I’m also a professor, and my schedule fills with classes, and students, and meetings. Let’s get these things done now, beforehand.” During production, it’s very common to do a 12- to 13-hour day, or a 14- or 15-hour day, so you can’t really do anything else. Lemmons: It’s tremendously frightening, and she did that 13 times. I write best in the latter part of the day, mid-morning to late afternoon, and late at night. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com. “She wasn’t joyless but Harriet Tubman was a serious person. For director Kasi Lemmons, the road to “Harriet” started with two photographs. At Warner Bros.’ request, Johnny Depp has resigned his role as Grindelwald in the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise after losing a libel case in the U.K. Review: ‘Mank’ is a gorgeous dive into film history — and a sharp reflection on our political present, Gary Oldman plays the Oscar-winning screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz in David Fincher’s drama about the origins of ‘Citizen Kane.’, A pregnant woman is gaslit by in-laws in ‘Kindred.’ Here’s where the idea came from, First-time filmmaker Joe Marcantonio has created an arresting gaslighting thriller with “Kindred.” Just don’t compare it to “Rosemary’s Baby.”, One of these people could be Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ successor and California’s next senator. The power of song in Harriet is a very important part of Tubman’s leadership and power. My mission was to bring Harriet Tubman to life as a young woman when she’s doing the most heroic work.”, A former history major at UCLA, Lemmons co-wrote the script with Gregory Allen Howard after poring over such books as “Harriet Tubman: Imagining a Life,” “Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom” and “Bound for Canaan: The Epic Story of the Underground Railroad.”, Her conclusion: “All the elements of a great adventure film are right there in the Harriet Tubman story. I like to leave it in triumph, or at least in a satisfying place. An actor who made her directorial debut in 1997 with the acclaimed family drama Eve’s Bayou, Lemmons remains one of Hollywood’s most under-recognized artists, despite her consistently strong output. The Organizer Behind a Massively Popular Brooklyn Fundraiser. Reserved. Even when I was raising kids, I’d say, “No, no. In approaching this story, Lemmons took a script that had been floating around the industry since the 1990s, revamped it to include more accurate details about Tubman’s history and personality, and focused on the younger years of a legend often remembered as a wizened icon. I spend all my time trying to push projects uphill, but it’s been a difficult journey. Lemmons: They were really the right people for the right roles. Lemmons: Right. Sims: There’s a mundane quality to the family’s cruelty, which is chilling, but the Brodesses aren’t particularly cartoonish. It’s what they did, but it can’t just be a catalog of what they did. You’ve made a movie about every six years. Kasi Lemmons is an award-winning director, writer, actress and professor who has been a staple in Hollywood for nearly three decades. Here’s how she gets it done. Kamala Harris will also be the first Black woman and the first person of South Asian descent to assume the title. “Harriet” director Kasi Lemmons has come on board to write and direct World War II drama “The Shadow King,” set during Benito Mussolini’s 1935 invasion of Ethiopia. My favorite quote of hers is, “I prayed to God to make me strong enough to fight.” That’s super interesting for the time we live in—there’s so much that we have to pray to be strong enough to fight for. Nothing too heavy. We were like unicorns. I don’t listen to music. But I wanted it to be about the actual Harriet Tubman, you know? We give ourselves permission to have fun, but we also push each other to be better. Did you get in your pages?” There have been times when we’re both directing, or doing films back to back, so there’s been a handoff with the kids. So it’d be cold, there was incredible danger, and she did it again and again and again. It takes me a while to unwind my brain. Kasi Lemmons is the director and screenwriter of Harriet, the new Harriet Tubman biopic that opened last week. I’ll text them. Clare finally told Chris Harrison she had feelings for Dale before the show started filming. Successful women talk about managing their careers, and their lives. But even with the work and rehearsal we did together, I wasn’t sure if the magical alchemy would take place until I saw Cynthia in her ‘mission’ outfit, the one you see in the poster. Sims: You made another biographical film that I love, Talk to Me, in 2007. Lemmons’ “Harriet” opens on a happy encounter in 1849 when Harriet, then known by her slave name Minty, wakes from a fainting spell to greet