- Let's get to it though.
I just love a great show and great music, y'all.
Let's get to it, though.
It's Oscar season.
So, that time of year when studios are releasing
their most groundbreaking movies,
a powerful new film named "Monica"
is getting a lot of Oscar Buzz.
And, next year could actually make history,
which is super cool.
It deals with issues of dementia and aging parents.
It also stars Patricia Clarkson, no relation,
but I love her, and Trace Lysette,
who could be the first transgender woman
nominated for Best Actress,
and my audience got a chance to see it!
(audience cheers)
What did y'all think? Did you like it?
You like it?
All right.
And, well, and since it's Transgender Awareness Week,
we thought it's the perfect time
to talk about this incredible film with its stars.
Everybody, please give a warm welcome to Trace Lysette
and Patricia Clarkson!
(audience cheers)
(upbeat light rock instrumentals)
We were like "You wore your jeans, yes."
It's a jeans day. - It's a jeans day.
I love it. - I was running late.
I love. - I'm just,
I'm kind of like hooker mom.
- I have no. (laughs)
Oh my God, we have to be related!
- No, I wish Kelly. - Oh gosh.
- Kelly, I have to tell you,
I so would love to lie, and say I'm related.
You are so divine. - [Kelly] I would too!
- Beautiful, extraordinary. - Oh!
- [Patricia] Oh, you're so extraordinary.
- Ditto!
- But wait, if you heard me sing one note,
you would know immediately. I am not related.
- But anyway, yeah. We are not related.
But, I think that we are, I'm gonna call us sisters.
- My mother wishes we could claim you.
- [Kelly] Okay. - She says.
You can claim me. I love you. You're so gifted.
Well, did y'all meet before filming "Monica?"
Did you know each other?
- No, we didn't. - No, we met at a party at.
- An Emmy party! - Yeah, that's right.
- But, we had both been cast. - Okay. Very bosh.
- And, I saw her across the crowded room, and I thought,
"Oh my God,
she's the most beautiful woman in this whole room.
And, I'm her mother!
(everyone laughs)
- And, now you're we're sisters.
You're just gaining family members.
- But, yes, yes.
I play everybody's mother, beautiful mother, sister. Yes.
I mean, I wanna be everybody's mother or sister, yeah.
- Yeah, but we all are connected. I do believe that.
But, "Monica" is pretty personal for you.
This film is pretty personal, right?
- Oh, yeah. I mean, every trans story is personal for me.
"Monica." I mean, there's so many Monicas out there.
I feel like our journey with our families,
and just where we fall in the world,
and how the world makes space for us,
or doesn't make space for us,
is always gonna be a fight that we're gonna have to fight,
at least in my lifetime, probably.
But, this movie, it, you know, it's for the girls,
it's for the dolls, it's for the femme queens.
It's for the trans women. (audience cheers)
I have been waiting for so long
for their stories to be told.
It centers on her. It's not centered on someone else.
It's through her lens, which is very different.
Usually, you know, if there's a trans person involved
in a movie, they're not the protagonist.
They're not the centerpiece.
So, that's why this film is so special.
- But, that's why I said yes, faster to this film
than any film I've ever done in my very long career.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- Because, it was, it kind of still very emotional for me.
It was not lost on me, Kelly,
that it would give an extraordinary transgender actress
the lead. I said, "I'll be your backup singer any day."
I knew how important this film was.
- Yeah.
Tell everybody, like, give, like, a, kind of a synopsis.
What's the plot for everyone?
- So, Monica has been living life on her own
for 20 years or so, and her mother is in her last days,
and she makes a decision to go home.
and see what it's giving, you know. (laughs)
and see, you know, see what.
- There's so much with the tone of "giving."
That was awesome. - Yeah.
And, see what it's,
see what's happening back where, you know, her roots,
and see if there's a connection there with the family,
or, I don't know.
I mean, her mother's struggling with memory loss,
and, and brain surgery. - Brain Cancer.
- Brain cancer.
- I mean, I'm in my last month.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- And, I don't know who she is.
- Right.
Because she's transitioned, and I think she's hospice.
And so, I'm not happy that this woman is here,
and it's a pas de deux, of a mother and a daughter
coming to terms with their lives.
But it. - which is relatable for many.
- [Patricia] Yes. - Oh yes! Oh yeah.
- Oh, it is about family.
I mean, it's ultimately about forgiveness,
and love, and hope.
- [Kelly] Every Family experiences that.
- It's about, it is, it's about unconditional love,
a mother learning to love a child unconditionally,
and a child spending the rest of her life
with the love of her mother.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- I've had several people come up to me that were not trans,
that have just dealt with death,
and caring for their loved ones in their last days,
particularly their parents.
Had an adoptee come up to me
who reconnected with their birth parent later in life,
and they were all so moved by this story.
