Niecy Nash-Betts Talks ‘The Holdovers’ and ‘Scandal’ Auditions, Becoming a Queer Role Model and Why She Thinks ‘Origin’ Deserves More Awards Recognition
Niecy Nash-Betts may be the nicest person in Hollywood.
In a town where getting your next role could be cutthroat, Nash-Betts actually tells her actor friends to audition for roles that she may already be reading for.
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“Before I was even cast in ‘Getting On’ on HBO — I had not even gone in yet — I called every actress I knew and was like, ‘This is going to be something. Get in on this,’” Nash-Betts tells me on the latest episode of the “Just for Variety” podcast. “My daughter was like, ‘Why are you telling all these girls? Somebody’s going to get your part,’ and I said, ’No, my part is my part. If it’s my part, it was meant to be. And if it’s not, how wonderful is it that I was a conduit for one of my friends getting a job?’ No, there’s room. We can all get in there.”
She recalls being at a gala that honored Kerry Washington. “They were showing the clips from ‘Scandal,’ and it was funny, I looked around and I saw all the actresses in there mouthing the monologue because everybody went in for it, but we still all gave her a standing ovation, but it’s like, ‘Girl, we know them lines, too,’” Nash-Betts says.
Nash-Betts is up for an Emmy on Monday for her work in “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.” She can currently be seen in “Origin,” writer-director Ava DuVernay’s film adaptation of “Caste: The Origin of Our Discontents,” the nonfiction bestseller by Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson about caste systems around the world and how they have contributed to racism and oppression throughout history. The film follows Wilkerson’s (Aunjanue L. Ellis-Taylor) journey of writing the book as she faces personal tragedies. Nash-Betts co-stars as Wilkerson’s cousin Marion.
DuVernay recently took to Instagram to vent her frustration of not seeing Ellis-Taylor receive awards recognition for her work.
“We are a small movie with a lot to say, but it was independent,” Nash-Betts says. “So a lot of it is grassroots. And I think that people think, because they know Ava, ‘Oh, we can guess what this movie is about,’ but this is by far her best work and is nothing like the other work that she has done. And the fact that she was able to adapt that book into what you saw on the screen, that is the biggest gift that she has been able to share with the world.
“So I think Ava also should be recognized for that,” she continues. “It was three countries in 37 days to get it all done. It absolutely changes you. And when you experience the film and it changes you, then the next logical step is someone should notice.”
“Origin” sold to Neon for worldwide distribution just days before the movie premiered at the Venice Film Festival. “You just have to keep doing the work and you have to trust that grassroots efforts are going to allow it to grow,” Nash-Betts says. “It wasn’t a big studio movie. So all of the commercials and all of the things that they put into the engine, we didn’t have that, but if you ask me, the film definitely, and the actors, should be contenders.”
Nash-Betts says she and her wife, musician Jessica Betts, are looking for a project to do together. “We’re actively right now trying to find something that we can do together where our art intersects,” Nash-Betts said. “So we’re working on it.”
Nash-Betts came out as queer shortly after she and Betts married in 2020. Nash-Betts realizes her visibility has had an impact, but she didn’t necessarily set out to be a role model. “You just show up as your full self and you do the work, and then the afterthought is, if somebody else who identifies with me and my spirit and my being, and how I’m living my life, sees themselves, then I’m like, ‘That’s an added bonus.’ I’m glad about it.”
Listen to the full conversation with Nash-Betts on “Just for Variety” above or wherever you download your favorite podcasts.
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