First, watch Viola talk to Ellen about bringing confidence to the screen.
In addition, John Jurgensen talks to Viola about the show, embodying the character, and of course, the wig.
What was your first reaction to the script?
When I first read the script, I was so excited, because it was my idea that I pitched to [series creator] Peter Nowalk before I even took the job. I said, “The only way I can play someone this hard is for something to be peeled away each week, and the first thing that needs to go is the wig.” I just wanted to deal with her hair. It’s a big thing with African-American women, in a way that’s far more complicated than I can possibly tell you over the phone. You start when you’re just a young girl. Do you twist it? Do you leave it natural when it’s so hard to take care of? Then you start wearing wigs but every night before bed you’ve got to take the wig off and deal with your hair underneath. And it’s a part of Annalise that I needed the writers to deal with because I’ve never seen it, ever, on TV and I thought it would be very powerful. It’s part of her mask.
I have to give credit to my wife who said the scene reminded her of “We Wear the Mask,” the poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar.
Exactly. “The mask that grins and lies.”
And the writers were on board with your plan for the character?
They were, which was why I was on board with them. Listen, I am very aware that I’m a different sort of woman for TV, for a lead role that’s sexualized. I get it. I can either pretend to be like everyone else that people have seen in that role, or I can embrace my womanhood, my sexuality, my size, my age, my hair. I felt that would be far more effective.
It’s rare to see any actress, of any color, in an unvarnished state like that.
You’ve got to teach people how to treat you. You have to give people a glimpse of what your life is like. That’s what it means to be private in public. It’s the whole basis for acting. Often you get a television gig and you feel like all that stuff has to be taken off the table because it’s not attractive. It’s not sleek or pretty or any of those things that make TV compelling. I’m not interested in doing that as an actress. I’m interested in the mess. What is not pretty. That, at its core, is what makes us human. And that’s what makes people sit forward in their chair. Because we want to see ourselves in those moments. Even for anyone who’s Caucasian, women in general are taking their makeup off before bed, putting in their retainers, removing their bra, and they are who they are, stretchmarks and all. That’s not cute, but it has value and I want to explore that.
Let’s talk about the wig itself. Do you like it?
Yeah, I like the wig. It makes Annalise feel that she can be accepted, in a way that she doesn’t feel like she can be when she wears her own hair. I personally no longer feel that way. By the way, her wig is going to change. By episode 10, it’s gonna be gone. I know people say it looks like Justin Bieber. I’ve seen it all.
You won’t be wearing a wig at all eventually?
We’ll see! It will definitely be a different wig by episode 10. Yeah, for her it means acceptability. I’m talking in terms of being an actress. I can’t describe it in terms of fashion, the color, or anything, because it will drive me crazy.
Talk about how Annalise carries herself physically. Is she comfortable in her own body?
Without giving too much away, when I created her, I felt that at her core she was antithetical to what she appeared to be. I pictured her being awkward, not knowing how to be accessible to people in her personal life. I don’t think she has a whole lot of friends. Whether it’s the heels or the wig she wears, I see everything as a complete and total front.
There have been other times when she seemed vulnerable, like when she cried with Wes [one of her student apprentices]. Or was that her being manipulative?
She is very manipulative. Some of it is calculated, a lot of it is not, is what I will share. In my own life, I’ve observed people who are manipulative because they don’t know any other way to be. They’ve been so damaged at a certain part in their life, that they don’t know what it means to have an honest exchange with someone. They just know how to get what they want and to disarm people. This is the only way I could explain someone who is that powerful and strong. So, to answer your question, she is very manipulative, especially with Wes because he’s the easiest target. Nate [a detective, and Annalise’s lover] not so much.
What’s it like to be at the center of the discussion of the show, including some of the uglier stuff, such as the controversy sparked by a review on the theme of the “angry black woman”?
I have two parts of my brain. One part is completely cool with it, because I know that if you have 20 million viewers then you have 20 million opinions coming at you. That’s the intellectual part. But for the emotional part, it’s very difficult for people to misinterpret or devalue your work. Especially when you’re creating a character. You just want people to go on the journey with you.
How many times did you have to say those nine words: “Why is your penis on a dead girl’s phone?”
Not that many. Maybe six times to get the camera right while working the phone and taking the wig off. Laura Innes directed the episode and she’s fabulous.
To what extent do you know where the story is headed?
I get the scripts maybe a day or two in advance, maybe. But what you do know is what the core of your character is, but you have a semblance of their past and their memories, so that helps carry you through each episode. All those things I’ve been having to navigate on TV, where you get eight days to shoot an episode.
But do you know how all the dots connect, between the foreshadowed murder and the main story?
I do now. I didn’t know four or five episodes ago. You will know why everybody’s acting the way they’re acting. All that will be revealed fairly soon.