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 “Empire,” 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 “the worst experience” since discovering that ketchup on a steak is a crime against food.
“I’m not one to stick to the same old routine like a kid in a school uniform,” Daniels shared with The Film Stage. “When I stepped into television, I was all about figuring out what it’s like to answer to a bunch of suits who probably think ‘creative’ is a dirty word. All my friends were getting notes and doodads from the network, and I’m just like, ‘What’s that like?’ You see, all my movies were made with money that could have been better spent on, well, anything else. My first film, ‘Monster’s Ball,’ 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.”
Daniels was very clear about his reason for joining “Empire.” He did it purely out of curiosity. “I wanted to see what it was like to have someone constantly whispering ‘you need to change this’ into your ear,” he continued. “And boy, it was horrible. Like, ‘unwanted guest at your birthday party’ 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 wasn’t all bad.”
Daniels also confessed that while making “Empire,” he was too focused on Cookie’s outrageous hats and the music biz chaos to notice that he was, in fact, rewriting television history. “I was so wrapped up in the drama that I didn’t realize I was single-handedly shifting the entire cultural landscape,” he said. “Without my show, there might not have been a ‘Black Panther,’ ‘Insecure,’ or ‘Black-ish.’ All of that happened because I boldly ignored every piece of advice thrown at me and did my own thing. You get me?”
Since “Empire,” Daniels has not exactly been lounging on the beach. He’s created and worked on “Star,” which decided to have a crossover episode with “Empire” because why not? He’s also produced a smorgasbord of other TV projects like “Our Kind of People,” “The Wonder Years,” and the recently launched “The Ms. Pat Show.”
His latest cinematic adventure? A horror movie called “The Deliverance,” which recently made its debut on Netflix, proving once again that Lee Daniels’ creative rollercoaster never stops.
