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GINA BYTHEWOOD & SOPHIE OKONEDO SHARE 'SECRET': Cast and script make good work for director and actress.
The accomplished director is now taking her career from her ‘A’ game to ‘Bee’ in the new movie “The Secret Life of Bees,’ opening this weekend.
The film follows a young white teenager who is haunted by the memory of her mother’s death and escapes her abusive father to a small South Carolina town where she and her caregiver befriend three sisters on a honey farm.
While many of us seem to have some aversion to bees, Bythewood’s biggest fear for this film was that her actors – acclaimed stars Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, and Dakota Fanning – wouldn’t click. In particular, Latifah, Keys, and Okonedo, who star as the Boatwright sisters.
“Because of these actors’ schedules, there was no time for rehearsal. I had one opportunity and it took a good three weeks to wrangle it,” Bythewood said. She only got three hours of one day to get Okonedo, Latifah, and Keys together, in one place.
“They had never met each other before and we didn’t know what was going to happen and we didn’t know if they were going to look like sisters – that was a big thing for me, too, because I hate watching movies and [siblings] don’t look like they're from the same family,” Bythewood recalled. “At first it was awkward small talk and then we just kind of cut through it and started talking about the characters and their relationships with each other. It came clear really early on. We just saw them feeding off of each other it was like watching them building this sisterhood right there. They just clicked instantly. To build that sibling thing is tough, but because they like each other so much, it just helped tremendously.”
Bythewood raved to reporters that the cast was certainly an element that made the script move and the direction concise.
“There was a phenomenal cast. And my directing style, I kind of weigh more toward subtlety. That combination together helped a lot,” she said, “but, again, it starts with great actors.”
One cast member, Okonedo, definitely agreed.
“We were all very excited, she said of the cast. “I just thought, ‘This is an amazing cast.’ We were all friends and just had a ball. It’s been a pleasure.”
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Sophie Okonedo
Okonedo also told reporters about how organic the script and direction made making the film.
“I didn’t really think about it,” she said about playing the strange acting May Boatwright. “I just like playing the character. I just never think about how it’s going to come across to the audience. That’s not my job. My job is to get right inside and tell the truth and leave the outcome to [someone] else. The director can sort that out.”
Like Bythewood, Okonedo had read the book and began researching the time period and the culture of the South upon joining the cast.
“I worked on the scripts and made sure I understood the context of Mae,” she explained. “I read about the civil rights movement. Read about what it was like to grow up in the South at that time. And then I just used my imagination.”
Though she doesn’t consider herself a technical actor, Okonedo’s portrayal of May is another plume in the actress’ cap as she takes on the peculiar character.
“I didn’t really plan it,” she said of honing in on the essence of her role. “I’m not that technical I just absorb all the information, absorb the kind of feelings and just see what happens.”
Just reading the book, given to her by a film company, Okonedo was already attached to her character. She said the she immediately thought, “I would like to play May. I think that’s the one that suits me best. Just before we started filming, I’d keep my script in a folder. I went to the book and everything that she wrote about May, every single line I transcribed and stuck them all over the front of the folder. So wherever I looked there was a little [note].”
The book also drew Bythewood to the project because of the writing. She told reporters that she was impressed with the book and characters, written and created by Sue Monk Kidd.
“I loved every single character,” she said. “I never wanted to short-change any character; I wanted to make sure everyone had a voice. And then, again, you have actors that aren’t trying to be the one that shines in the scene – which is rare when working with actors of this character.”
Furthermore, Bythewood’s development of the characters ensured that they weren’t one-dimensional or perfect.
“It’s more interesting to write characters that have flaws. It’s more interesting to watch as well.”
And although Bythewood was attracted to the book and characters, she shared that there was another script, before she signed on, that was eventually dumped.
“I was told that this was at another studio before and I was told that the writer/director strayed from the book,” she said. “I love the book, people love the book. There was no reason to stray from it. The story is right there; the characters are right there. So it was about, ‘How do I bring that story to the screen?’ I think that was probably the biggest thing.”
Bythewood said that the story and her script create a perfect blend for the movie.
“Sue Monk Kidd (the book's author), she has a white perspective of growing up at that time, and then [there’s] my black perspective on the world. Just marrying the two gave [the movie] a great balance.”
The story is set in the 1960s, a time that 39 year-old Bythewood was barely a twinkle in her father’s eye.
“It starts with research,” Bythewood said of capturing the civil rights era in the film “That is a biggest part of my directing process.”
Plus, she turned to her husband’s southern family to get some insight into life in the South.
“It was a time of great hope,” she said. “There was so much violence going on, but there was also this time of hope. I don’t think that other side is shown a lot. That was my focus. In a grander sense,” she continued, “one of the great things of the film – there are obvious differences between black and white – [but] those differences in no way diminish our ability to love each other and work together.”
“The Secret Life of Bees” opens in theaters nationwide this Friday. For more on the film, go to www.foxsearchlight.com and click on “The Secret Life of Bees.”
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