One of my favorite things to do with this blog is profile strong black women. Regina King comes with no exception. She definitely deserves her flowers. I remember watching her play a police detective on Southland and then turning the channel to watch the Boondocks and her portraying both Huey and Riley. She’s played a mother, a fairy god mother, and even a super hero. Is there nothing Regina can’t do? She got into directing television with shows like Insecure, Scandal and Being Mary Jane, but this year she directed her first featured film in One Night in Miami. I would recommend a watch on Amazon Prime. It’s really good. In this interview with InStyle, Regina talks about her experience directing, along with the message she wanted to portray. Photos were taken by Christian Cody.

The Message Behind One Night in Miami

“I want every Black man I know and love to see themselves in this film because I saw them when I read the script. Some could look at [those themes] as subtleties, but they are the big-ticket items I want people to leave with. That nobody is perfect, and we are just trying to do our best. While these men are legendary, they were trying to do their best. It’s as simple as that.”

Living Through the Pandemic

“I’m still in a place of, ‘Fuck. We lost Kobe and Chadwick. And we had an election!’ My mind is exhausted. What I’m doing to get through it is just being honest about that. I’m having moments when I feel like it is really hard to be optimistic, so I’m sharing that with friends and family. I have those women who help prop me up when I’m feeling like, ‘I don’t know about you guys, but I think this is Armageddon. I don’t know how to get through this.’”

The Definition of Success

“Whatever is successful is for that artist. What works for me doesn’t work for Meryl. What works for me is that I am not making lateral moves, that I am on an upward trajectory. A lot of this I’m discovering along the way, but I am not compromising my integrity. I’m always continuing to dream.”

Raising a Child and Working

“I’m sure if I sat here and thought about it, I could think of others, but what comes to mind is that the biggest risk I took career-wise was not to take any jobs outside of L.A. when Ian was about 9 years old. I wanted to stay home and ensure that I was not going to miss games, miss watching him grow. I think that was a risk. I know it was a risk because of the reaction of my agents when I said that.”