So, there's definitely a universal theme there,
beyond the trans of it all. - Oh, definitely.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- I mean, it will take you far.
It, really, and, you know,
your Josh Close plays our, you know, my beautiful son,
your brother, you know,
it's just got these great, great actors.
Adriana Barraza, great, great, great Mexican actress.
It's just, it's filled with really beautiful performances.
And, it's shot on real film, too.
- Yeah, that was cool.
- In such a, yeah. - I've never looked worse.
She of course, has never looked better.
(all laugh)
- Sometimes I'm against high-def.
- Yeah, right?
- Yeah, I'm like, "you're too close. You can see it all!"
(audience cheers)
We're celebrating Transgender Awareness Week this week,
and we're honored to have these two women here
to talk about their acclaimed movie, "Monica."
So, I have to talk about this.
Is it, was it the Venice Film Festival
that y'all got an 11 minute standing ovation?
- 11 and a half. - Oh my gosh!
Because, that's a long time.
Like, think about it.
If we sat here for 11 minutes. (Patricia laughs)
Yeah. It would be uncomfortable.
- If you applauded us for 11 and a half.
- [Kelly] Yeah!
- Well, it would make our lives, but yes.
(audience laughs)
I mean, but she was the first transgender actress
to ever lead a film,
in the history of the Venice Film Festival.
(audience cheers)
- Love this, yeah.
What have you seen from people that have seen the film?
Like, what have you seen as the reaction from, like,
the trans community?
- Oh my goodness.
I get, like, long letters on social media,
just from all over the world.
Trans people writing me,
telling me, "Oh my God, it's the first time I saw myself
in a movie, you know." - Represented, yeah.
- Right. It's just so much bigger.
It's just, (sighs)
there's so much at stake for us right now.
There's been bills introduced this year,
like legislation,
that are just trying to make our lives harder.
- [Kelly] Go backwards. - Erase us all together.
So, something like this, I don't know,
the visibility brings,
hopefully brings humanity to our lives.
Hopefully, you know, if someone doesn't know a trans person
in their own day-to-day lives,
maybe they can watch a movie like this
and see Monica's heart, and see her mother's heart,
and see that we're deserving of love, and see the talent,
and, you know, everything that we can bring to this world,
and to this industry.
And, yeah, I mean, it's been really moving.
So, I think the message that I get from all over,
that's what really keeps me going,
- Look, timing is so divine, right?
Like, it's what a perfect time to have something like this
for people to watch.
Like, even if you aren't affected, like you said,
directly impacted in your everyday life,
to see what is happening outside of your circle
is so important. - Oh yeah.
- It's just important for us to progress as humans,
like in that sense.
But, our next guest is an icon,
and it's an honor to have her here today.
So, let's bring her out now.
Her podcast is called "The Laverne Cox Show."
It's available wherever you get your podcast.
Everybody, please welcome Laverne Cox!
(audience cheers)
(upbeat light rock instrumentals)
Y'all wanna scooch down, and we'll come in.
Well, you look fabulous! - Thank you.
- Y'all got the "wear black" memo,
and we got the "wear jeans" memo. I like this.
So, you got to see "Monica."
So, what are your thoughts? - Oh my God, yes!
- Yeah.
- Oh, I love this film so much,
and I just wanted to take a moment, and take a breath,
because what I love about being an artist,
and being an actor is that, I think art at its best
reaffirms what it means to be human for us.
A beautiful film, a song, reaffirms for us as human beings,
as viewers, what it means to be human,
and helps us to understand our experiences,
and our lives better, and maybe to work through something.
And, I think "Monica" operates
at that highest of levels of art,
where I watched it,
and I understood something about being human,
about alienation.
I think that the way the film is shot,
and the way we linger with Monica,
we understand that there's this distance between her,
and how the world sees her,
her wanting to make a connection,
but it just keeps falling apart with the world around her.
And, then with the person who should,
she should be closest to the most, there's this distance,
and we, and they don't see us, and can't see us.
And, all of us want to just be deeply seen and known.
- [Kelly] Everyone. - Everyone wants that.
And, I think that's what this movie is about.
And, it illustrates it and tells a story visually,
and through these incredible performances,
in such a way where I feel like it's a sacred space,
what that is created in this film
of understanding the complicated relationship of alienation,
distance, longing to be seen and known,
and then the hope, the glimpse of.
- End of the tunnel, in a way. - Recognition.
- Yeah. - Of recognition,
of seeing, of understanding.
I wept. - That's why I took,
one of the reasons I took the film,
because I think that's what it is,
is it is about unconditional love.
It's about all of us. - [Laverne] Yeah.
- Finding unconditional love. (audience applauds)
- And, everyone's searching for it, everybody wants that.
So, with anti LGBTQ laws being passed in many states,
what do y'all hope this movie does
for the awareness of trans people?
