Still fresh off the last few episodes of ‘Queen Sugar‘, my favorite couple on television right now, Aunt Vi and Hollywood look like they are on the up and up after the explosive news that broke at the Bordelon family cookout. I don’t know; well, I know, but I just can’t tell you; you have to go and watch it, for yourself, if not already.
Every character in ‘Queen Sugar‘ has been exceptional thus far, all in their own unique way. It’s hard to love one more than the other.
However, there was this indescribable feeling when first discovering the love between Aunt Vi (played by Tina Lifford), aunt to the Bordelon siblings Charley, Nova and Ralph Angel; and younger boyfriend Hollywood (Omar J. Dorsey) in episode one. Without having to study, there is an evident respect and love shared between the two characters that puts an automatic smile on your face, as the viewer, every time they share an on screen smile together.
There was no need to over-analyze the dynamics of a Violet Bordelon and Hollywood Desonier throughout the season.
Actors Omar J. Dorsey, known for being in films like Selma, Django, The Blindside and many others; and Tina Lifford who starred in all kinds of roles from TV to big screen; both sat down with the Knockturnal the other day to talk ‘Queen Sugar’ and touches on the black experience on TV this Fall.
What was the forethought when deciding to take on your roles as Aunt Vi and Hollywood in Queen Sugar?
TL: You know, the audition process for me didn’t come with a full script. Quite honestly, I loved what was in the page in the relationship between this older woman and younger guy; I loved that. And after auditioning with Omar, I loved that.
But I said yes to Queen Sugar, because I have to tell you, when I got the phone call, I was sitting in my agents office; the only time I have been in that office probably in all the years that I’ve been there; maybe the second or third time. And, what I was saying yes to, because I did have a number of questions about my life and whether this worked for my life right now, but there was no question that I was interested in supporting Oprah Winfrey, and what she is doing with OWN. And, the gargantuan task that this woman has taken on time and it me again. I wanted to be supportive of that. And that may sound however it sounds but it’s the truth.
And Ava. Ava is without question, her generation’s visionary. To say yes to the two of them, which means that maybe I wouldn’t be doing something for ABC, NBC, or CBS; but I felt good about that, I felt really good about that.
OD: Honestly, when I got the script, I read it and saw that there was a difference in age, a younger man and an older woman. What I saw was, he’s not a ‘boytoy’; he’s a grown man who takes care of his woman.
And I said, I never seen anything like this on television before; I’ve seen it in my life, I have cousins, aunts and uncles who that relationship is there for. I was like, ‘I would love to be the person to show that.’
And I already know what Ava can do. I know what she is going to do; and I had only read the first episode. But I know, Ava does not tread lightly when she goes into somewhere; she dives head-first.
So, I was like, ‘this is going to be very interesting’. And I like all the relationships that surrounded our characters; I said to myself that this was going to be really blossom into something that was very special, I didn’t know anything like this though.
That was my initial reaction when I first read the script, and read the character; and talked to Ava about the character. It was important to show that he was a ‘mans man’, that he wasn’t just like, some boytoy; I’m doing all that, that don’t even look right coming from me.
I got really excited when I first discovered the love between Aunt Vi and Hollywood. You two were standing out front in the field of Aunt Vi’s yard. I soon picked on the dynamics and got really happy about it.
Can speak about how you might have related to your roles?
OD: You can always relate to love. That’s a universal thing no matter what. So, the love between Vi and Hollywood is already there, just like the love between myself and my wife in real life. It’s a universal thing.
And also, family. We are all there to support each other. I have a very tight, close-knit family. I’m from Atlanta, and we are very tight. I talk to my brother almost everyday, my mom almost everyday, my cousins almost everyday; whenever anything happens like a death, like there was with Ernest, we all come together. We might have some beef every once in a while, but everything is put to the side when the family has to come together.
TL: I grew up in Illinois, in a time where people were a real community; people would leave their doors unlocked; everyone was your aunt or uncle, in the community. So I know a lot of men who were there for their families; and I know a lot of men who were really, the champion of the relationship. So Hollywood is real.
And of course, we all know Aunt Vi. But what’s interesting, and again hats off to Oprah and Ava; Aunt Vi is archetypal; we all know her, and yet we have not seen her. She has not had a role, not in white America or black America, not that I can think of.
So, this woman who represents that very archetypal, unconditional, yet accountable presence; we’ve seen it as the mother, we’ve seen it as the grandmother, but the aunty, no. And, it’s very, very exciting to represent.
Here, in New York, someone came up to me and she said, “thank you so much, for showing us, as alive, vivacious and beautiful.”
My same exact vibe when watching Aunt Vi.
As far as the black experience and this show, being what it has grown to be, can you expand on it possibly opening doors for new shows like it in the future?
OD: Well the thing about it, and what we are going through right now is, it’s a revolution. Especially with black television and the content because we are able to direct our own narrative; where its not other people writing our characters for us which often times make us stereotypes.
We are humans. We will show our humanity if you let us write it.
So there’s a slew of television out right now, I think Queen Sugar being right there at the top of it; that is showing the black experience where it doesn’t look so foreign.
Where we are right now with the great writers, directors that we have; and coming out of the ‘Oscar So White’ controversy. Now getting a chance, Queen Sugar, Atlanta, Luke Cage; and then they become the biggest shows of the Fall; now getting recognized, and breeding more out of that.
And I always looked at Ava as the leader of the new school. So out of that, for all these directors coming up; and what I love is, we are talking about a female director, and she brings in all these females in who have no done television.
We go from Tina Mabry, to Victoria Mahoney, Kat Candler, Tanya Hamilton, Salli Richardson Whitfield. All of these people who haven’t had a chance to do television are all directing TV now. All of those people coming out of that whole school, Nema Barnett, who is one of the matriarchs of it. Now all these great talent that have all these stories to tell, and it can be monetized.
TL: I think that both film and television consistently runs into the problem of deterioration of storytelling. It takes quite talent to be able to tell a story well. And TV doesn’t always have great stories; film doesn’t always have great stories, there’s a lot of money in film, but getting to really great storytelling, that is the challenge of the art form.
What’s really exciting is, you can always get to good storytelling when you have good characters and someone who honors the process.
And yes, Queen Sugar is an African American vehicle, but at its core, it is good storytelling; at its core it is the exploration of the human experience in a way that resonates and feels familiar to a point that it engages in a compelling way. That’s really what’s going on. And what’s exciting is that, and the characters happen to be African American.
So all of those who have no been invited, all those people of color who have been invited to those writers rooms in the past, they’ve got Queen Sugar, and a host of other shows that says ‘we understand storytelling, and we understand compelling characters, and we have put together in this way, here’s my resume’.
Right. Here’s the cake.
