reckless.
She's, You know, she has no filter.
So that's kind of how like I go into it.
And as an actor, improvisation, is that a love, like a tool that you love?
Yeah, it is.
It is.
But I mean, I do a little bit.
I'm a warrior, you know, and I kind of just like do what I'm told.
And again, I feel like I'm still a student.
So I got a point to prove you know, and I want to make my professors and teachers, I want to make everybody proud.
You know what I'm saying?
So I'd rather give you a whole bunch, and then you can, you know, you can take away.
What you need as opposed to not having enough.
Exactly.
That is not trickery.
That is a decision.
Motor coordination between the eye of one dead man and the arm of another.
Your work ethic is so insane.
It doesn't even make no sense.
Like you know how?
Like see, I'm still, I'm the youngin'.
So I was like yeah, you know, that was a new one before.
But then it's like, I can literally name 50 different movies.
I've been around a while.
But the crazy part about it is yeah, you have, but then you don't look like.
You don't look like it.
Like you make me excited for, like when I start like really getting up there, like I'm just not going to age because you're not aging.
So you're giving me hope to know that I just will not age.
But like, how do you, because you are one, a fucking legend.
How do you prepare for roles?
Because you can go from scenes from a marriage.
You can go to Dune, you can go to Victor Victor, like you can go to Victor Frankenstein.
It's like, do you ever get stuck in any of your characters?
And this is like such a genuine question.
Like, do you ever, did you ever have to go to therapy?
Did you like, tell me all about it.
I don't know if I've ever gotten like stuck stuck in something.
I did have a hard time when I went into another project after Frankenstein.
I did have a hard time with it, and it wasn't until I kind of brought back Victor to talk for a moment that I realized it was because of that.
You know, I was playing a character after Frankenstein.
I was playing a character that was quite tight and small and victor was still in there, angry that he had to be in, this tiny little sad man, you know, and there was something about playing victor that was very freeing and pleasurable.
He's a character that loves pleasure right, i mean, i think a bit like perfidia as well.
You know, it's like very connected to their right, their pleasure core.
Right as dark as they can be and as like up as they can, you know, behave sometimes um, or often, in victor's case most, most of the time.
There is something about playing somebody so unhinged, with no regard for like the moral judgments that it's just like this kind of vitalist energy was really exciting and pleasurable to play.
So leaving that was really hard.
But in general, I think I'm pretty good at letting it go, but I've become more mindful of that.
You know, I've started to add in like a ritual.
So, like I show up in the morning, I do a little ritual to say just to get my nervous system ready, you know, to begin the performance ritual, to thank the ancestors, to thank, you know, people that raised me that are no longer here, you know, to begin in a place of openness.
And then at the end of the day is even more important.
I do a little ritual to say, thank you, body.
Thanks for being there.
Thanks for being open.
And now you can because i got kids and i got stuff to go do.
So, thank you, i don't need your help anymore.
We'll check back in tomorrow.
You know, i do think for young actors it's an important thing to do.
It's not so like mysterious, it's just very much for your nervous system, the kind of, you know, because you're asking a lot of yourself right and like how to become more of a friend of your mind.
But um but, but yeah, you know, it's like trying.
Actually I heard Sean Penn say this, which I was like that's right.
There's some characters that you go to them, and there's some that you bring them to you.
And the fun is playing with both of those things.
And Victor was very much one where I went to Victor.
I mean, you went to Victor.
That was just insane.
Do you feel like that was the most intense character you've ever played in your career?
Energetic-wise, yeah.
The energy required for this particular person.
The person that just does not stop can't be caught, you know, is just moving and running, running away, you know.
And just the actual, just the physical demands of it.
You know, the creation of the creature was three weeks in rain and those little black high-heeled boots running up and down steps that are all wet.
And that kind of outpouring of energy was a lot.
But it also, I mean, when you're, I'm sure, with like PTA, it's like Guillermo del Toro, when he's sitting there with those big glasses and those eyes and that wide smile surrounded by all that, it just feeds you energy, you know, and you're like in it together.
And it didn't feel like I was alone.
It felt like he was just feeding me at every moment.
You feel safe.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And safe to like push and to go out on a limb.
I mean, it's a big character, you know, and it's heightened.
It's right.
It's a really big expression, you know.
In some ways, it was very much like an opera, like a dance.
Yes, yes.
It gave, like, it just, oh, my God, it was just chef kiss.
