Get Viola Davis and Julius Tennon talking about how they found each other and the conversation instantly turns into one of those couples interviews you see in āWhen Harry Met Sally,ā with the husband and wife finishing each otherās sentences while making sure that the details are relayed just so.
On their first date 23 years ago, Tennon took Davis to the Crocodile Cafe on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. Tennon says they didnāt go there for any particular reason. Davis reminds him: āYou said you loved the bread basket!ā Tennon remembers. āOh, yeah ... the bread was fresh and gooood.ā
After dinner, they walked to the Santa Monica Pier, Tennon wrapping Davis in his coat because of the cool ocean air. āHe drove me home in his Nissan Maxima,ā Davis says. āMy new Nissan Maxima,ā Tennon interjects. āOh, it was so clean,ā Davis continues. āAnd he drove me to the front curb and he shook my hand. He said I was beautiful and that heād had such a beautiful time. And he stayed there until I got to the door of my apartment. He was such a gentleman.ā Tennon smiles. āTexas hospitality.ā
Davis and Tennon have been together ever since, marrying in 2003 and forming their own production company, JuVee Productions in 2011, which has generated a plethora of projects, including āThe Woman Kingā ā an action epic about the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who protected the African kingdom of Dahomey in the 1800s ā a film Tennon calls their āmagnum opus.ā The American Film Institute recently named it one of the 10 best movies of 2022.
The directors at this yearās Envelope Roundtable -- Rian Johnson, Jordan Peele, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Maria Schrader, Charlotte Wells and Florian Zeller -- found shared experiences.
āIāve never met a couple more in sync about the work they want to put into the world and with their beautiful energy, who they are together,ā says āWoman Kingā director Gina Prince-Bythewood.
Hyperbole? Read on and decide for yourself.
When you two met on the set of the CBS series āCity of Angels,ā did you feel an immediate connection, like a love at first sight?
Tennon: I gave her my card, but she didnāt call me for six weeks!
Davis: Let me tell you ... at the time I had a 500 credit score. I couldnāt get a credit card. I couldnāt get a rental car. Sometimes Iād take the bus or I had to walk. I was so stressed out. And when I got these 10 episodes of āCity of Angels,ā I couldnāt stay in the apartment I had because it was $2,500 a month. I ran out of money! My anxiety was so overwhelming, and I felt like I wouldnāt be attractive to anyone, a 34-year-old woman running around on a bus. Listen, when I met him I had 99-cent sheets ...
Tennon: From the 99 Cent store. [Laughs]
The 99 Cents Only Store sells linens? What was the thread count?
Davis: Zero point five. [Laughs]
Tennon: It was like sleeping on razor blades.
But Viola, just three weeks before you met him, you had prayed for a man almost exactly like Julius ... and here he was, a manifestation of answered prayers. And ... you took six weeks to call?
Davis: I didnāt know that at first! I remember telling my therapist at the time, āI think heās nice. Heās really cute. But I donāt know ... Iām struggling with this, that and the other.ā They say nostalgia isnāt what happened in the past. Itās a story you tell yourself about what happened in the past. So Iām telling myself, āThis guy may not even be a nice guy. Itās L.A. Itās this. Itās that. Let me just work on my credit.ā Until my therapist told me, āOh, my God, just call the man, Viola! Call. Him.ā And thatās when I stopped making excuses.
Tennon: My mom always told me that when you meet a girl, you donāt ask for her phone number. Give her your phone number. And if sheās interested, sheāll call you. So I always followed that advice because even when my mom was wrong, she was right. So when Viola did call after six weeks, it was a surprise.
Davis: I was shocked you remembered me!
Tennon: Well, of course I would remember you. I was like, āHeeeey, whatās happening?ā
Screenwriter Dana Stevens had her plot twist, complete with tension and drama, and used it to fill in the rest of the storyās characters, conflict and plot.
And now youāve been together nearly 25 years. When youāre with somebody this long, thereās usually one fight you keep having. Whatās yours?
Davis: I would call Julius a more Type A, organized personality. And Iām not.
Tennon: Definitely not. [Laughs] And I can relieve her of that. You know, āDonāt worry about cleaning up. I got it.ā
Davis: He came over and cleaned my apartment!
Tennon: Mostly it was just the bathroom, not putting tops back on things and leaving stuff everywhere. I like things to be organized.
Davis: He raised his children on his own! [Tennon, 68, has a 46-year-old daughter and 43-year-old son from an earlier marriage.] So that is the conflict sometimes. Iām like, āBe free! Be open to life!ā But what complements us is I think I help Julius fly by the seat of his pants a little bit more. [Pauses] But I donāt know if thatās really true. He does just fine. He helps me laugh a lot too. My ass can get tight.
Tennon: We laugh a lot.
Davis: Iām saying, rolling out the bed, laughing on the floor. Thatās all the time. A friend came to South Africa when we were filming āThe Woman Kingā and was staying two doors down. And she was saying, āI was just listening to you guys laugh for the longest time.ā And I remember that. I was rolling on the floor. He does great imitations. I think those imitations probably got me through the movie.
