- Be honest.
Do you own a pair of sweatpants?
Do you ever just hang out at home and just chill in sweats?
- Hmm, you know what?
I do, I own sweatpants.
Now, do I wear them a lot?
It depends.
Like, some days I do have those moments,
especially when it's getting colder outside,
where I wanna be by the fireplace
in my sweatpants, in a hoodie.
I know you won't believe this
'cause I know everybody's seen me
so black and white and so whatever.
But yeah, I wanna be snugly
and I just wanna be cozy, so, absolutely.
- [Josh] OK.
Janelle, 'Glass Onion,'
this is a special one.
Congratulations. We don't know if
you're the murderer or not,
but you definitely stole this movie.
You should feel guilty [Janelle Laughing]
for what you've done to your grand cast here.
- You are so kind, so sweet.
I mean, listen, I am a part of such a special ensemble.
I've been wanting to work with Rian Johnson
since I saw 'Looper,'
and then I went down this rabbit hole of watching everything
and obviously the first 'Knives Out,' I was a big fan of.
So to just be a part of something new, something special,
and to portray this incredible
tech entrepreneur CEO woman
who really wants to do good by the world,
but has a very complicated life, complicated friends,
complicated past with Edward Norton's character,
it was just so much fun to be able to dig into Andi
and go to different places as an actor
that I necessarily hadn't been.
- Well, I wanna talk about that.
You had such an amazing
kind of breakthrough year as an actor a few years back,
and we all saw it with that kind of amazing one-two punch
of 'Hidden Figures' and 'Moonlight.'
And I'm curious, like, looking back,
did that open up the world to you
in terms of acting opportunities?
Were you happy with what came afterwards
or were you a little disappointed
that folks didn't see what you could be?
I'm just curious, like, did it open up the world
in the way you wanted to in terms of acting opportunities?
- To be able to play and to be characters
and to tap into my childlike self is always a privilege.
I'm owed nothing.
And I have so much gratitude
for Barry Jenkins and for Ted Melfi
for having me apart
of both 'Moonlight' and 'Hidden Figures,'
two films that, from kids to grandparents, to moms and dads,
like, they come up to me and thank me for those roles
or say, "My son or my daughter or child
"was trying to figure out,
"if they were gonna walk in their truth
"and how they were gonna identify,
"and your character with Teresa
"really helped me understand
"how to be an ally to the queer community."
And even with 'Hidden Figures,'
playing Mary Jackson, first Black woman engineer at NASA,
there's so many parents who thanked me.
They're like, "My daughter wanted to get into STEM
"because of seeing your role and watching 'Hidden Figures,'
"and, you know, she wants to be an astronaut
"and go to space."
And it's like, I can't describe how just good
that makes me feel and how honored I am
to have been a part of those films.
And I think I'm here.
Like, I would not have been able to do this role,
honestly, if I had not done those roles
and everything in between.
This is a huge role,
and I'm saying, once you watch it,
without giving away too much,
but I had to do the comedic stuff,
I had to do the dramatic stuff,
the deep emotional, tapping into that emotional well,
and all the gray area there.
This character's so mysterious, so layered,
and challenged me in the best possible way.
- Yeah, I do feel like it's yet another achievement unlocked
and there are so many layers to this character.
You think you know what you're gonna get going in,
you guys don't know.
We've talked about this before,
but this is such an amazing ensemble on and off the set.
You guys clearly had a blast hanging out.
Talk to me about what a Janelle Monáe party is like.
I'm angling for the invite one of these days.
Janelle, talk to me.
What goes into a great party?
How do you hit the guest list?
Does there have to be a theme?
Talk me through it.
- Well, the key to get into any party
that I'm hosting
is you just have to understand the vibes.
You know what I'm saying?
It's not about status or I'm an actor
or I'm wealthy or whatever.
If you understand the vibe, if your aura is good -
I have this aura checker.
So before you come in,
it does a clean swipe to see if you're aura-
- Wait, there's an actual wand there's a -
What happens? [Janelle laughing]
- No, I'm just playing,
but I'm trying to create that
so we can just look at each other's aura.
'Cause you want people to come in with the right energy,
be on the same frequency.
I think being in a pandemic
and reintegrating with folks and you realize what matters
and it's honestly making those memories,
being around people who don't mess up the vibes,
who understand, like, we're dancing,
we're having a good time, there's no fighting,
there's no room for drama.
