Tracee Ellis Ross Opens Up About Dishonest Journalism, Getting Snubbed by Jay Leno’s Booker and Tribeca Thriller ‘Cold Copy’
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It’s all about the framing of a news story.
“We’re seeing it now, how a narrative can change the truth,” says Tracee Ellis Ross as she slides into a plush chair in her Los Angeles home. There’s no particular trending story on her mind. The actress and sometimes director is simply musing about the state of clickbait journalism and America’s eroding trust in the media. The topic is front and center in her latest movie, the Fourth Estate thriller “Cold Copy,” in which Ross plays Diane Hager, an esteemed yet cutthroat TV journalist who begins mentoring an ambitious wannabe (Bel Powley), eventually leading them both down a morally bankrupt path.
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“There’s a way that you can tell stories, you can create a frame around a story that completely changes the identity of a human being, their humanity,” Ross says. “I think Diane Hager really is a part of that system.”
As the middle daughter of music icon Diana Ross and business manager Robert Ellis Silberstein, the “Black-ish” star witnessed firsthand how her mother’s story often was shaped into a pat narrative that bore little resemblance to reality. She even had a front row seat when the elder Ross sat for some of the biggest TV personalities.
“My mom was interviewed by Barbara Walters multiple times,” she notes. “And Oprah numerous times. And I was interviewed, too. There very clear differences between what it felt like being interviewed by Oprah and what it felt like being interviewed by Barbara Walters. I will keep those to myself. But there was a distinct difference in feeling.”
With “Cold Copy,” Ross’ antagonist is a next-level shark, taking pleasure with her subjects squirming under questioning in a craven pursuit of ratings. Written and directed by newcomer Roxine Helberg, the film sees Ross shedding her own identity (“Just physically, I talk with my hands. I don’t know if you noticed, but Diane did not do a lot of hand-talking,” says Ross, gesturing wildly. “I smile all the time. I laugh all the time. I don’t think Diane Hager smiled unless she felt like she had manipulated somebody. And it wasn’t a smile. It was a smirk.”). Says Helberg: “Tracee is just charisma embodied, but then she can really plumb these incredible emotional depths when she wants to, and it’s so effortless. And that’s so perfect for Diane because you need the audience to fall under her spell. So, when cracks start to show, it has real impact.”
As “Cold Copy” makes its world premiere tonight at the Tribeca Film Festival, Ross won’t be alone in the audience. “My dad will be there,” she says. “Unfortunately, my mom is on tour.” In the runup to the film’s debut, Ross sat down for Variety to talk about finding inspiration in Katie Couric’s memoir and how “I never was OK with” the indignities actresses endured in pre-#MeToo Hollywood.
Did you see any parallels between the news business and Hollywood?
Ross: Of course. [laughs] The system has created a need for that kind of cutthroat-ness. I don’t think you have to be that [unethical] person. But I think it is the easiest path, and, unfortunately, you lose your soul in the process. I hope in my own journey in Hollywood that there have been no casualties to my success. Not that I had to make a choice that would make me lose my soul. I do think that people [choose] the other side, and their integrity has been compromised. We’ve seen it. We’re hearing a lot of those stories now.
How has the #MeToo reckoning changed things?
Ross: I think the shift in the world we’re living in — if you use #MeToo as an example — for women is the revelation, “I don’t have to subject myself to that.” Generations of women were taught, “That’s just part of it. That’s the tax you have to pay.” But then the tide changes, and somebody is courageous enough to come forward, or somebody finds a weakness in the system and is able to break it open. And then everybody gets to go, “Oh, I don’t have to do that anymore. Like, I never liked that. I never was OK with it. But I didn’t know how to make it [otherwise].”
What made you take a chance with a first-time director?
Ross: Roxine is an incredibly intelligent woman, who has a really deep emotional intelligence. Her dad was a therapist. She has an ability to write that [moral dilemma] into the material, which I think Bel and I saw in the script and why we signed on. I also love working with new directors. One of my favorite things as an actor, when I’m not directing, is really just showing up to be of service to the director’s vision and storytelling. I find it really exciting, especially when it’s a woman. Being able to say, “What do you want this to be? And how can I help be of service to that and create something together with you?”
What was Roxine’s initial pitch to you?
