The director of ‘Selma’, Ava DuVernay had some amazing words for aspiring actors in Hollywood.
Ava DuVernay is one opinionated director. She never holds back in interviews, conversations, and decisions. When she was given the opportunity to direct a Marvel movie, she quickly told the billion dollar studio no due to “creative differences”.
Recently Ava DuVernay shared advice on how to make it in Hollywood and well it’s not your typical acting tip.
“You gotta follow the white guys. Truly. They’ve got this thing wired.”
“Too often, we live within their games, so why would you not study what works? Take away the bad stuff — because there’s a lot — and use the savvy interesting stuff and figure out how they can apply. It’s a good one for the ladies.”
“Women have been trained in our culture and society to ask for what we want instead of taking what we want. We’ve been really indoctrinated with this culture of permission. I think it’s true for women, and I think it’s true for people of color. It’s historic, and it’s unfortunate and has somehow become part of our DNA. But that time has passed.”
Ava DuVernay also revealed what she learned from working with Oprah Winfrey. DuVernay argues that in order to make it in the entertainment industry filmmakers must “diversify”.
“diversify — I’ve been in a lot of rooms lately, and all these fancy people who are really killing it, no one has all her eggs in one basket.”
DuVernay loves what she does and is proud of her work. “What my name is on means something to me — these are my children,” she said. “This is my art. This is what will live on after I’m gone. So it’s important to me that that be true to who I was in this moment. And if there’s too much compromise, it really wasn’t going to be an Ava DuVernay film.”
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