Gina Prince-Bythewood Wants Everyone to See Themselves as Heroes
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The first time director Gina Prince-Bythewood saw herself represented onscreen, she was 17 years old, watching a trailer for Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It. "I remember literally, being pushed back in my seat," she says in a new video from Chanel and New York's Museum of Modern Art. The storied French fashion house is now a lead sponsor for MoMA's film collection, and to celebrate, filmmakers including Prince-Bythewood, Sofia Coppola, Patti Jenkins, and Judd Apatow opened up about their love for the art form.
For Prince-Bythewood, who helmed works like Love & Basketball and The Old Guard, film is more than just a visual medium, it's an opportunity for people to see their stories reflected back at them, to feel seen and empowered.
“It's so interesting that I didn't realize how starved I was until that moment,” the director recalls to BAZAAR.com. “It really was a transformative moment. I can still put myself back in that seat when those images came up on screen and just feeling overwhelmed and so excited. And it was literally just, Oh my gosh, I'm seeing myself reflected back. And it's something that I hadn't felt before. I wasn't seeing myself in TV. I wasn't seeing myself in film. I wasn't seeing myself in my community, which was overwhelmingly white and even within my adopted family. I heard sometimes you don't know you're starving until you're fed. That's what that did.” From that moment on, she knew she wanted to make films. “I knew I loved to tell stories, but now I wanted to tell my story and our stories.”
Now an established filmmaker known for celebrating Black women onscreen, Prince-Bythewood has also given audiences that same feeling. “It means a tremendous amount, especially given that the films that center us are absolutely the hardest films to get made,” she says. “They take incredible fight. And when you're told by audiences that your work means something to them, that inspires the fight.”
While stationed in Mississippi, working on a pilot for her first in-person project in the COVID era, Prince-Bythewood chatted with BAZAAR.com about who’s inspiring her, why viewers deserve to see themselves as heroes, and whether The Old Guard is getting a sequel.
How have you continued to create or stay inspired as a filmmaker this year considering the separation and isolation and all the new safety guidelines you've had to take? What has that been like for you?
I hate to use this word because COVID has so devastated not only our country, but the world. But I was fortunate that I had The Old Guard to focus on so much of it. Obviously everything's shut down in March and we had just finished our second audience screening, so I had the opportunity to see The Old Guard in theaters filled with people and get that response. But, you know, as an artist and a filmmaker, the theatrical experience and the collective experiences of witnessing something, I certainly miss that. But we had that right before the shutdown.
It was a lot to wrap your head around, of wanting to finish the film in the way that you started and really honor it and honor all the work that people put in. You couldn't cut corners. So there was a lot of figuring it out. And then once it came out in the world and the fact that we were on streaming, which was something I had balked at initially, because I'm so used to the theatrical experience—I love it, but the fact that we could still come out and that it dropped in 190 countries was pretty phenomenal. And I'm a believer in streaming and in Netflix. It's just been a really cool experience to be able to still get the feedback and the response of the film. And in this case, even greater response because it was global, which is something that I really haven't experienced in my career, given the majority of films I make focus on Black women, and you're told by Hollywood over and over again that the world doesn't want to see you, and we're not going to give you any foreign distribution. And to have that flipped in such an extraordinary way on this film was really something special.
The reception for the film was so widespread and so enthusiastic. It was really exciting to see something this big released on streaming and still do incredibly well.
There were a number of things that attracted me to this film. The fact that it was two female leads. And the fact that one was a young Black female hero. And Joe and Nicky, these two characters in a relationship that I hadn't seen in the genre before. The character Joe, a Muslim hero, which we rarely ever get to see, certainly in what America puts out. And the fact that these characters were seen worldwide and embraced globally, that's everything to me. Because so much of what I believe in as an artist is, you want to see yourself reflected and everybody deserves to see themselves as the hero. And we just don't get that opportunity.
I mean, think about young little white boys, who get to grow up and see themselves in the moment they come out. They see themselves as the center of the universe. They see themselves as heroic. They see themselves as the boss, they see themselves as the winner and that, you know, completely affects the way that our culture is shaped. And you just think if that was different, if Black girls and boys and Brown girls and boys could grow up with that same thing, and not see themselves as the satellites orbiting a star, but actually see themselves as a star, you can absolutely change the game. So for me as an artist, that's what I've always pushed and fought for and continue to do. I was just really proud to be able to do it in a genre like this, in a movie of this scale, and really put these characters into the world.
