CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Photography by Danielle Levitt
Studying the history of slavery for his movie The Butler, Daniels was struck time and again by a simple observation: "The slaves who were laughing on the boats from Africa were the only ones who survived; those on the plantations laughing and singing were the ones who survived." The director, lolling against a pile of cushions on his bed, throws a glance to see if his words have landed. "That's how we made this movie -- by bringing laughter into ordinary places, because that's how we see life." More particularly, it's how Daniels sees life. In Lee Daniels' The Butler, as in his earlier movie Precious, scenes of the most abject suffering are interspersed with moments of levity and camp that puncture the tension.
Whether you feel comfortable laughing during a movie that documents the lives of the marginalized may depend on where you stand. "When I first tested Precious, it was at the Magic Johnson Theater in Harlem, for an all-black audience, and it played like a comedy," Daniels says. "And when I played it for a white audience in Sundance, you could hear a pin drop."
That Daniels has found a cinematic language that speaks to black and white audiences is part of what makes him -- a black, gay director -- unique. As a child growing up in Philadelphia, he experienced both worlds, first as a beat-upon gay kid in an impoverished black neighborhood, then as a beat-upon black kid in a privileged white neighborhood. "I learned to train my bowel movements, my piss, so that I wouldn't have to go to the bathroom all through school," he recalls. "And then I'd run home."
Although he plays it down, Daniels's childhood was fogged by the kind of family dysfunction and struggle that animates his movies. He remembers his father -- a cop who was killed during a raid on a Philly bar when Daniels was 15 -- dumping him in a trash can after catching him in his mother's red pumps. "When I came out it was because I loathed my dad so much -- I couldn't understand how you could, with an extension cord, beat a 45-pound kid just because he's aware of his femininity," he says. "For me it really created a world where I understood Precious, where you learn the power of the imagination. And that's how it began for me."
The narrative of Daniels's hard-living, hard-working life is a movie in itself, and maybe one day he'll make it. He watched lovers die of AIDS in his arms ("I was HIV-negative when everyone around me was dying -- I should be dead"), hit rock bottom on crystal meth, and came by his two adopted kids in an unlikely way: after his brother was jailed. "He called and said, 'I'm going to be there for a long time; I got this girl pregnant, she doesn't want the kids, and I have a feeling she's going to abandon them.' " No wonder he doesn't feel comfortable in the slick, oily culture of Los Angeles. "In L.A. they make you feel insecure, like you're always looking at the stars and you feel like you're not one of them," he says. "You feel like, 'I'm nothing.' It was what my father told me I was, and I knew I had to get out of there."
But the man who has already won Oscars for his movies Monster's Ball (which he produced) and Precious is aware that his insecurities are an inseparable part of his talent. "It's always when things are really good for me that I feel I'm not worthy of it," he says. "When Halle [Berry] won her Oscar [for Monster's Ball], I remember her calling, saying, 'Are you going to the Vanity Fair party?' and I'm strung out in the Chateau Marmont, methed out of my mind, thinking I didn't deserve it." He pauses.
"I have to be really aware of it, and always talking about it -- and be truthful about it to the point of ugliness so that it keeps my ass in check."
Photographed at the Campbell Apartment in New York City on September 19, 2013
SLIDESHOW: See the Complete Out100 List
Want more breaking equality news & trending entertainment stories?
Check out our NEW 24/7 streaming service: the Advocate Channel!
Download the Advocate Channel App for your mobile phone and your favorite streaming device!
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
38 Male Celebs Who Did Full Frontal Scenes
November 17 2023 5:18 PM
These are all the celebrities Who came out as LGBTQ+ in 2023
December 31 2023 12:19 PM
32 LGBTQ+ Celebs You Can Follow on OnlyFans
October 25 2023 3:15 PM
26 actors who showed bare ass in movies & TV shows
February 28 2024 1:50 PM
21 LGBTQ+ reality dating shows & where to watch them
April 03 2024 4:01 PM
15 Unforgettable Gay Kissing Scenes From TV & Movies
February 14 2024 10:20 AM
14 queens who quit or retired from drag after 'RuPaul's Drag Race'
April 04 2024 12:56 PM
40 steamy celebrity Calvin Klein ads we'll always be thirsty for
January 04 2024 10:54 AM
The 15 Best LGBTQ+ Movies of 2023
December 04 2023 10:32 AM
Watch Now: Advocate Channel
Trending Stories & News
For more news and videos on advocatechannel.com, click here.
Trending Stories & News
For more news and videos on advocatechannel.com, click here.
Latest Stories
Kennedy Davenport finally explains the rumored 'All Stars 3' drama with Trixie Mattel
April 16 2024 4:16 PM
Watch the queens from 'Drag Race Live' hilariously reveal Out's RuPaul cover
April 16 2024 4:10 PM
Noah Beck claps back at people who assumed he's gay for hugging a male friend
April 16 2024 4:03 PM
Jonathan Bailey's next gig is being lined up & it involves dinosaurs & ScarJo
April 16 2024 2:12 PM
Queens were showing out & shining bright at The Center's fundraising dinner
April 16 2024 1:37 PM
Wanna hookup internationally? Grindr's new feature helps you do that
April 16 2024 12:58 PM
Ricky Martin reveals 'very discreet' man he's met in exclusive new 'Palm Royale' clip
April 16 2024 11:56 AM
This morning was PURE CHAOS in the Bravo universe
April 15 2024 7:35 PM
Wrestling stud Anthony Bowens stuns in sweaty & steamy gym selfie
April 15 2024 4:56 PM
Billie Eilish kissed a girl at Coachella & we're FREAKING OUT
April 15 2024 4:19 PM
Writing helped save one queer poet's life—now he wants to help others feel seen & heard
April 15 2024 4:08 PM
Diplo showed off his bare ass & we really want to lean on it
April 15 2024 3:10 PM