What do you feel like was one of the most difficult scenes on a personal level, where it's like okay, this is, I have to play this character, but it's really hard to get through this scene because me in real life would not handle it this way.
What do you feel like was the most difficult scene for you to film throughout any of the movies that you've done?
Oh, with any movie?
With any movie.
Oh, wow.
Well, I mean, obviously the really difficult ones is when it's not working, right?
That's when you're like, oh my God, kill me.
I can't get this to work.
It's funny because the scenes that look, they're obviously sometimes very emotional and powerful.
Those can be, there's flow to those.
And those feel like I.
It's like music, right where.
It's like I don't know how that song happened, it's like grace, something I got, I was, I wasn't even like I got out of the way and something occurred like that's really exciting.
When it's hard is when you know the self-consciousness comes in, or it's like I can't get this thing to work.
I think it's wrong.
There's so many that have been very hard.
In Frankenstein, interestingly enough, the very last scene between the creature and Victor.
Did you feel bad for that?
Did you feel bad when you was beating him?
Oh my god.
I wasn't supposed to feel bad.
Victor!
I was supposed to feel bad.
Victor!
Victor!
You are fucking selfish.
Well, he, because it's like doing it to yourself.
Like when you yell at yourself, do you feel bad that you're yelling at yourself?
I don't think that's fair.
But I'm saying, well, that's how I was thinking about it.
When I'm like, you piece of shit.
You know, like, why did you fucking do that?
It's like that, you know?
You did to him what your father did to you.
You know, it's like everybody's a bully to the bully walk-in type situation.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
And it was really dope to see it from the point of view of the monster.
Because, you know, for a long time, everybody was saying the monster was Frankenstein.
A lot of people didn't know that, you know, Frankenstein was actually the creator.
I always knew that, but a lot of people didn't.
A romance drenched in Mediterranean sun and silk and the skirmishes of love.
Insulting.
But unsurprising.
Once Mia came in, it's just like do you feel like you could have handled it differently?
I'm talking to you like you're actually Victor Frankenstein.
Cause it's no, that's how good the movie is.
It's like, I have so many questions.
It's just like, why?
Like why would you show him what the son is and make him take it in, to take it away and lock him in a basement in the darkness?
Right.
What clicked in your mind?
Was it because Victor was tired?
Like, what clicked that just made you, like, treat him like a monster?
Yeah, yeah.
Well, you know, it's interesting because, as parents right, And I know I've had friends.
You didn't have patience.
I had friends that have seen it too, and they're like man.
It makes me really feel guilty, those moments that I've yelled at my kid, or those moments that I've not had patience.
And this is obviously a very extreme version of that.
But it is that thing where you're like, how...
How does someone that is an adult, how can someone treat a child that way?
And there's so many times it happens.
Yeah, but you see that it's just, yeah, there's an innocence to them.
Obviously the way that he plays it is so beautiful.
It's just like pure awareness.
But what I'm saying is like this idea and I have had to catch myself with it too of like treating your children as just extensions of yourself, as objects of pride or shame.
You know, it's like, oh, don't behave that way because it makes me look bad.
Or look at what my kid's doing because it makes me look good, you know.
And then the loss of patience and to be able to just, you know, scream at a child you know, and to lose your shit, you know, with your kids.
Now, this is, yeah, an extreme version of that where he never thought past creation, right?
It was just like I have to do this one thing, and if I can do this one thing, everything will make sense.
Yeah, and then once you got it, it was like you put all that work in just to like, all right, go to the basement.
Yeah, just to be horrified by it because all he can see is himself, right?
It's just like a mirror.
Yeah, it's just like ego construct.
All he sees is like...
I'm going to be judged by this and I don't understand that.
And I just want to run away from it.
And so the way you run away from it is you like lock it down there.
I'll just like kind of pretend it's not really there.
And you know, it's also kind of addict behavior, where you like compartmentalize this thing and you put it away so nobody can see it.
And you go in there and you like poke around at it.
You're running away from your true self.
Exactly.
You know, and it's a reflection of you.
Not not the pureness, but like, yeah, just what you created.
You created this thing that's just like Yeah, I have to run away from it now.
Well, I mean, Profitia has to go through that as well, right?
She leaves the baby.
That's what I'm saying.
Like, walking away from my baby, it was hard.
It was a hard scene because I wanted to cry.
Yeah.
It was like, Profitia don't cry.
Yeah, that's where the tension is right there.
Exactly.
So that was difficult.
So I was just wondering if that scene was hard because that's, like, the impact on me.
