One year ago last weekend,Miss Juneteenthpremiered at theSundance Film Festival.
Beharie, now a contender for major awards, can hardly believe the journey.
“I’m still like, did that just happen?”
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she tells EW a few days after her Gotham win.
“This movie was a labor of love, grassroots-made, Texas local.
“I thought it was really beautiful,” Beharie says of the multigenerational tale of a dream deferred.
“And [Beharie] does so much with just a look.”
That sense of quiet expressiveness drew the actress to Turquoise in the first place.
“This is a moment where the camera turns on to someone who’s normally kind of ignored.”
“That was such a gift.”
But there were additional factors that helped set that lingering pace.
“I had to turn it into a choice,” the actress says.
“It was like, actually, we’ve got to lean into this.
So there’s a little bit more sway, out of necessity.
Sometimes things are serendipitous.”
“Making it a national holiday, I think, should be a goal.
So that was another thing that drew me to it.”
“If the world is a little like sandpaper, it’s actually a very courageous act.”
(Video courtesy of Vertical Entertainment)
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