- Well, for me, what I am aware of is that what,
the way that these laws have been passed is that they've,
it's been a really,
anti-trans folks have done a really good job
of dehumanizing us.
They have reduced us to transitions,
and body parts, and it,
they've done a really good job of making us less than human.
And, when you can dehumanize people,
you can take away their rights,
you can commit violence against them.
What "Monica" does is deeply humanizes a trans woman
at the center of a story.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- We are human beings deserving of love,
deserving of rights and respect.
And, it's really about a rehumanizing process
that has to happen in relationship to trans people.
And, great storytelling is a beautiful way to do that.
- [Kelly] Yeah. (audience cheers)
My goodness, you're good.
- But, I just, I said this before,
what I don't understand in our country,
we have a great country
when we really live up to the real values of it.
- Amen.
- People cross rivers and mountains, and they cross oceans.
They risk their children's lives to come to this country,
to flee persecution.
Why do we turn around and persecute our own?
(audience cheers)
- What's your hope, you know, playing "Monica," like,
what's your hope? What do you hope this does?
- I mean, well, of course, you know, I hope it humanizes us,
but I also hope it, I hope that it opens doors for,
for more stories so that, because, you know,
we're not a monolith.
There's so many trans stories that need to be told,
and we kind of, we need to knock on that glass ceiling.
We need to open up space.
And, it's really hard for a film like this to get funding.
And so, I know that whatever comes after this
is gonna have their work cut out for them.
But, if this film does well, maybe it'll be a little easier
for whoever comes next.
- And, can I add to that, for all the folks out there
who are allies, thank you for doing this show, Kelly.
- Yeah!
This is the action, this is the work.
The people who say that they're allies.
- That was gonna be my question.
What do you advise people do?
- The people who stay their allies and who stand with us.
- Let's talk about it.
- Need to put their money where their mouths are.
- [Kelly] Yeah. - That they need to elevate.
(Trace snaps fingers) (audience applauds)
They need to elevate our stories, fund trans projects.
I, you know, I'm so blessed in my work, but I,
and I just did shot a show.
It is really hard to get a trans show, by a trans creator,
with a trans lead, made, a TV show, a movie.
It's all nearly impossible.
And, with all the backlash now.
- [Kelly] Not unhelpful, yeah.
- It's even more difficult, right?
With everything that happened with targeting.
But, like, earlier this year, corporations are afraid.
Right? They're scared.
And, if you say you were with us,
now is the time to really show up,
and put your money where your mouth is, fund projects,
support us, fight against this anti-LGBTQ+ legislation,
and lift up the real lived experiences of trans people
and actual trans people, and bring us to the table.
- Absolutely! (all clap)
Well, hopefully this is progression.
Like, hopefully people watching this, people are affected.
They go home, they tell their family members,
they tell their friends, and hopefully that's what happens.
And, people actually showing up, like you said.
- Yeah.
Well, Billy Porter was on the show recently. I love him.
And, he said this about dealing with the backlash
against the LGBTQ+ community.
- What we have to do,
who are the people in the positions to make the change,
is understand that the change has already happened.
That's why the pushback is so severe.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
Like, what are your thoughts on that statement?
(audience cheers)
That's, it's exactly right.
A few years ago, I was a vigil for,
there was a lot of trans women had been murdered
in a short span of time.
And, I was at a vigil in Los Angeles,
and I said,
"It's the best of times, and the worst of times."
At that moment, we could go to, there was a film with,
starring trans people, "Port Authority,"
that was at the Cannes Film Festival.
Lena Blooms on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Trans people were everywhere in terms of visibility,
and we're being murdered disproportionately.
And, there are all these anti-LGBTQ+ laws.
Our beautiful visibility,
the beautiful lights that trans people have inside of us
are shining brightly,
and people are getting more opportunities
when we're more visible.
And, because of that visibility, the backlashes happen.
People are afraid or scared.
And so, these laws are happening,
and this propaganda is happening.
And so, I think we just have to understand
that's what's happening,
understand that there's a dehumanizing process going on,
understand that we're being propagandized,
and then come with love.
Come with love and humanity to each other.
- Open heart.
- And, understand with open hearts,
understand that this beautiful light should be shining
and that, it all has to be about love, you know?
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- Because, they think the fear, the fear that people are,
they're using fear, and people are afraid.
And we, a lot of people don't understand trans folks,
or, you know, we don't know a trans person personally,
but we're all human.
And, when we proceed with love, love, then I think we can,
as corny as that is. - Things will fall into place.
- I believe that in my whole spirit, as corn as it is,
if we can proceed with love first, and empathy,
It's all good. It's all good.
(audience cheers)
- Be sure to check out the movie, "Monica." It's On Demand.
Please support it.
And, you can also find "The Laverne Cox Show,"
wherever you get your podcast.