Like, it would have took, like, 30 takes for me to, like, get through that.
Yeah, yeah.
Y'all would have been mad at me.
Y'all would have been like...
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The scene at the end was really difficult because of the forgiveness scene, because you know we shot it for a whole evening.
It was the first scene we did together with Jacob.
Yeah, that was the first scene we did.
Now, I know that probably was hard.
That was really, really hard and it was a similar thing where it was so much would come out and drawing from my own life and it was in a way overwrought because there was so much right.
And we did it and we got something that was really good at the end.
And then the next day Guillermo showed it already cut together and we were just doing some inserts and I saw it and I was like I don't know man.
I'm not sure I'd buy it.
And then we went and we did it again.
Right.
But she went out of order.
I think you would have went through all of that and then did that because just the level of like grace you know from the monster was I don't even want to call him monster, no more.
He was a baby.
Yeah, the creature.
No, but it's just like, that was a beautiful moment, and it just, it did show grace and forgiveness.
Yeah, and it's also, he finally hears his story.
You know, I know it seems like a quick turn, but it's actually.
He listens to this creature's story of everything that happened with the blind man, the whole story he tells.
Because everybody gave him patience.
What Victor?
You get what I'm saying?
So it's like I was almost wondering too, like what was Victor's standpoint when he first heard him speaking.
I know you had to have been, like, gagging.
Yeah.
Like, I'm so sorry I keep talking to you like you're literally Victor because it's just so good.
And I think it's fucking me up because I watched the movie before I even knew that we were doing this.
Oh, wow.
And it's so crazy because it was in theaters.
And then I had to wait all the way until November 7th for it to come out, because I wanted to watch it at home too.
So I was just like, I'm like, is it on yet?
Is it on yet?
Is it on yet?
Is it on yet?
So I was like, because I have to watch stuff twice.
You know, so I seen it in the theaters and it was just like amazing.
Of course it's seen on a big screen, but to go home and really like see it again.
You know, that's when I feel like yeah, that's when I get judgmental, but in the best way.
That's when I become a critic.
Yeah, you really start to take it.
Yeah, I don't judge off the first thing.
You just take it in.
Well, that's good because it's important.
A lot of people go straight to, do I like it or do I not like it?
And I think that's unfair, because sometimes you got to understand.
You know, because it's crazy, because the second watch, even though Victor had his ways, I still had empathy, you know, like
He was gone.
He was gone.
You know, he was also a perfectionist.
And I think he was also tired.
You know, I was like, I'm shaming you every single day.
You know, and you only know one word.
And it's just like just getting in your own way and kind of self-sabotage and not realizing that you wasn't giving grace and you wasn't giving.
You know, you wasn't patient, you know.
And again to expose him to the sun, to bring him into darkness, to lock him into darkness was a lot.
But again, what I realized, also with you know, One Battle After Another is understanding that these things have to happen for one to rise.
You know.
Like Ophidia, had to make those mistakes.
For Willa to rise, we have to anchor the movie for the rest of it to prevail.
You know what I'm saying?
It's like, if you did everything the right way, we wouldn't have known the blind man.
We would not have known, you know what I'm saying?
The process of that, you know?
So I feel like sometimes people watch things, they don't understand that we're just the characters.
How was the chemistry building of it all?
Like, did you and Jacob know each other already or?
No, no, we didn't know each other.
We met once briefly in Guillermo's office.
He was like on his way out.
We just said hi.
And the first time that I saw him as the creature was on set the day that we filmed the last scene.
So there was no chemistry building.
There was chemistry in action.
You know, and it was you know the way that he created it, the way that he cast it, the way that he put everything together.
It just, it's what emerged, you know, and he, you know, he it's an incredible performance and he approached it in a way that was very vulnerable and raw and open and really shows this kind of you know, we kind of played it like it's one person, right?
These are two aspects of one person.
On the one side is just pure awareness and on the other side is pure construct of ego right, and how those two things just like come together finally at the end.
Um, but i was also just so impressed by how loose he was joke around in between.
Sometimes I'd look and he'd be taking photographs as the monster.
You know, he had his camera.
Oh yeah, I've been seeing those.
I've been seeing those floating around.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So he was, that he could have both of those things.
Such focus and also like an ease was really, really impressive.
How about you?
I mean, you have incredible scene parts.
Freaking Leo and Sean Penn.
Like, can you talk about that?
I mean, particularly the thing with Sean, too.
Yeah.