Ross: The script was first. And I was just very intrigued by the character. I started sort of pulling the character apart. When I first read the script, I had a lot of questions. And there were a lot of things that needed to be reconciled. It wasn’t written for a Black woman. But as a Black woman, there were certain lines and certain things that kind of didn’t gel. And I also really wanted to make sure that this didn’t perpetuate [the stereotypes of female] competition in the wrong way. So Roxine and I had a lot of conversations, back and forth. And it was the same thing when we were working. There wasn’t a lot that needed to be changed about the core of the script, but I wanted to know what Roxine’s working style was and how we were going to be able to get into some of the darker stuff. It was just a really interesting story about two women that we don’t normally see.
A story of two women similar to the one you told in “The High Note” with Dakota Johnson.
Ross: That was my that was one of my concerns at first, honestly, that it was it too much alike if you were to take just the skeleton of it. When you pulled back, was it the same story? But it felt very different to me. Obviously, the character was completely different. As I dove in with Roxine, there was so much more to it. There was such a different layering of what we were trying to get to. “High Note” was about how the system sort of pigeonholes a woman in in the [music] industry, and “Cold Copy” is how a woman has used the system, all the wrong things and the bad parts of the system, to get herself to a certain place. And then her protege is the one that takes her down, as opposed to the opposite. It’s really interesting to play somebody who’s on the wrong side of things.
What did you do to prepare for the role?
Ross: I read Katie Couric’s book [“Going There”]. I read a fantastic book about all of the big female newscasters. The realization for me is how few female on-camera journalists have gotten to a place where we know their name. The book goes into all of their journeys. There’s a common thread: They’re the only [women] in the room. So I was thinking of what this trajectory must have been for Diane and what she would have had to have been in order to move forward and be in the position that she was in.
What has been your career highlight so far?
Ross: Winning the Golden Globe [for “Black-ish”]. I had never been to the Emmys. I’d never been to the Golden Globes. I couldn’t get on a late night talk show. I remember when I was on “Girlfriends,” Jay Leno’s talent person saying to my publicist, “We love Tracee. Call us when she gets a role that we care about.” So that was my experience in the industry. The industry was a lot more segregated at the time. So winning the Golden Globe, from an ego perspective, it’s like “Blah, blah, blah, really great.” But winning is a marker for the industry. It changes something about how you are seen, particularly as a person of color in this industry, and how you are paid. That moment at the Golden Globes really shifted my career into a different place. I’ve always been the same person. But it changed some other things.
What do you love most about Hollywood?
Ross: I love that Hollywood is an industry that is meant to support creative dreams. And that there is a sense of being able to tell stories that expand humanity and our understanding of ourselves and each other. And when entertainment is done right, it has the ability to open minds and hearts and really change the course of the world. There are studies that say culture pushes policy.
And what do you hate most about Hollywood?
The hard part is there’s a lot of frustrating moments. You’re pushing up against a system that honestly is not made for expansive liberation. I luckily come from a family where I was taught to not only know who I am, I was given an environment to thrive and blossom and become who I am and to trust who I am and to use my voice to not be afraid of authority. To not be afraid of the status quo, but instead to use my own inner compass as a way to navigate life. So, Hollywood doesn’t scare me.
Who influenced you more, your mom or your dad?
Ross: I gotta tell you, it’s both. I get my sense of humor from my dad. He and I are so much alike. I spent more time with my mom. She was my sole parent for the majority of my childhood. I’m so much like my mother and I’m so much like my father. I don’t know who influenced me more. But I think my career has been more influenced by my dad.
Any career regrets?
Ross: Nah. I’ve had such an amazing run. I did eight years on “Girlfriends” and eight years on “Black-ish.” That’s 16 years of my life. I had four months off [a year], two of those I was trying to recover from the season. And then, if you’re going to squeeze a movie in there, it better be a good one. During “Girlfriends,” I wasn’t getting those offers. During the years of “Black-ish,” I did the things that I wanted to do when they came up. Since “Black-ish,” I’ve done three movies and put out a podcast and I have a hair company. I’ve stayed pretty busy. And “Cold Copy” just feels really exciting to me. It’s [a character] I’ve never seen in myself. Even when Roxine sent me the poster picture, it took me a minute to remember that was me. I was like, “Who is this?” It doesn’t even look like me.
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