-My first guest is an Oscar-,
Tony-, Emmy-,
and Golden Globe-winning actress,
starring in the highly acclaimed film "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom,"
which is streaming now on Netflix.
Here is the very talented Viola Davis!
[ Band plays funk ] [ Cheering and applause ]
Yeah, Viola Davis!
Oh, I love you!
Welcome back.
-Thank you. Thank you.
-Welcome back to "The Tonight Show."
Thank you so much for doing this.
I appreciate it.
-Oh, my goodness. [ Laughs ] -It's great to see you.
I want to talk about your Oscar nomination
in "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," but I want to quickly touch on
you have a new addition to your family.
-I do. -Yeah.
-A son.
-Congratulations. A son.
[ Cheering and applause ] -Yeah. -Here's a picture.
Here's a picture.
There. Awww!
-Awww! -That's so cute.
Are you kidding me? -Bailey.
-Bailey? -Bailey is his name.
-Whose idea was it to get Bailey?
-Well, let me tell you something.
-[ Laughing ] That is a story.
Whose idea it was,
was my husband.
[ Laughter ] My husband, of all people.
You know, I married George Jefferson.
[ Laughter ] I fell in love with my husband
because I saw a baseball bat near his bed
and I said, "I love him."
He's like my father, you know?
And he was like, "We ain't never getting
no damn dog in this house.
They tear up the yard.
They piss all over the place. Fur."
And then, cut to this morning.
I'm listening to him downstairs, going,
"Hey, my Bailey boo.
[ Laughter and applause ] I love you.
Daddy is here.
You my baby."
So there you go.
[ Laughter ] -I love it.
You know, the Internet was going crazy today
because the "Suicide Squad" trailer was released.
Congrats on that.
It's major. -Thank you.
[ Cheering and applause ] -That's going to be giant.
You tweeted it out and James Gunn had a response,
said, "No lie, @violadavis is so scary as Amanda Waller,
I was afraid to give her acting notes on set."
[ Laughter ] -That's right.
[ Laughter and applause ]
I channeled my inner child, Jimmy.
-Really? -Because, when I was a kid,
I was real tough, but I really am not that tough.
I mean, I appreciate what James Gunn says,
but that's one of the reasons why I love playing that role,
because I get to cuss someone like Idris Elba out, you know?
[ Laughter ] -[ Claps ]
I also saw that you're going
to be playing Michelle Obama
in -- -Whoo!
-Yeah. This is a big deal.
[ Cheering and applause ] It's a new series.
-Yeah. -Why would you do this here?
You have to keep testing yourself?
-I don't know. I think it was temporary insanity.
-[ Laughs, claps ] I lost my damn mind
for about five minutes
and made a damn decision that I can't take back.
-Yeah. -Because the woman is a goddess
-Yeah. -and everybody knows her.
[ Cheering and applause ] Everybody feels like
they want to protect her.
Here's the thing -- I'm just going to do the best I can.
-[ Laughs ] -That's what I say
to my daughter every morning.
I said, "Genesis, let me tell you something.
Mommy is doing the best she can," so that's it.
-That's exactly right. That's exactly right.
Have you talked to Michelle since they announced this?
-Oh, yes, I have.
-Yeah? Good. -I have.
For several hours.
And it's terrifying because she's --
Here's the thing.
Sometimes someone doesn't live up
to whatever image you have in your head,
but when they do live up to the image, it's quite frightening.
[ Laughter ] -Yeah! [ Claps ] -You know?
It really is. -She really does live up to --
She actually is that cool and that awesome.
You're going to knock it out of the park. -Yeah, she's that cool, yeah.
-I love "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom."
I thought you were fantastic... -Thank you.
-...unrecognizable, almost, in this film.
-Thank you. -You had all this weight gain.
You had the hair
and...the teeth. -The grilles. My grilles.
-Oh, my gosh! -Making my grille.
-Yeah. -[ Laughs ]
You were unbelievable.
-Congrats on that -Thank you.
-nomination.
[ Cheering and applause ]
It's a great story.
Ma Rainey is also known as the Mother of the Blues.
-Yes.
-It puts you in the Roaring '20s and in Chicago, exactly.
They did such a great job with that.
And, obviously, Chadwick Boseman as well
is in the film. -Absolutely.
Awesome, Chadwick Boseman.
And, you know, I told Ann Roth
that I wanted a body like Aretha Franklin.
So I sent her a picture of Aretha Franklin.
I said, "I want my body to look like that."
-Yeah. -And so she built me a padding
and I'm telling you,
I never felt sexier. [ Laughter ]
[ Cheering and applause ] -Is that right? -No.
-Wow! -I felt like my Aunt Joyce.
Jimmy, I had an Aunt Joyce growing up.
Aunt Joyce was beautiful to me.
She was over 300 pounds.
She wore the latest fashions
and you could not tell that woman she wasn't cute.
She didn't have any problems getting a man,
keeping a man, nothing. -[ Claps ]
[ Cheering and applause ] -So, when I put on that padding,
I felt cute!
[ Laughter ] -You were, oh!
You were great.
For anyone who hasn't seen it,
can you set up what the movie's about?
-Well, this movie literally is very, very simple.
This is the Mother of the Blues, Ma Rainey,
who is in Chicago to record an album with her band.
And this is a day in the life of recording that album
and everything that she has to fight,
from the time she walks into the studio to the time she leaves,
and that is it.
-Yeah. I think, you know,
you're amazing in everything you do.
I'm a big fan, but I also like Chadwick as well because he
-Oh, awesome. Beautiful. -created this character
and you go, "Oh, that's a really interesting way to play that."
-Yeah, it is, you know.
This is someone who's just running from trauma, you know,
and probably someone with all the talent
and vision in the world,
but doesn't understand that, you know,
you can't reconcile the past.
You know, you have to see it.
It's just a heartbreaking performance.
And, you know, the thing -- I just --
you know, I always say I wish for everyone
that they could have just spent a minute with Chadwick Boseman.
He was everything.
Like I said, not everyone lives up to their name,
but this young man, he lived up to his name and his reputation.
He was a beautiful human being. -Ah.
[ Applause ] I want to show --
I want to show a clip.
Here's Viola Davis in "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom."
Take a look. -[ Laughs ]
-Damn what the band say.
You supposed to have my Coca-Cola. You knew that.
-[ Laughs ] -I ain't doing nothing
without my Coca-Cola.
[ Laughter ]
-Just a minute, here, Ma.
You come in an hour late --
-You need to get out my face, Irvin.
I told you, keep him away from me.
-Mel, I'm tired of her nonsense.
I'm not going to put up with this.
-Let me.
Ma, listen.
I'll call down to the deli and I'll get a Coke,
but let's get started, huh?
Sylvester's standing there, ready to go.
The band's all set up.
Let's do this one song, huh?
-Too cheap to buy me a Coca-Cola, I'll buy my own.
Slow Drag, Sylvester. Come on, baby.
Get me three bottles of Coca-Cola, ice-cold.
Get y'all something, too. Keep the change.
-Yes, ma'am.
-Irvin, get away from me!
You can wait 'til I get my Coca-Cola.
Ain't gonna kill you. -Okay, Ma.
[ Cheering and applause ] -Get the Coca Cola!
Who was that?! -[ Laughs ]
-Who was it? -You know, Jimmy, though,
you know it wasn't really about the Coca-Cola.
-No, I know, exactly, right, yeah.
-[ Laughs ] -Oh, my gosh. You're amazing.
Viola Davis, everybody. Thank you so much
for coming out. -Thank you.
Thank you, Jimmy. -Say hi to Bailey!
"Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" is on Netflix, everybody.