When you started JuVee Productions in 2011, you said, Julius, that it was out of necessity, that the talent was there but the material was not. Has that changed in the intervening years?
Tennon: Weāve definitely made some strides. We stuck with āThe Woman Kingā for seven years. And weāve found some wonderful things for Viola, and in between there have been the August Wilson adaptations. [Davis won an Oscar for āFencesā and was nominated for her performance in āMa Raineyās Black Bottom.ā]
Davis: When you are an actress of color, when you are a Black actress, thereās certain characters you havenāt seen in movies that have your makeup. People are OK when youāre funny and youāre Black. Theyāre OK if youāre maternal and youāre Black. Or maybe overly angry. But nothing like āThe Woman Kingā had ever been done before. People would focus on the commercial aspect of it. āWe want it to land. We want white males to get it. We want white women to get it.ā So how do we do that and still retain the integrity of the story? You just have to go for it. Ava DuVernay has a clip out today, saying if youāre a Black woman and youāre an artist, you cannot wait for permission to create. You just have to do it. And thatās what we did with this movie.
What do you think it says about the business that it took seven years?
Davis: I donāt think ā and Iām not saying this in a way thatās condescending ā but I do not think most people understand what it is we do. There is the work and thereās the business. The business tells you there needs to be a young female lead whoās cute. There needs to be a love interest. Why isnāt there a man in this film? Why donāt you have a bumping soundtrack with an artist whoās young and hip?
That has nothing to do with the work. You create a piece as an artist, you fight for your choices, you try to make bold choices, you collaborate with the right people, and then you give it to the audience and the audience has to receive what youāve given them. It is coming from the heart of the artists who created it. You do not change it. You do not shift it to make it palatable. That is not art. That is commerce. That is fear. And fear is why it takes seven years.
Director Gina Prince-Bythewood, Beninese economist and historian Leonard Wantchekon and film professor Racquel Gates push back on the online campaign accusing āThe Woman Kingā of historical revisionism.
Tennon: Itās an ongoing journey, but the journey has been worth it. Violaās got the skill set and weāre continuing to develop projects that she wants to do.
Davis: And now that Iāve reached 57 ... eeeeh ... I do want to keep doing quality work. I just donāt want to work myself to death anymore. [Laughs] I remember taking some friends to the set of āHow to Get Away With Murder.ā Eighteen hours later, we were going home and they said, āOh! You shot the whole season already?ā And I said, āNo. We just shot a couple of scenes. You were right there!ā They were like, āOh! Eighteen hours!ā āYes. It takes eight to 10 days to shoot one episode of a TV show. Itās not uncommon to work a 100-hour week.ā
Shooting a TV show is a grind ...
Davis: Being on top is a grind. Everyone wants to be on top. Thatās the whole goal. āI want to be Cate Blanchett. I want to be Meryl Streep.ā Itās a sacrifice. If anyone were to ask me what my life was, I would say, ā[Daughter] Genesis, Julius, my mom.ā Theyāre my heartbeat. A lot of times, youāre filling in the gaps with the things that are important to you. Again, Iām 57. That slaps you in the face. You see whatās important.
You know, all the things I thought were maybe overrated I now think are underrated. Like doing nothing. Doing nothing is very underrated. Itās like BrenĆ© Brown says: When youāre overwhelmed, doing nothing is the only cure. Iāve always been told, the idle mind, you donāt want to be idle. But itās not true. Taking a breath and taking the time to connect to yourself again and connect to your life ... I donāt think that anyone goes to the grave thinking about how much money they left in the bank. I donāt see it on anyoneās gravestone. I see ābeloved mom,ā ābeloved son,ā ābeloved daughter.ā
What constitutes ādoing nothingā for you?
Davis: Iām a simple woman ...
Tennon: I can attest to that.
Davis: So, picking my daughter up from school. Going to Disneyland. Sitting in my movie room watching āTrollsā or āWednesdayā with my daughter.
Tennon: Donāt forget the Jacuzzi or the infrared sauna.
Davis: Laughing with Julius. Laughing with Genesis. Walking our dog. Are you kidding me? Thatās rock star. I looooove that dog.
Tennon: When I came home the other day, there was lipstick on that dog.
How are you at drawing boundaries?
Davis: Iām starting to learn. To be perfectly candid, when you come from any level of trauma or abuse, itās very hard to draw boundaries. But Iām starting to understand that that is connected to how you want people to treat you. Thatās tied into showing up, being seen and saying, āThis is who I am. And in order to come into my world, this is how I need to be treated. This is what you cannot do to me.ā Thatās been an aha moment for me, but Iām really starting to learn and Iāve recently started to do it. And it has reduced my anxiety a lot.
Iāll tell you, one of the things that helps too is that I havenāt gained anything in my life by being nice. I havenāt. Thatās the story of my life. But itās all good. Iām learning. Boundaries.
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