Like, these two kind of... They toxic.
My name is Perfidia Beverly Hills, and this is a declaration of war.
We're here to right your wrongs, motherfucker.
Yeah, but like, but like also.
I feel for them too, but also, you know, it's like having to.
I don't judge her.
I really don't judge her at all.
Like, what else is she gonna do?
She sees a bit of a freak in him and so she sees a vulnerability and so she starts playing into that vulnerability.
Right off at the very beginning, you're like oh oh, is that how you want to play?
And then you start moving in that direction.
I have a gun to your head.
You calling me sweet thing.
Yeah, that's the first problems.
You get what I'm saying?
And you can tell with them two, speaking of pride, they both, I feel like it was a pissing contest.
I feel like they both had a lot of pride and was very egocentric.
Exactly.
Two fucking warriors.
And it was about power for Perfidia.
And I think at one point she just got greedy, you know.
But it's crazy because the bathroom scene was our first time ever meeting each other.
So he was already in gear.
And I remember seeing him from the back and I was like, oh, I'm not bothering him.
You know, cause some people just want to be in character and then get on the scene.
So I didn't know.
So he had to shoot like some type of shot before I was in it.
And I remember when they yell cut.
Then he walked out and he turned this way and he was like I love you.
I'm such a big fan.
I was like, oh my God.
I was like, thank you so much.
Like, of course I'm a fan, but I'm also like, I'm not a pest.
Like I'm very like, I don't want to be in nobody's way.
I don't want to be in nobody's business.
I mind mine, drink my water.
You know what I'm saying?
Like I do not play and I give you your space.
I understand.
You're still like a living legend.
And I'm very, very big on like the people who's come before me, who's paved the way for me.
So I'm very salute, you know?
And, like, even if you are mean, it's like, I get it.
He's an icon.
He got da-da-da-da.
But you know, fortunately for me, like I've seen the best of them you know personally, professionally like him to be so warm and so kind.
And, like, I was like, okay, cool.
So it made me feel... comfortable and I was able to get into that bag.
So we didn't really get to meet each other.
Me and Leo.
No.
And I like to film the rehearsals too.
I tell PCI, I say, catch every fucking thing.
Catch every thing.
Because I think I'm more relaxed.
It's something about, all right, Quiet on set.
Boom, boom, boom.
And then it's just like my nerves just go.
And as soon as the camera's not on me, I'm doing my, I'm killing it.
A lot of it's because it's obligation, right?
And so a lot of it's like, how do you free yourself from any obligation?
Like just because they say action doesn't mean you have to act.
Exactly.
It's just roll.
So I'm like filming rehearsals, but it's like a mind over matter, because now my mind no, it's just a rehearsal.
So now, like my comfort levels, it's like I really want to say that a lot of perfidious shots probably majority of them probably were like the shots that were like just loose with it.
You know what I'm saying?
Or knowing or...
Like I'm a, like affirm me, you know, I'm like, I'm just a girl, you know, I want reassurance.
So it's just like once you try something and there's like PTA love it.
It's like yeah yeah, do that thing that you do.
I'm like okay, now I can sit in that moment because again, I'm going to always respect the set that I'm on.
So I try and go and do what I'm told and keep it at that.
So when I know I can play, I want to feel that, you want me to play, you know what I'm saying?
And not like me just coming and doing my own thing.
Yeah, but it's something that you have too.
It comes from music and choreography.
It's just your timing.
I mean, I even think about when he opens that door and your hands are there and just the way that you wait.
Yeah.
You know, the way that you wait and then slowly start to turn.
Exactly.
You know, I mean, all that is just beautifully timed.
And then the little screwdriver grab, like, do I want to stab this motherfucker or not?
Exactly.
Yeah, all that timing is just, it's beautiful.
And then the way that he lets that all play out.
Yeah, but it's crazy that you say that because timing is everything.
And on sets I used to feel like the moment they yell action.
I had to hurry up and like it always felt like a rush.
But it was like, Paul really let you take your time.
And he actually give you music while you acting, too.
Oh, cool.
Like when he plays Soulja Boy and I threw Sean up against the wall.
It's like I love that you get the whole thing versus just like.
Oh yeah, we're going to add the music in later.
Yeah, sets the scene and it's like, maybe because I'm such a visual artist, it's just like everything being in place.
I'm just, I just let loose.
And how about the dynamic with Leo?
Oh man, the dynamic was dope.
So me and Leo was already buddies for a long time, but we never worked together before.
