Taraji P. Henson - Blog Posts

Web Shoutout: Actors on Actors

Welcome to Web Shoutout, a series highlighting interesting places in the interwebs about movies and filmmaking! (Check out the previous Web Shoutout here).

This time I want to talk about Variety’s Actors on Actors series on Youtube. These days, I think most people seem to forget that acting is an art--and a very challenging one at that. It’s easy for us to forget about that and get lost in the glitz-and-glam part of a celebrity life, because they don’t really get to talk much about the craft of acting. Most interviews that we see are either promotional interviews or a 5-minute conversation in a talk show (that undoubtedly will include a cute random trivia). Which, they’re not inherently bad but they always leave me wanting more

Distinguishing itself from those kinds of interviews, I find Actors on Actors incredibly delightful to see, if only because it brings me so much joy to see a conversation between two people that relate and respect one another. Obviously, we also get to hear in-depth stories about their experiences as an actor, the roles that they picked, and how they do their craft. I’ll just leave you a with several videos to enjoy, and also don’t forget to take a look at their channel and Actors on Actors playlist.

1. Ryan Reynolds and Taraji P Henson - Full Conversation

2. Andrew Garfield and Amy Adams - Why Playing Spider-Man Broke Andrew Garfield’s Heart

3. Octavia Spencer and Dev Patel - Full Conversation

4. Benedict Cumberbatch and Edward Norton - Full Conversation

Subscribe to Variety’s channel.

TV Shoutout: Person of Interest

Person of Interest, the best underrated show on TV.

What it is about: A recluse billionaire (Michael Emerson) hires an ex-military (Jim Caviezel) to help people he knows are in danger, from a mysterious source.

Why you should watch it: The series is produced by Jonathan Nolan, brother of movie director Christopher Nolan (Batman's The Dark Knight Trilogy, Interstellar, etc). They do have the same flair and trademark realistic style of filmmaking, but Jonathan is much, much better at portraying character drama.

Basically, there are 2 distinct reasons why Person of Interest is such a great series. One, for it's characters. Person of Interest does an excellent job at developing the characters throughout the series, on a level that you have never seen on a typical procedural. It deals in the grey area of surveillance, organized crime and politics, and there were a lot of subverting tropes that makes it very fresh, and quite a lot genuinely funny moments in a seemingly serious show.

Two, for its portrayal of Artificial Intelligence (AI) (yes, there's an AI in this show). While the show started as a standard case-of-the-week procedural, later it digs more into the nature AI as an all-seeing eye. Very slowly but surely, it turned into a critical discussion on why, what, and how such AI would be like in our world. It portrays AI as a sympathetic but growing entity in a way that, I must again say, is rarely seen on popular entertainment. It might seem unlikely at the start, but Person of Interest has grown into one of the best sci-fi show on television right now, but I can honestly say non-scifi fan would also enjoy it from a pure action, conspiracy, and character perspective. If you don't believe me, just read this 

What else? Because of its top notch, Emmy-level acting (that nobody’s bothered to give awards to)? Because of its badassery? Because Amy Acker is enough to melt your hearts away? Because it has Taraji P. Henson (Cookie in Empire, a great show and actress in their own right)? Because of an adorable dog? Take your pick.

Where to start: Person of Interest is procedural, and I know most episodes in most procedural shows are entirely skippable, but I urge you against skipping anything in Person of Interest even though yes, there are filler episodes. Yes, some episodes contribute less than others to the bigger arc, but a lot of seemingly "case/number-of-the-week" episodes (especially the early ones) helps humanizing and characterizing each of the main characters: Finch, Reese, etc., and even The Machine (the previously mentioned AI). Those character-heavy episodes helped a lot to understand and love each of them.

If you so must insist to skip anything, there's a handy guide to episodes that deal mostly about the bigger arc, but only for first season and the beginning of the second. If you've watched those and liked them, then again I urge you to revisit the episodes you skipped and see if you like them too (I hope you do).

I do have to say though, while I liked Person of Interest from the beginning, it had a shaky start and did not feel particularly special until halfway of the first season (after, I believe, its mid-season break at 11th episode). By that time, they had newfound confidence in the concept of the show and had started to actually have fun with it, although it has always been a compelling show. And there were moments, even in the fourth season, where you might feel things slow down, but it was all for a reason and by the end of the season it will all be worth it. In short: it's not mandatory to watch all of the episodes, but it’s strongly advised if you can.

Where it is at: Fourth season had just ended, and it’s very likely that it’ll be renewed for season 5.

this part is so precious, the way the connect to music ❤️

𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 || 6𝘹09 || 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 || 2019

coocious shenanigans

𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 || 3𝘹14 || 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘬𝘦 || 2018

i miss them so much 😔

please bring back my coocious 😭😭😭

𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 || 1𝘹08 || 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘺𝘰𝘯'𝘴 𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘳 || 2015

Wake up Lucious!

𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 || 6𝘹18 || 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 || 2020

LISTEN LINDA BROKE ME 😂

𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 || 6𝘹18 || 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 || 2020

I love this scene

I'm gonna miss Coocious so bad 😭

𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 || 6𝘹18 || 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 || 2020

Oh no I hate the ending 😭

Give us the real finale episode!

𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 || 6𝘹18 || 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 || 2020

My Coocious is sad ☹️

Empire is ending 😭

𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 || 5𝘹01 || 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘧 || 2018

What you'll do to your enemies?

Have you watched Empire today? It's on FOXNOW 😊

𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 || 6𝘹17 || 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 || 2020

That's the tea, Cookie and Lucious 🥂

𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 || 6𝘹03 || 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 || 2019

2020 vibes

𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 || 6𝘹15 || 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 || 2020

Are you excited about getting a golden ticket?

𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 || 6𝘹15 || 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 || 2020

Y'all the episode is too much 😭

𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 || 6𝘹15 || 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 || 2020

This is so insane 😱

Empire is tonight at 9pm on FOX.

𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 || 6𝘹15 || 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 || 2020

Have you watched Empire? En Vouge's on the episode.

𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 || 6𝘹13 || 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 || 2020

𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 = 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 || 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 || 4𝘹18 || 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴'𝘥 || 2018

That's why I live for female directors 😊

This badass director — Taraji P. Henson ♥️