her husband with a radiant smile. This conversation has been edited. I try not to check emails. Lemmons: Not really, no. On good days, I’m at my desk by 10 or 11 a.m. Including Lululemon culottes and some very cute storage baskets. By the time Erivo’s character dons that dramatic cape and cap, she’s known as Moses to her freedom-seeking followers. Trump is not conceding, and is likely to fire foes, pardon friends. We can all relate to heartbreak. I think I’ll walk the dog. So Lemmons met her star for the first time at Manhattan’s Russian Tea Room. Sims: Were there certain Hollywood clichés about the depiction of slavery that you wanted to avoid? Sims: It can be tough to sincerely engage with her beliefs—she’s telling people she’s having visions of what’s going to happen in the future—and the film doesn’t think about those ideas as fanciful. I’ll be like, “Have you written? The job is about concentrating on what you’re seeing in front of you, and being still enough to feel the alchemy. Review: Eva Green is at her best in the deeply stirring astronaut drama ‘Proxima’. She spoke about it very forcefully and with great certitude; there’s no ambiguity in the way Harriet talked about [her visions]. Because it didn’t feel authentic to this story, I didn’t want a hundred slaves in a field picking cotton and a huge plantation. A couple of days earlier, cast members managed to stay in character running across a field of hornets. If I write until 10 p.m., I might not be asleep until 2 a.m. And that’s not practical. But don’t delude yourself about the future. Lemmons: When I first started, there were not many women directors, and there were even fewer women of color. It’s important which product(s) you use, but also how much. I take the work that I want. Sims: You said Cynthia Erivo’s performance in The Color Purple was something that drew attention to her for the role. We made the decision not to look at Harriet Tubman through a nostalgic lens but to bring her to life almost as a contemporary person. Lemmons: It certainly surprised and intrigued me. “One of the things that sometimes happens with African American heroes is that their edge gets taken off. First the Lakers. I could say, “Okay, I’m done writing now. Kamala Harris makes history many times over as vice president-elect. Thank you, Pennsylvania. I took her word for it. Lemmons: There were a couple. To live free or die is a very powerful concept; Tubman says it over and over again. Sims: Because movies like 12 Years a Slave are steeped in how dehumanizing slavery is, and while that’s a part of the story you’re telling, it’s just a part. All Rights That was the coded way she communicated with people, saying, “I’m here if you want to come.”. Lemmons: [Harriet] was genre-busting: People would ask me [to describe it], and I’d say, “Well, it’s 12 Years a Slave meets Django Unchained meets Wonder Woman.”. What are my kids doing? And we’re approaching that. We can all relate to love of family.”. She has four grown children and lives in New York with her husband, actor and director Vondie Curtis-Hall, and their dog. There was a very small group of us, and we all knew each other. The idea of property and its value, and that if you were broke, you might have to sell somebody. I try to do it at least five hours every day. We think of this old woman in a chair; we’re told of her heroic acts, but it’s abstract to us. Those are things audiences may be less familiar with. Log in or link your magazine subscription, All the Women Who Have Spoken Out Against Joe Biden, An Awkward Kiss Changed How I Saw Joe Biden, The Birth of an Extraordinary Modern Progressive Movement, How I Convinced My Dad Not to Vote for Trump, The Sorority That Tried to Abolish Itself, Biden Is the Projected Winner of the Election, Watch the Cheers, Celebrations, and Dancing in the Streets. Photos by Shannon Finney/Getty Images and Focus Features. I rarely delete anything, so I currently have 25,938 emails. In both films, I appreciate the decision to not try and do a cradle-to-grave biography. Kasi Lemmons is the director and screenwriter of Harriet, the new Harriet Tubman biopic that opened last week.She also directed Madam C.J. Aaron Wiggs’s biweekly event raised over $260,000 for good causes. Because who the person loved is the story, to me. We can relate to loss. For director Kasi Lemmons, the road to “Harriet” started with two photographs. Harriet director Kasi Lemmons and Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman. “I didn’t have advance time to think about it, so in the moment, I took my own temperature,” Lemmons told The Atlantic. If I asked you to tell me what the story of Harriet Tubman was about, you’d say, “Well, she escaped to freedom, and then she went back to liberate others.” So I really focused on those words—it’s a freedom movie; it’s not a slavery movie.