Also, congratulations on Love & Basketball turning 20 this year. It's still such a significant film. Did you do anything to celebrate?
20 years is mind-boggling. You can't wrap your head around that. But the fact that people still love the film, that it still moves people that people that saw it in high school, they're sharing it with their kids, that it's sustained itself, is really beautiful. As an artist, you only hope that your film touches someone, and the fact that this film has had longevity, given how hard it was to get made, it's really special to me. And the fact that it gave me an opportunity to really connect with a lot of people involved in it. I mean, I'm still attached to, of course, Sanaa [Lathan] and a lot of my crew, but the opportunity to sit with Alfre [Woodard] and Kyla [Pratt] and Sanaa together and reflect, it's been really special. You never know what life your film is going to have, and I've just been so grateful and blessed and excited for the film and for Monica.
We’ve recently seen a lot of changes across the industry in trying to do more to feature underrepresented stories. Is there anything else you think that the industry could do to uplift voices and stories from women, women of color, and people who feel like their voices aren't heard?
I mean, it's as simple as giving us the opportunity to tell our own stories. A lot of changes are happening. And a lot of people are finally understanding the importance of representation and inclusion, which has been great because we've been screaming about a few years, but the bar is so low that even incremental changes feel huge, but the numbers are still incredibly dismal and going through what I've gone through, things that I've seen, even at this level, even with, The Old Guard and the fight that it took to protect Nile [played by KiKi Layne] from certain forces, it's shocking when you realize how important it is for more of us to be in the position that I'm in, as a director to be able to protect your characters of color.
As an audience, you can watch films and wonder why, why did that not have any agency, or why does that character just suddenly disappear? Or why do they have nothing to do with the plot? Or why are they behaving not like a hero when everybody else is? And now being in a position where I'm here, I knew what to fight for. It was eye opening and we need more of us in this position to have those fights because you would just be shocked some of the notes that people give and what is clear that they care about and what they don't care about.
Are there any rising filmmakers, screenwriters that are inspiring you right now, or that are giving you hope for the future?
There's some really cool women out there doing the work. I've been really excited by the last couple of years in seeing the work of these women and seeing not only their potential, but also the fight. That is what's so inspiring because I know how hard it is to get films made. And you look at Zora Howard, who co-wrote Premature and starred in it. I just really dug that film, this unique, cool love story. I think about Radha Blank and The 40 Year Old Version. I love that film, and it was so distinct. Yet she made it happen. Nia DaCosta's doing really good work. Tina Mabry, who is going to be doing The Supremes, a film I wrote. I remember seeing Mississippi Damned and literally thinking, "How did she do this? How did she get this cast? How did she make this film?" I felt the same way about Dee Rees and Pariah. That inspired me because I saw that when I was struggling to get Beyond the Lights made, I was thinking, okay, I have a couple films under my belt, and I'm sitting here pissed off because the industry is not seeing what I'm seeing. And yet this woman got this beautiful film made without the connections that I've already built. That made me think, "What the hell are you doing? Figure it out, figure out how to get this movie made." I'm inspired by the talent of these filmmakers, but also their fight. And Victoria Mahoney, she's been grinding and then [became the first woman to direct a] Star Wars [film]. And now she has her choice of what she's gonna do, and she's about to do some really big things.
Since you mentioned Tina and The Supremes, what can you tease for us for what's to come?
It's an adaptation of a really cool book [The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat by Edward Kelsey Moore] and just really dope characters. And what I loved about it and what excited me was honestly the casting opportunities, because it focuses on three older Black women, yet you're reflecting back on their lives and how their upbringing and what happened to them early in their lives is reflected in who they've become and their struggles as adults. And so you get to bounce between these two worlds and tell these really cool, unique characters. I just think it's a very cool, special film that has some really cool things to say.
Are you considering a sequel for The Old Guard, considering how well it's done?
I mean, we always said that it was up to the audience, but you never want to assume because Greg Rucka, who wrote the graphic novel, he always envisioned this as a trilogy. So he always knew where the story could go. And it's very cool where it could go, but you can never assume, you have to focus on the first film. It really is incredibly flattering that people want to see more, it means that you did your job, so, you know, we'll see.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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