How Do You Listen to a Lee Daniels Interview and …

…Not fall in love with him? That’s my question. You all know how much I love listening to Terry Gross’ Fresh Air. She annoys some, perhaps, but she is, hands down, my favorite interviewer. She talks to Lee Daniels about Precious – and the stuff he talks about is interesting. I was more interested, though, in his back story, how he came to be who he is – what it was like growing up gay with a cop father who beat him regularly – and how he believes that abuse has been handed down through generations among African Americans going all the way back to slavery. I know this is controversial; Lee Daniels said it, I didn’t. Anyway, not to glom on to that one thing – he also adopted his brother’s twins when they were babies and their parents were nowhere to be seen. It’s interesting how they went about casting Precious as well – process of elimination until the best one was left standing. It’s a good interview all around. Check it out.

I’m also starting to feel some excitement about the possibility of a gay black director being nominated for an Academy Award. That would rock my world. Speaking of Precious, Kim Voynar writes up a good piece on this film.