The Library Bar Interview: YAYA DACOSTA (Big Words) (Lee Daniels’ The Butler)

By Le Anne Lindsay, Editor

In my We’re the Millers post, I talked about the coincidence of the same things crossing your path from different places.  I feel that way when it comes to this beautiful America’s Next Top Model turned actress, who is steadily making a name for herself in the biz – Yaya Alafia – although that name has changed from DaCosta to Alafia with her marriage to filmmaker Joshua Bee Alafia last June.  The couple is happily expecting their first child.

I first took note of Yaya in my post on the movie The Kids Are All Right (2010). And although she’d been in Take the Lead with Alfre Woodard prior to that, and has worked steadily in TV, film and stage since, with formidable players like – Leslie Uggams, Vanessa Williams and Rubin Santiago Hudson, it wasn’t until 2 weeks ago that she came to my notice again – that being Neil Drumming’s Big Words, starring opposite Dorian Missick, who was at The BlackStar Film Festival (Aug 1-4) promoting another film; when I brought up Yaya’s name to him, his face lit up, saying they go back a good decade as friends.

T & T: The role you play in “The Butler” is a Freedom Rider turned Black Panther. I saw you also studied Africana Studies and International Relations at Brown, would you consider yourself a political person? Do you think you might have been a civil rights activist if you had been born in the 50’s?

YA: Absolutely.  I wouldn’t have been a Panther, but I absolutely would have been involved.  It’s interesting, because, I mean, I don’t know — you can’t really say.  A lot of who I am is because of who my parents are.  And if I had been born then, I may not have been born of them, because they were born then! (laughs).

My father was one of the first SNCC workers (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and bodyguard for Stokely Carmichael (Chair of SNCC). My mother was a secretary with the Panthers.  So,
auditioning for this role was exciting because I was like, “Oh!  I know these people!”  I actually talked to my dad before the audition.  Before the first one, and then there were a couple of call backs.

Today, it actually frustrates me that there isn’t that mobility, that sense of urgency, that sense of outrage among young people.  That everyone’s complacent in front of Facebook and their gadgets.  People have been kind of numbed to accept things as they are and don’t really see opportunities for mobilization and organizing in the way that they did back then, because it’s a very different climate today. So, I would hesitate to answer your question “yes” flat out, because I’m not heading an NGO, I’m not on the front lines; but, in my own way, yes, I would say that I am and try to be more involved in any way that I can.

T & T: The first time I saw you on screen was in The Kids Are All Right with Mark Ruffalo. I specifically made mention of you in my review and said I’d hope to see you in bigger parts. How did that role come about? Surely it wasn’t written for a female of color?

T&T: With the success of Scandal (Kerry Washington) and the lesser success, but still opportunity for Meagan Good with Deception. Octavia Spencer winning an Oscar, it looks like the tide is finally turning for the black female actress, how does it feel from being on the inside?

Kerry Washington

YA: Well, I’m not really in Hollywood. And it makes a difference.  And I say that because even though I’m
technically bi-coastal, I spend most of my time in New York, especially now.

There is definitely a new space that’s opened up — but that just means that in a break-down, you’ll see “open ethnicity”.  But that can mean anything. So you can go to the audition, and there will be Indian women there — which is great. Because, when do you ever see East Asian actors or Chinese actors or Native American actors?  So, when it says “open ethnicity”, you can see anyone in the waiting room. When I go to LA, and I’m in the audition room there, I’m the only one — I feel like the only one — without the same weave.  And I do weave my hair for a job, or a wig, but they still are going to want you to conform to a certain look.  And the girls there know that, so there’s that physical thing. I can’t speak for anyone who’s not obviously slim — I can play the pretty girl or whatever.   There’s still so many sub-categories that you can’t just say, this is the experience of a black actress.  I don’t want to speak for everybody.

T & T: Tinsel & Tine covers film & food, and I have a big crush on David Owyelowo, I’m sure the two of you musta broke bread a few times during filming. What are his favorite foods?

YA: I have no idea.  I mean, we did (break bread), but I wasn’t paying attention.  Sorry!  Oh..well, we had dinner at his house one time — what did he make?  He and his wife — I forget who cooked.  What did we have?  You know, some beans and rice and chicken …  string beans — I don’t know.  It was so about the conversation.

Be sure to catch my interview with Lee Daniels and Cuba Gooding, Jr, also featuring Yaya Alafia – Click HERE for post.

I’ve bitten off more than I can chew this month and just won’t have the time to do a proper review of Big Words, but please take my word for it, it’s a very tight script and genuinely funny, it deserves a wide-release.  It’s not about rap music, I was afraid of that too when I read the synopsis, that’s just a background story element.  It’s about friendship, regrets and it’s a love story… see below snip-it of great review from NY Times –

As Mr. Drumming’s whip-smart screenplay effects an uncomfortable group
reunion, the film’s playlike structure and relaxed rhythms perfectly
frame conversations infused with pre-gentrification memories and music
industry nostalgia. Throughout, his droll, insightful dialogue has a
natural pop and sway that the actors clearly relish — especially Yaya
Alafia, magnificent as a coolly self-possessed dancer who sees right
through John’s smoke screen of apathy. READ MORE Jeannette Catsoulis The New York Times

Here’s a Q & A video (10:16) with writer/director Neil Drumming: