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- [Matthew] Regina, what made you say yes to Beale Street?
- James Baldwin and Barry Jenkins, I mean...
- Had he won the Oscar yet,
when you said yes?
- Oh yes, oh yes yes yes.
He is just one of the most gracious human beings
I've ever met.
I learn something from him every time I'm in his presence.
- [Matthew] What's something you've learned?
- Oh gosh, to listen.
Not that I don't listen,
that's part of being an actor, you know.
One of the things I was going to say
when you were asking about advice
that you received early in your career
I was a child actor first
and Marla Gibbs told me that this is an art form
and just 'cause the camera's not on you
you still give 100% of a performance
when it's on that person you're acting with.
If you want your performance to shine
you got to want their performance to shine as well,
so that I think with Barry and the listening,
that's just an extension of kind of that advice early on.
I am attracted to projects
that not only are good stories
but the creators of that project,
the producers of that project
are true collaborators
because I want to have ownership in telling the story.
What's the point of being a part of it if not?
And Barry, the first time we met
was over a Skype call,
and an hour later I was like,
if it's not this film,
I am working with him on something
because he is truly a collaborator
and I know I'm going to learn something.
I'm going to leave the situation bigger
than I was when I came in.
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Sharon Rivers was just in the book and in the script,
she represented my grandmother,
my mother, and she created this for me
this home, her and her husband Joe
that there was no shame
within the walls of their home,
the shame was not allowed.
And I just thought that was beautiful and powerful
and I wanted to be the woman
that lives her life like that
and has created this safe space for her girls to thrive
and use their voices in 1974
when women weren't as vocal then as they are now
and here you have this woman
that operates from a place of love,
not a place of fear.
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- [Matthew] Who is a character that you've played
that you would like to have dinner with, Regina?
- Oh I just think I thought of a character
that I would have dinner with, Margie Hendricks.
She was a singer in Ray.
- [Matthew] Oh yeah.
- Tell us about her.
- They had a child together,
she was one of his many lovers,
they had a very passionate relationship
and she died of an overdose
but it wasn't an overdose,
she just got bad drugs,
and the story always has been told
that she died of an overdose
and I just would ask her so many questions,
again, why'd you stay
and what was that,
we told the story that we told,
she had already passed away when we were doing Ray,
but when you did say, eff it I'm out...
- Right.
- What was that?
Was it the straw that broke the camel's back moment?
Was it something you were always on your way to do?
I would ask her so many,
and her voice, oh my God, is so unique,
if you ever listen to any of her earliest recordings
when she was a Cookie,
I would ask her who inspired her as an artist,
so it would be Margie Hendricks.
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