So again, stepping onto set, I don't bring personal into set.
This is not like, oh, that's my homie, so I'm out to, you know?
So being on set, this is still a legend.
This is still Leonardo DiCaprio, you know, and I'm just still little old me.
So, you know, I'm on set like nervous, but we have a conversation, you know?
And again he's another one, like just his gentle leadership and how he mentors, and you know how it doesn't feel like one is above the other.
You know, he meets me where I'm at.
And I feel like my job is to be present, you know, be present for my scene partners and be present for my director and my DPs.
And you know the village, you know.
And I think it's, I work good under pressure.
So being there with Leo, it's like nervous or not, a bitch gotta do what she gotta do.
You know what I'm saying?
And I want to be able to hold my own.
I don't want nobody holding my hand through this shit.
We're going to have a conversation.
We're going to talk through it.
So we talk like, you know, yeah, I just, I pissed you off today.
So he's talking to me as if he's Bob and I'm perfidious.
And when he yelled, when PTA yelled action, we're already in it.
So we don't really like talk about, so this scene should go like this.
We start having the conversation.
We start making the scene go.
That's why I love to film the rehearsals.
He's so great, man.
Yeah, then the thing, what you guys do together and that is he's so lost and you're so driven and he's just trying to catch up and just can't catch you.
You know, and you just exactly yeah, it's beautiful working with that big belly uh, but what's funny is like the challenge is like, but also she's somebody that's not too worried about having that big belly right.
You see, she got the whole exactly exactly.
So could you talk a little bit about that?
I mean, that was one of my favorite parts, because one it was cold as hell.
I mean, it was so cold.
So the belly actually kept me warm because it was like super heavy and it was like all like yeah, whatever it had going on, it was warm.
Like literally my stomach was sweating.
Like that's how warm it was.
And then I was also lucky to have it because the guns were very, very heavy.
So I was resting that shit right on top of that belly.
It's like definitely one of my favorite scenes.
It's iconic.
Exactly.
I'm like, you know, bitch, I feel like Tony Wong's time.
Like, you know, it was just, it was, it was dope.
And when I knew what the shot was going to be and where we were and like how he was shooting it, I was like like i knew for a fact that that picture was going to be iconic.
I was like yeah, this is, this is one of the ones, for sure, but it was dope.
I mean it didn't really change, which i think because perfidia is so reckless and unfiltered.
I tried not to move with wobbles and like oh, i'm so pregnant.
It's like you know her strength and her physicality is just like yeah, i'm still moving, i'm still shooting, i'm still yeah, i'm still all of the things you know.
So i try not to get in the space of like Oh, she's super pregnant.
This belly is super heavy.
I tried to stay strong.
Yeah.
Yeah, it worked perfectly because that's what Bob says.
He's like, I don't think she even knows she's pregnant.
What does she say?
No, that's a fact.
That's what it needed to be.
And even that was a fun night when we shot that fire pit scene.
I think that was actually our last day of shooting.
Yeah, so I had a little shot.
Yeah.
Wow.
How long of a shoot was it, the whole thing?
Ooh, we shot for, like, nine months.
When we took a break, because I know when we took a break, then Benicio had to shoot his shot.
It was a long film, but we definitely had, like, a break in between, and then we came back.
And you said that you're interested in directing as well, right?
So was that a it must've been an incredible masterclass.
Just like being next to them to see PTA, just
Super masterclass.
Cause not only am I, you know, directing, but I'm also in culinary school to become a chef.
So then I started using everything in like, you know, culinary terms.
I'm like, oh, master chef, I'll go and chef PTA.
Chef PTA, because it's just like, let him cook.
You just gotta let him cook.
He's a master chef.
But yeah, I'm gearing up to direct my first feature film called Get Light, so I'm very excited with Paramount.
Yeah i, and even with that, that's been like a process.
I've been working on that project for three years and it didn't really start shaping until now and i'm like again, another thing of timing, of like yeah, you know, i needed to experience this with pta.
I needed to experience what i experienced with av, you know, with a thousand and one.
Those two movies really shaped me into the you know actress and you know director that i will in culinary school as well.
Like, how do you have to that what?
It's actually the thing that like gives me a few to just be quiet and cook.
That's where you go.
Yeah, so it's like i cook.
I mean, i have a lot of writing work to do, business courses and stuff like that.
But the cooking part, that's the part i signed up for.
But when i signed up and realized i had business classes and all other types of, i was like, oh baby.
