Viola Davis Ate Bacon & Drank Prosecco Before Her Elle Cover Shoot
“You know I’m not a model right?” said Viola Davis, as she flashed a sly grin on the red carpet Wednesday evening at the 6th annual ELLE Women in Television dinner. “You know I ate bacon beforehand and I had my glass of Prosecco. And I make them put lotion on my legs. I wish I had something to tell you, like maybe I work out. And I do work out, but I eat.” That scene that she so artfully painted for us was the pregame that she engaged in before her ELLE Magazine cover shoot.
The Emmy-Award winning How to Get Away with Murder star was one of five female powerhouses that was featured on the cover of ELLE’s February “groundbreaking women in the TV” themed issue and celebrated at the gathering. The others were Priyanka Chopra, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Taraji P. Henson, and Olivia Wilde.
Chopra was so excited about the accolade that she wrapped a day of filming on the Quantico set, hopped on a same-day flight to attend the dinner, and left to catch a redeye after the salad course. The India-born actress has been busy as of late, bouncing between North America to film her ABC series and Mumbai where she has a slew of exciting projects lined up, including a web-series she is producing. “You know the TV show Girls here? The vibe is sort of like that, just really real and conversational; and I’m excited about that,” she explained.
Somewhere in her chaotic schedule, the budding U.S. actress found time to pose for her cover shoot. But the experience was not exactly one that she would call glamorous; she flew in just in time for her photos and out immediately afterwards to get back to work in Montreal. “That shoot was actually scary because when we landed, the makeup artists started putting all of this makeup on me and the photographer was like, ‘No, just the way that she came.’ I was like, 'Excuse me? What do you mean?’ He was like, 'I don’t want any makeup on your face.’ I was so nervous. Thankfully, it turned out great,” she said, with a gasp of relief.
Wilde, who enjoyed a girls night out sans fiancé Jason Sudekis and baby Otis revealed that her photo session was very uninhibited. “I always launch into those things with an open mind and try to be optimistic about it,” she admitted. “I let them do what they want to do. I felt like I was safe just to kind of surrender to it.”
Inside the Sunset Tower Hotel, the honorees (minus Louis-Dreyfus and Henson who weren’t able to attend) joined a sea of Hollywood starlets including Julie Bowen, Busy Phillips, Kirsten Dunst, Amanda Peet, Juliette Lewis, Rebecca Romijn, and Sarah Hyland. A clan of model-types strutted around carrying mirror-lined trays filled with a fancy array of Hearts on Fire diamonds, which celebs like Nina Dobrev, Kate Walsh, and Abigail Spencer borrowed to add some sparkle to their attire.
Once the wine was poured and guests decided between fish or filet mignon, the gals settled into their assigned seats at long candlelit tables and cheered as ELLE editor-in-chief Robbie Myers took the podium to rave about the guests of honor. Though nobody had the guts to actually follow her cue to “Jump up when you hear your name, thump your chest, and say ‘F–k yeah,’” Wilde did quickly stand and blush at the mention of her accomplishments.
The honorees were too coy to fully embrace their recognition but their colleagues had them covered, celebrating and applauding them profusely. “It’s just thrilling to be in the company of so many incredible women who are doing great things,” said Constance Wu, who had a star struck moment in front of Davis. Lewis created silly Gifs in the Twitter booth with Joy Bryant and Yara Shahidi before spending her evening bouncing from table to table. “I’m excited. I see old friends. I see new people that inspire me,” she exclaimed before bouncing over to the next guest.
