Miss Juneteenth Updates: Nicole Beharie plays Turquoise Jones in Miss Juneteenth, from the first-time producer Channing Godfrey Peoples, a young, hard-working single mother and ex-beauty queen who meets her teenage daughter in the Miss Juneteenth pageant in hopes of stopping her from making the same mistakes she once made herself.
The pageant is part of a wider celebration of the 19th of June holiday, commemorating the formal abolition of slavery in 1865, two years after the Declaration Here, in the aftermath of the national demonstration against racial inequality, Beharie focuses on how she contributes to her character and the timeliness of the release of the film.
We read scripts, we see content, and we see women all the time with styles of stereotypes or certain archetypes. Yet I feel like there was a lot of heart to this one. For me, the experiences made sense, because they were multidimensional.
I received a script and auditioned and sent in a self-tape. There has not been a bid. In reality, Channing wasn’t really sold on my first tape, I guess NICOLE BEHARIE.
I took some notes and made a change to my reading, which is something for all the performers out there: when someone has noted, don’t get offended. It’s a chance to give something different a try.
And it finally worked out. “And then, once we had a conversation about her vision, and who these people were, I thought to myself, “Oh, yes. This is why I’m here.
Miss Juneteenth: What were your first impressions as to who Turquoise is?
BEHARIE: “Tough” was my first impression. This is a confession: sometimes, it’s easy for me to write something like other people, and they make it a certain way. Black women are seen in a certain manner. But I read it, and I ripped it off the paper, and I said, ‘Oh, she was in the ghetto, she did it, she did it.
I resided in Atlanta and South Carolina, and in the remote South in areas of Georgia and South Carolina. So, in those rooms, I pictured some of the women and went with my estimate of that. And then he knew that there was always a possibility to keep that handle, but to do something more tender about it as well.
So, a very fascinating thing is the character’s development. In reading, it can start one way, and then you think, wouldn’t it be more fascinating if she was vulnerable?
She doesn’t have to weep all over the house, but if you can sense her tenderness and her affection for her daughter, how much she loves her. So, if you’re being reprimanded by anyone, it’s not the same as a naggy mom rebuking you.
If you can see her f-ing heart because she really loves Kai, it’s her heart. It just hits differently, then. It just sounds separate. That was something that Channing was really tolerant of, and once we were employed, it also began to inspire.
I just came to know it went from seeing her as just hard and unstoppable and just pushing through, too, Ah, there’s a chance here for a lot of compassion and humanity besides My sister was a young, single mom, and people like her should have done so and so. And she also went on to become a teacher and is now one of Georgia’s best teachers.
She is amazing and shows other educators how to educate. My ability to focus on Turquoise was very inspired by her trip.
Miss Juneteenth: Before you come to the movie you already knew Juneteenth?
BEHARIE: I’ve heard about this, maybe on school and in school, playing or something, but it’s not like it’s growing in American collective consciousness today, I suppose.
The reason a director and author like Channing would like to share this women’s story is that she’s not about this woman, she’s about the culture. The characters you see on the screen are local people, like so many of the actors I work with.
To pay respect to all cultures that sustain us and teach us all these ideals, positive or poor, old or untimely. Yet they’re the thing you’ve got. One of the aspects I took from this job was that the city assisted my director in making this work.
You spoke about taking time off partially because of reasons of wellbeing in previous interviews. What are you now thinking about this break?
BEHARIE: Small stuff like just thanks for being safe and alive and enjoying what you are doing. And rejection and all. And so you’re just glad to be here while you ask about fitness, which is better now.
It keeps stuff in focus. I’m really amazed at the things I’m doing that I love. Even, this year taught us that you never knew what would happen. How will the future change? That’s all relevant, whoever you spend your time with, with how you work, the kind of projects you want to do.
Miss Juneteenth: Eventually, what are you looking forward to next, when this insane year is coming to an end?
BEHARIE: I want to spend more time with my family. During the first lockdown, I was a little bit disconnected from my kin. I want to hunker down and chill out a little bit more in the best possible way with my friends and relatives. Yet looking forward to working out this stuff and in a smart way making a little bit of movement in life. I look forward to a change in politics.
Too many people have been trapped in their houses, and I feel like there’s going to be an eruption of this year’s fascinating artistic material. So, I can’t even wait for that.
I’ve written a screenplay and I’m working on something else with a friend, so I look forward to creating that part of myself and soaking in all the glorious things that are about to come. And I realize it’s coming.
