Viola Davis on female strength

By Jake Coyle

AP Film Writer

TORONTO

To Viola Davis, being naked on screen or onstage means more than having your clothes off. It means ridding yourself of self-consciousness and ego. It means exposing yourself.

There was, memorably, no vanity in Davis’ Rose in “Fences,” a performance that reached its aching crescendo in her shattering, snot-dripping “18 years of my life” monologue. But in Steve McQueen’s electric Chicago underworld thriller “Widows,” Davis’ raw intimacy includes a dimension she has rarely, if ever, gotten to express in film – her sexuality.

In “Widows,” McQueen’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning “12 Years a Slave,” Davis stars as the wife of a veteran thief (Liam Neeson) who dies, along with his crew, in a heist gone wrong. For their spouses, it’s almost as if their lives have also been extinguished. But with Veronica Rawlins’ leadership, they (the other women are played by Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki and Carrie Coon) resolve to take over their late husbands’ criminal plans and pull off what none expect them capable of.

“This was a great experiment in exploring how to work out getting back your power,” says Davis. “In my life I’m still learning that.”

When a reporter points out that she – one of the most movingly outspoken advocates for on-screen representation and inclusion – seems quite in control of her considerable power, Davis demurs. “Like everyone, I have my good moments and bad moments.”

Davis has won an Oscar (for “Fences”), an Emmy (for “How to Get Away With Murder”) and a Tony, twice (for “Fences” and “King Hedley II”) – a trifecta that no other black actor has accomplished, and few others, for that matter. Along the way, her impassioned acceptance speeches have been some of the most potent thunderbolts of inspiration in the wider fight for diversity, beamed out to the unrepresented and the overlooked everywhere.

But it’s been almost a decade since her “Doubt” co-star Meryl Streep pleaded “My God, somebody give her a movie!” at the Screen Actors Guild Awards (and later called her “possessed to the blazing, incandescent power”). Since then, Davis has been a mainstay on screens big and small, but she has seldom – except in the Shonda Rhimes ABC series and now “Widows” – been front and center. She has even expressed some regret over 2011’s “The Help,” noting “it wasn’t the voices of the maids that were heard.” The same year, Davis formed a production company with her husband, the actor Julius Tennon, with whom she has an eight-year-old daughter.

For McQueen, Davis’ lack of leading performances is one of the most glaring injustices in Hollywood.

“She can only be judged by the films she gets to do. Don’t forget: She could not really make a living in film because no one was giving her any roles,” McQueen said by phone. “She was not given an opportunity to fulfill her craft. So she had to go on television. Viola’s 53 years old. She should have a vast body of work by now.”

Does Davis feel the same way?

“I mean, yeah,” she sighs. “I sort of feel that sometimes. But I’m honored that I’ve gotten to this point. This is a very privileged life. I feel like if I sit here and I say, ‘I should have had more lead roles,’ some dissatisfaction with the moment – I can’t do that. I really can’t.”