You know what I'm saying?
The only drama I like is in my eyelashes, and that's it,
and that's all.
- You get some amazingly juicy stuff
with the great Daniel Craig in this one.
So great.
He, of course, was an iconic Bond.
What's the part you want in a Bond movie?
Do you wanna be 007 yourself?
Do you wanna be the Bond girl?
Do you wanna be the bad guy?
Let's manifest this.
What do we want?
- I can play it all.
I'm open to it all.
I'm saying yes, yes to it all.
And I mean, you wanna redefine that,
being nonbinary as well, like, it's limitless.
I freed up myself to, we can do it all.
We are ready.
- On that note, it must have pleased you
as a queer icon to see Benoit Blanc -
We now know this, spoiler alert.
Ryan's talked about this. Benoit Blanc is a queer icon now.
- [Laughing] I love it.
- What did you think when you read that in the script,
when you heard about that?
- I didn't, I didn't know.
I think that's just the beauty of Rian,
he's always surprising us, and it just felt so normal.
It's like, let's normalize.
It was so beautiful.
It was just a moment for me
as somebody who's, like, a fan of this film.
Really, I sat in the film by myself,
cackling, chuckling, having the time of my life,
and all I could think about
was I cannot wait to watch this film with everybody,
because there's so many moments I wanna share,
and I think that was one of the moments that I was like,
"Oh, I love, I love this for you."
- I know this about you already.
You have such good taste in terms of film and art.
I know you love sci-fi and fantasy.
That's your bag as it is mine.
I mean, I'm a little surprised, Janelle,
that we haven't seen you in this space more,
considering it's not a secret that Janelle Monáe
loves this stuff.
You just waiting for the right thing?
Are you being very particular
because when it happens it needs to be perfect?
- Well, I mean I'm always -
this is great that you're asking me this.
Come find me, come,
so you know,
it's - let's do it.
I also do have -
I have a production company
and I have to give a shout-out to my team.
I just started it.
Not just, but for the last few,
during the pandemic,
and we are developing a lot of cool stuff.
And with 'Dirty Computer,' I did a film for my last album,
and it deals with the memory loss.
So when I saw 'Severance,' I was like,
"Oh," like, "ah,"
'Severance' and 'Dirty Computer' have a lot synergy.
So I think I've kind of done these things in different ways
but I feel like that's a whole genre.
When you think about 'Memento,'
and you think about 'Severance,'
and you think about even 'The Mysterious Benedict Society,'
it deals with that memory snatching.
- We've also heard and talked about
the Marvel movies before.
You've mentioned Storm,
folks have fan-casted you.
Is that something still on your mind?
It's like the conversation I have with every actor,
but it has to be said. - I know.
I mean, who would not wanna play Storm?
Just iconic, so strong, so beautiful.
As a kid growing up, Storm was always the one.
So I'm open.
And there are also
a lot of other amazing actresses, actors,
who could play Storm,
and I'd be just as excited.
You know what I mean?
Like, this is all fun for me,
and if given that opportunity,
I know that I would -
Yeah, I have some ideas.
- Fun is a good word to mention
because I know you've talked about before
part of the fun about what you get to do is transforming,
and you wanna just transform more and more as an actor.
And I know looking ahead,
I believe Josephine Baker is on the docket right?
- Yes, look at you doing your homework.
I love that.
- Well, this is an exciting prospect.
And talk to me why it's an exciting prospect for you
in terms of transformation
in terms of depicting another icon.
- Oh my goodness.
Josephine Baker is a global, like, international icon
and we're both Midwesterners.
she was from St. Louis, I'm from Kansas City.
And the entry point for the story,
like, we know Josephine, the banana skirt.
We know her as this iconic entertainer.
We'll touch on all of that,
but really it centered around a story
that I didn't even know about.
Josephine Baker was a spy for the French Resistance,
and she helped take down Hitler and the Nazis
when they occupied Paris.
And Paris was a place place that was home to her.
It was a place that took her in
when the United States did not even let her perform
in certain places,
did not respect her,
did not treat Black people right.
So she, at the peak of just being this bicon,
this free [beeped] in Paris,
living her life in her chateau
with her cheetah, with her ostrich feather -
Like, in the middle of just doing that
and also speaking five different languages,
she decided to use her celebrity to become a spy
and to work with the French Resistance.
