Kerry Washington’s most visible Emmy nomination on Tuesday was for her lead role as Mia Warren, a traveling artist and headstrong mother to a teenage daughter in “Little Fires Everywhere.” But that acting nod was just one piece of a great morning for Washington, largely as a producer.
“Fires”, of which Washington was an executive producer, also received a nomination for best limited series or film. And two other nominated projects showed the growing reach of their new production company, Simpson Street.
“American Son,” a Netflix adaptation of the Broadway play, received a nomination for Best Television Movie. (Washington also plays a mother in the movie waiting for news about her missing son at a South Florida police station.) “Live in Front of a Studio Audience,” which rewritten Norman Lear’s sitcoms from the 1970s, was nominated for Best Variety Special. Washington was executive producer of both.
Washington took a moment Tuesday to discuss its four nominations, return to work during the pandemic, and how its nominated works contain messages that align with the national debate on racial justice.
Three projects that you executive produced received Emmy nominations this year. How does it feel
Crazy. Surreal. I have to say that what has meant the most to me this morning, what really excites me is the nomination of Lynn Shelton. I am very grateful that the Academy has honored her in this way. It is immensely deserved. At a time when women’s voices in direction and production are so important, truly honoring her, for her passing, for her extraordinary work on our show, is so significant. I keep getting so emotional thinking about it. [Shelton died at age 54 in May.]
I am surprised that three of her four nominations are for executive producers when I think she is primarily known as an actress by the American television audience. What does that say about where you are in your career right now?
We really bet on ourselves by being such diverse producers. It’s exciting because I’m really attracted to different types of work, and I really love to produce, so it’s exciting that the company is recognized this way.
What was it like to have two roles in “Little Fires Everywhere”? Be the lead actress and also oversee the project as executive producer.
It really is what I know. I entered the world of production as an actor-producer. Our first project was “Confirmation” for HBO, and I was a producer and an actor on that. It’s fun for me when I’m producing and not on it. It is a funny feeling.
In terms of planning new projects during the coronavirus pandemic, to what extent can you plan given the uncertainty in the entertainment industry right now?
Filming is happening. People are really starting to work on different protocols. We had almost finished “The Prom” with Ryan Murphy for Netflix when the shutdown occurred, and we have recently been working to finish. Innovations are happening. People are really trying to figure out how to get back to work safely. We will be part of that effort to uncover best practices and make sure we put people’s health above business, but also look for ways to get back into business so that people can support themselves.
Have you already been on a set?
I have not. I have only been doing remote things from home. But we are discovering how to move forward.
Is it the idea of being back on an anxiety inducer set, or are you ready?
Can both be true? People who want to be in community and work and live their lives are seen all over the country. But the virus is really scary and must be taken seriously.
The debut of “Little Fires Everywhere” was felt between two great national moments. When it started, it was the pandemic; Then, when the series ended, it was the murder of George Floyd in police custody and the racial justice protests that followed. Do you think the discussions taking place across the country and in all kinds of institutions about racism and racial justice resonate with the problems of the program?
I would say, in some way, “American Son” deals with these issues in a much more direct way. That material is really about the value of blacks’ lives in the face of police violence. It was really interesting to see the film return to people’s consciousness and conversation due to this true awakening around the movement for the lives of blacks.
Many of those issues, particularly the unconscious biases and microaggressions and the 1990s way of achieving color blindness, much of that is explored in “Little Fires” in ways that I think are really important. It was Lauren Neustadter and Reese Witherspoon, my dear friend, they had the idea to choose me as Mia and produce this project together. [Neustadter and Witherspoon were also executive producers.] They opened a landscape. In the novel, Mia is racially ambiguous. But by making her African American in the 1990s, we were able to boldly enter a narrative territory that was exciting.
The casting opened so many doors in history that the book did not fit.
It’s funny that you say that because that’s how I always describe the role of adaptation. We work with many writers on a large amount of special material. I always say that when you develop literature it is as if you enter the same rooms, but by transforming it into a visual medium you can open those drawers and dig inside.
I was listening to “Code Switch” on NPR and they had a whole episode about this idea of a “Karen”, or a titled white woman, and they mentioned Reese Witherspoon’s character in “Little Fires” as the prototypical Karen. Would you agree
I’m not an expert on Karen, but that seems correct. But I think one of the things that is so extraordinary about the show is Reese’s acting. Simply labeling that social phenomenon as “Karen” requires a level of stereotypes that can be reductive, and what Reese did was really breathe so much humanity in that perspective, in that worldview, that we understood it, that we could unpack it. We could be invited to it and really examine it further. I think his performance is so beautiful because it required a level of nuance and a commitment to the humanity of his character that I think was artistically heroic.
