Lee Daniels is pulling back the curtain and letting us in on the zany world of television with his usual flair.
The 64-year-old director is usually known for making movies, but he dipped his toes into the TV pool with โEmpire,โ which was like hitting the jackpot on Fox.
Now, despite the show running like a well-oiled machine for six glorious seasons, Daniels has described the whole TV journey as โthe worst experienceโ since discovering that ketchup on a steak is a crime against food.
โIโm not one to stick to the same old routine like a kid in a school uniform,โ Daniels shared with The Film Stage. โWhen I stepped into television, I was all about figuring out what itโs like to answer to a bunch of suits who probably think โcreativeโ is a dirty word. All my friends were getting notes and doodads from the network, and Iโm just like, โWhatโs that like?โ You see, all my movies were made with money that could have been better spent on, well, anything else. My first film, โMonsterโs Ball,โ was funded with the kind of money that could make you rethink your life choices. But hey, we scored an Oscar for the first Black woman, so it was worth it. All my stuff was indie, and I loved that no one was hovering over me like a bad smell.โ
Daniels was very clear about his reason for joining โEmpire.โ He did it purely out of curiosity. โI wanted to see what it was like to have someone constantly whispering โyou need to change thisโ into your ear,โ he continued. โAnd boy, it was horrible. Like, โunwanted guest at your birthday partyโ horrible. But, on the bright side, it helped me pay for my kids’ college tuition and other life necessities. So, in the grand scheme of things, it wasnโt all bad.โ
Daniels also confessed that while making โEmpire,โ he was too focused on Cookieโs outrageous hats and the music biz chaos to notice that he was, in fact, rewriting television history. โI was so wrapped up in the drama that I didnโt realize I was single-handedly shifting the entire cultural landscape,โ he said. โWithout my show, there might not have been a โBlack Panther,โ โInsecure,โ or โBlack-ish.โ All of that happened because I boldly ignored every piece of advice thrown at me and did my own thing. You get me?โ
Since โEmpire,โ Daniels has not exactly been lounging on the beach. Heโs created and worked on โStar,โ which decided to have a crossover episode with โEmpireโ because why not? Heโs also produced a smorgasbord of other TV projects like โOur Kind of People,โ โThe Wonder Years,โ and the recently launched โThe Ms. Pat Show.โ
His latest cinematic adventure? A horror movie called โThe Deliverance,โ which recently made its debut on Netflix, proving once again that Lee Danielsโ creative rollercoaster never stops.