By Deon C Jefferson
A few weeks ago we mentioned the Golden Globes nominations. We told you to look out for “The United States vs Billie Holiday” (Hulu) movie. At the time, we had not seen the movie, but we knew that the star Andra Day was radiant in the trailer and that she received two Golden Globe nominations. Well, to cap off Black History month, Day has won the award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture. What makes this so special? It’s been thirty five years since a Black actress has been awarded this prestigious honor. The last woman to receive this was Whoopi Goldberg. Can you imagine following in the footsteps of Whoopi?
The film tackles the journey between Day and the FBI. Day became famous for her voice, but it was her song “Strange Fruit’’ , which was written by Abel Meeropol in 1937. “Fruit” is about the lynching of African Americans, and it uses the term “fruit” as a metaphor to describe the Black victims being hung from trees. Lynching African Americans became popular in the deep south during the early 20th century. Many have declared this song as the beginning of the civil rights movement. Pretty much anybody that was not black was offended and threatened by the song because of the way it made “our’’ people stand up for themselves. They told her not to sing the song, since she didn’t, they busted her for drugs. Basically, the FBI used informants to frame Holiday and plant drugs on her since she was already a heavy drug user.
This is Day’s first film role, but she is no stranger to awards and nominations. She is an accomplished singer in her own right. Her debut album “Cheers to the Fall” was released in 2017 and it featured the world wide smash and Grammy nominated song “Rise Up”. Until now, she has released a few singles, and she has performed at several awards shows. Day has also performed with the likes of Stevie Wonder, and she has also been nominated for a Golden Globe before. But nothing tops her current performance. During an interview with Oprah, she revealed that she did not want the role. When director Lee Daniels approached her, she was adamant. Day grew up listening to and idolizing the jazz legend, so she did not want to mess up her legacy.
Anybody that is a fan of Billie Holiday knows about her music and her personal drug problem. So to portray that on camera took tons of work. Day admitted during a recent interview that she is not a smoker, but she started smoking cigarettes and drinking hard alcohol to prepare for the role. Not only did she start drinking and smoking, she also lost weight to fit into all the Prada designed gowns that were in the film.
“Tasha Smith [acting coach] and Tom Jones [dialect coach] taught me everything I needed to get the role, but my decision for that approach wasn’t profound, it was [out of] desperation, said Day to Rolling Out Magazine. “If I’m going to believe what I’m saying and what I’m doing, I’ve got to feel it in my body, so it was also weight loss, cutting off all my hair, dehydration and starvation. My body is prone to being more muscular, so I couldn’t show up [as a] hard body with an eight-pack. I needed to know why she would pick up a cigarette in the middle of a conversation. Plus, smoking cigarettes slows me down, so it helped me a lot in the heroin scenes”.
Day is generating Oscar buzz. Judging by the way critics and fans are raving about Day’s performance, it’s no reason why she will not be nominated and win the Oscar. Her portrayal of Holiday is being compared to Diana Ross’s “Lady Sings the Blues”, which earned her a nomination for Best Actress in 1973. Andra Day is doing exactly what she professes in her infamous song, “Rise Up”. We cannot wait to see how well she does in the future.
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