So now i'm like on my way to the one battle as another premiere, like on my ipad doing schoolwork like okay, my discussion forum is in, my quiz is in, it's here and pta, and i'm just all laughing at me.
But i think it's dope.
It keeps me grounded, it keeps me like i don't know like leveled, because this is the part that's like.
You know, this is the lights, the cameras, it's a lot going on.
And to look forward to knowing that i have a week to turn this in yeah, i just be so proud of myself that i got it done.
I'll be crying and everything.
Like it's hard.
You know, some stuff you got to let sit for three hours before you can cook it.
And, you know, it's like literally doing that, doing quizzes and just, but it's, I don't know.
It also made me appreciate my directors even more.
I've always been you know, always been a student, a great student, straight A student.
Everything that I do,
But going to culinary really showed me the art of like, gentle leadership.
You know and, and experiencing that while working with PTA and looking at his gentle leadership and you know just all of all of the things like I don't know, it's like culinary school and working with PTA really geared me up.
Like I really feel like I'm going to be a great director because I've learned so much.
It might sound weird like how did you all this?
From learning how to make a steak.
I think you're the coolest person I've ever met in my life.
You are so astounding.
All the energy to get to do this, too.
I think it's all about balance.
You know, it's all about balance.
And again, I think, making that promise to myself like I'm never going to get claustrophobic and stuck in a box.
It's almost maybe even trauma.
Like, I told y'all I would be able to do it all, and now I have to live up to that.
And I'm not complaining.
It's everything I ever asked for, everything I ever dreamed of.
So why complain?
You about to be complaining about a whole bunch of answered prayers?
Who doing that?
You know what I'm saying?
So it's just like, that's, yeah, that's where I am.
So it was like, I'm able to go to culinary school, able to do movies, able to creative direct.
Like I was creative directing a whole arena tour for an artist, you know?
Like, so it was like, okay, doing this, then I'm going to go to this screening.
And then after my Q and A, I'm going to make it back.
Cause they on stage till about 11, you know?
So I'm like literally all of these things happening at one time.
This is what I was saying about the source.
You know, like there's a source with you, that all these things are elements of that thing, but it's like keeping that thing, being true to that, is what's really inspiring.
I think that's why I love Victor.
Like I mean I didn't agree with a lot of his ways, but like just his passion to get it the fuck done.
Like, I don't even need nobody in this room.
Like, actually, I work better alone.
Get out of my way.
You get what I'm saying?
Like, let me just, how you are in there is like me in culinary school.
You know, like, I want everything to be perfect.
Sawing the bones.
Yes.
This should be centered, yeah.
Fabricating protein, like, literally.
And maybe that's why I was just like glued to the TV watching Victor, because I'm like that's me in the kitchen.
I'll tell you I'd be crying.
Laid out all types of stuff like oh my God, why is it not at this certain degree?
How much longer?
You know what I'm saying?
In my whole, like, chef uniform.
But, you know, it makes me so proud of myself to be judged in the purest form.
You know, going to culinary schools, you don't know who you are.
You know, where I feel like in our world, somebody can just have a judge.
They could just not like you because the way you look.
And it's just like, oh, yeah, I don't want to see a movie with him.
I don't want to see a movie with her in here.
I mean, I don't like how she looks.
You know, where in school, it's like you're genuinely being graded.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
That's also how I feel about critics, too.
Like, they're just genuinely judging the art, and that's what I appreciate.
Good, bad, or indifferent.
And I think that I don't let that get lost on me.
I don't say, oh, this is just, they're just haters.
No, I really appreciate critics and I think that they should get flowers more because they're really coming from an aspect of judging the art and not the person.
Some of them.
Some of them.
But a good one.
The good ones.
The good ones, you know?
I mean, but for me in the industry that I'm in, with this singing and stuff people just hate on you just because you know what I'm saying.
So it's actually like people.
The internet is actually way more.
They make critics look like.
They make critics look like angels.
They make critics look like Jacob and then the haters look like, Victor, you know what I'm saying?
So it's just like, it is still like a pureness and it's like you judge the art.
And I mean, the most I can do is respect how you feel about that.
It's not going to change how I feel like the job that I've done.
But you know this is a.
This is different for me because I am coming from a whole different world into this.
So you get what I'm saying?
So yeah, this has been so amazing.
I could like talk to you for hours.
I still have so many, so many questions.
Thank you for doing this for me.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Appreciate it, Drew.
Keep it going.
Thank you.
Yes.