And I think what made her an incredible entertainer,
where she could go and talk to the Germans
and listen and she spoke these different languages.
So she was listening to them talk about their plans.
What made her a great entertainer made her a wonderful spy.
So I cannot wait to get more into that
and, like, become that spy, to become Josephine Baker
who rubs elbows with the Frida Kahlos and the Hemingways
and, like, all these other historical figures
that you're just like,
I just wanted to be a fly in the room
during those conversations.
- Yeah, OK.
You sold me, and I can see why it sold you.
There's a lot to feast on.
So look, we talked about transformations,
we talked about parties.
Let's combine it,
because I do wanna mention:
I was in awe
of the latest Halloween costume as a big Luc Besson-
- Oh, you saw it? - 'Fifth Element.'
Come on, Janelle.
Janelle. [laughing] - Yeah, I know.
So that must have been, like, hours to get into.
Tell me about donning that,
the moment with Megan Thee Stallion the internet loved.
[both laughing]
- Yes.
OK, so, if you don't know yet, I am Halloween, I am.
I have to give myself this.
Because when I look back at everything I've done,
like, I've done for the last three years,
I've done at least two costumes,
and the last two years, it's been prosthetics.
And I was a fly last year.
I transformed into Flyyyrene the Fly,
who has their own Instagram page,
so you can go see Flyyyrene.
And then I was The Grinch last year
to the point where, I'm so nerdy about it,
I was like, I found Jim Carrey's lashes from 'The Grinch.'
So I had those on.
Transformed this year.
I already had it planned out last year
when I was a Grinch, I was like,
this year, a friend of mine was like,
have you considered being the diva
from 'The Fifth Element?'
One, 'The Fifth Element' is, like, in my top 10 movies.
And I was like, "Absolutely."
Like, if you go from The Grinch,
you have to go to the Diva Plavalaguna.
- I'm a little worried about next year
and five years from now, how do we continue this trajectory?
- I know.
It's the only thing that keeps me up at night.
But yes, to answer your question,
I went through prosthetics. I went through that look twice,
and it was four hours.
So I did eight hours of prosthetics for the Diva
'cause I did the shoot before Halloween,
and then on the day before Halloween,
Meg Thee Stallion invited me to her party,
which was so fun.
And I showed up and I was in full character.
I was singing,
♪ Ha, ha, ha, ha, opera songs ♪
the entire night between my drinks.
And I think there's a moment
where I kiss her on the cheek and she just loses it.
So that was so fun.
- Last thing for you.
Look, we haven't even mentioned
the other side of your life, that little career,
the music career you got going,
that's pretty good, too.
But I mean, I'm curious,
like, talk to me a little bit about,
is it important for you to compartmentalize to a degree?
You're not on the soundtrack to 'Glass Onion' and et cetera.
I'm sure, like, if you had mentioned,
"Hey, by the way, if you guys want a song,"
they would've been like, "Yeah sure."
But is that a conscious thing?
Like, let's keep church and state,
let's keep it a little separate,
just to go down both lanes,
and when they intersect, great,
but they don't always have to intersect.
- You know, for me, I do think that,
one, I've been very fortunate to have a music career
and an acting career.
And I grew up, a lot of people don't know this,
like, I grew up doing both.
It's never been like -
I'd never had a life where I wasn't performing
onstage, singing cover songs or original songs
and then also acting in the high school play
or doing Shakespeare and stuff.
It's about storytelling.
And if I feel like
I need to sing the story that I wanna tell,
then I sing it.
If I feel like,
OK, I wanna go into character with this film
and be part of this ensemble, like,
you weigh a lot.
You just say, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
to work with this director,
then you just, you do it.
And I'm thankful for my team because they keep me sane.
They're able to keep me focused on
if I say I'm gonna go do a 'Knives Out,'
OK, what does that mean
to then say, when I finish 'Knives Out,'
I'm gonna do a project.
You know, I was very fortunate to film this
and also be inspired musically.
And so I cannot wait to share new music with you guys.
I'm in a really good space,
a good space where I have clarity and more vision
on what it is that I need to say.
I've evolved.
So it's not, like, a regurgitation or refried beans
of, like, Janelle Monáe.
I have new things to say,
and that's always a blessing
and I'm so thankful to be here
present enough to rise to that occasion.