She’s an Oscar nominee, an Emmy nominee, and a Sundance legend.
Now the director of Mudbound and Bessie is ready to take things to the next level.
“Everybody hated it.”
Photo Illustration by Braulio Amado for EW; Photo by Shayan Asgharnia / AUGUST
Dee Rees doesnt mince words when describing the reception to her latest film,The Last Thing He Wanted.
The chilly reception forLast Thingwas a new experience.
But I would make that film again.
Focus Features
Im still proud of it.
All this toil and sacrifice, I didn’t make it pay off for them."
But perhaps whats most trailblazing about Rees is the way she so confidently forges ahead.
(Just ask Elaine May, circaIshtar.)
[Porgy and Bess] is an iconic property.
Its a lot of pressure to get it right, a lot of nerves.
I want to do the characters justice, and I feel really honored to work on it.
To go from that to helming an MGM musical?
Rees isnt fully satisfied with the trajectory.
In fact: I feel like Im behind!
Like,God, 10 years have gone by.I wanted to do so much more.
Im always playing catch-up.
Yet shes moved pretty fast.
But it was just me getting to be myself.
At the time I felt like I had to, to be a happy person.
AfterPariah, Rees experienced a struggle that many new directors of color face.
It was about convincing people that it wasnt a one-off it wasnt a fluke, she says.
It wasnt the only story that I could tell.
Eventually, Rees made her way to HBOsBessie, in which she explored sexuality on a larger scale.
(It won the Emmy for Outstanding TV Movie.)
No other studio wanted to buy it, she says.
It made the film itself, the making of it, a narrative.
It elevated those who worked on it.
It was a signal to the industry that this story, this filmmaking, is important.
It signals to the audience,Pay attention to this.
Even as shes finishing up herPorgydraft, Rees keeps dreaming.
(Both are well fleshed-out beyond these tantalizing premises.)
It felt like a rite of passage, she says dryly.
Now theres nothing to be afraid of.
I know the worst that can happen.
