The World According to Lee Daniels

The director and producer on "Tennessee," Mariah Carey, weight gain and nurses.

“The Woodsman” (2004)

I was inundated with all sorts of weird projects that weren’t representative of who I wanted to be as a filmmaker. I couldn’t find anything inspiring. I decided to do a movie about a pedophile. I felt really good about the script, I wanted to work with a woman, so I went to work on “The Woodsman.” It was even lower than “Monster’s Ball.” Kevin [Bacon] was incredible, Mos Def was incredible.

I was let down because I didn’t think that people– it was simply too left field for mainstream America to swing with. My mother was becoming a little upset with me — like, “You’re not making movies for our people.” What the hell’s that mean, mom? Define that. Ugh.

“Shadowboxer” (2005)

I loved this old piece “Shadowboxer.” I knew that I’d end up directing because I’m so hands-on with my films. So incredibly hands-on — I’m irritating to work with as a producer. Really, I wouldn’t want to work with me. So I directed “Shadowboxer” and love it to this day. I think that people took me very seriously because I had just finished “The Woodsman” and “Monster’s Ball.” I was ready to have fun and had no intention of making it a serious movie! I was trying to find my way as a director, too, to understand storytelling. I also wanted to work better with directors, because I was so hard on them. I think it made me a weaker producer, because the next film that I did was “Tennessee” — I ended up giving in to a lot of director’s needs.

“Tennessee” (2008)

[Aaron Woodley] had it the easiest of all of my directors. I hired him for his palate really, a visual that’s intoxicating. He did his thing, but I really didn’t do my thing. I did “Tennessee” because I wanted to show a sense of versatility, that I could do something that wasn’t too wild. I’d just come up from “Shadowboxer” — that was crazy. This is a lot tamer. I wanted to appeal to a specific demographic that I don’t ordinarily appeal to, which is, you know, those Republicans out there? People that voted for Sarah Palin? There was something simple about the movie. I didn’t have to think too hard, like, “What is the statement that we’re trying to make here?” I’m very good friends with Mariah [Carey]. I wanted to work with her, and I think that it prepared me for my work with her in “Precious,” ultimately.

Janet Jackson

“Tennessee” was originally written for Janet Jackson — she was the first person I had in mind. I said, “Janet, I don’t want to work with you if you don’t put on weight. I want you fat in this.” She put on all this weight for me. We were trying to raise the money and she was fat and she was like, “Lee! Lee!” [laughs] I didn’t realize how catastrophic it was until I’m looking at “Oprah” one day and she had gained all this weight for a movie that never happened. Oprah said, “Were you pissed?” She was a really good sport about it, but it was borderlining on obese. Finally she said, “Lee, I have a record to drop. I have to look good. This is insanity. This movie’s never going to happen.” Then as soon as she bailed, we got the money.

Mariah Carey

Mariah came down to my set on “Shadowboxer.” I just fell in love. She’s outrageous and fun and makes me laugh. People have this impression of her — I had that impression of her, until you know her and realize she’s making fun of herself. As we became friends I saw her do impersonations. She does an Aretha Franklin like no other. How can you impersonate Aretha Franklin? I said, “I’m gonna find a job for you.” I sent her the script and yeah; she did it. I was really glad.

I never thought about “Glitter.” I didn’t think it was bad. Her persona was so what it was — people didn’t understand her and she got a bad rap for it — she wasn’t bad in the movie. She was very nervous [doing "Tennessee"] because she knew that she had a perception of being… She saw me working and how serious I was and how we don’t have money. There’s no room for a masseur, for tardiness, for an extra hairdresser. The beauty of independent cinema for me is everybody’s doing something. During “Shadowboxer,” we all were down and drinking one day, Macy Gray, Monique, myself and Cuba. We had a scene, and Helen Mirren came down and got us out of a bar.

Post-”Precious”

I’m trying to get away from the family. We go back to family quite often — it’s recurring in all of my films. So I’m up for some very interesting stuff that’s not like that. I’m going to really focus more on directing, what kind of movie I don’t know. I go into musicals. I’m a man of comedy, sci-fi… There’s some great stuff that’s come my way, but there’s a lot of crap, too. I just gotta find the right thing.

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