Taraji P. Henson Talks Proud Mary
Taraji P Henson is featured in this months edition of Rhapsody Magazine. In it Henson talks about her career defining role on Empire, and her upcomig actioner, Proud Mary.
Via Rhapsody Magazine
Her upcoming movie Proud Mary is set to hit theatres on January 12th. It is directed by Babak Najafi, and produces by Screen Gems. The movie will be one of many female-led action films, and one that will add a bit of colour. Proud Mary is the third major Hollywood action film led by a Black woman in the 21st century. It follows 2004’s Catwoman and 2011’s Colombiana.
Proud Mary will be channeling the days of Pam Grier as Henson will be playing a gun-toting hit-woman who has an affinity for knee-high stiletto boats and black leather.
“I felt like, Wow, there’s this collective women’s empowerment movement going on, and I need to be a part of it,” she says. Mary is equal parts sexy and swaggering, savage and stealthy—qualities seen in more than a few of Henson’s performances.
The film will focus on a complicated and flawed antiheroine, who will be played by a woman of colour. This is a big step for the representation of Black women and women of colour in the lead roles.
Clint Culpepper, the president of Sony’s Screen Gems, the studio behind Proud Mary and three previous Henson vehicles, believes it’s this courage and openness that makes her so appealing. “She is, in the strangest way, kind of every woman,” he says. “She’s like a really comfortable cashmere sweater—that favorite thing you just want to put on when you get home. But at the same time, she’s a movie star because she’s got charisma coming out of her ears.”
January isn’t a big movie going month, but if it can surpass Atomic Blond‘s opening weekend box office, $18 million, it will certainly get Hollywood’s attention. If it can surpass Girls Trip’s opening box office, $31 million, that might kickstart a whole new wave of Black female led films.
Check out the trailer:
Source: Rhapsody Magazine.
