Taraji P.Henson best known for her roles on Empire and Hidden Figures. She is also a Golden Globe winner and has also won an SAG award. Her work in film has earned her a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She takes on a new role of Ali, a woman who fights her way to gain the biggest rookie athlete for her sports agency, in What Men Want. She struggles being a female in a predominantly male industry but gets a little help with her new found powers.
Screen Rant: Congratulations. Thank you. So funny. But there is also a strong message. Was that one of the reasons why you wanted to get involved in this?
Taraji P. Henson: Absolutely. Every. I don't know how much you know about my career and what the roles that I choose, but it's a method to my madness. I'm trying to push humanity forward. Yes. I'm trying to drop little gems that'll change a perception, you know, certainly uh, black people, um, and, and, and just so all the roles that I pick, we'll have something to say. Yes, yes. You know, because I take what I do very seriously. It's not just about being pretty or being in front of a camera. Art is very powerful. Art can save a life, change a life. And so I take that. It's a responsibility being an artist.
Screen Rant: The next film I'm excited to see you have yours is the one with Sam Rockwell. Now tell me, tell me the dynamic with you and Adam Shankman. What, what did he bring to the table that you haven't really experienced with?
Taraji P. Henson: The director before is a comedic genius. I mean, and I'm pretty funny myself, so you have the meeting of two comedic minds and we clashed and we just make magic like we, we pinpointed that right away. I was like, Dang, it's easy to work with you. Like he would come to me. I was like, I'm already going to sit down. Let me show you Why am I here, girl? I just, we get, we understand comedy the same, you know, um, I want to work with him again. It was effortless. It was effortless.
Screen Rant: What message would you like a viewers to take away from this as they leave the theater?
Taraji P. Henson: I want viewers to take away certain women to take away, continued to fight, continued to fight the good fight because someone fought for us to be where we are and if we dropped the torch now what are we doing? Um, and men, when you come, if you're in a power position or are you in any kind of position to give a woman a braise or give her what's owed to her, do it take away from this film that this is a real issue? Yeah, we're not, we're not just bitching and complaining, you know, this has been an issue since women entered the workforce and so much of an issue we wrote a movie about.
Screen Rant: Were you big fan of the original film?
Taraji P. Henson: Oh yeah, absolutely.
Screen Rant: It was a little different though. It wouldn't work today. Mel Gibson used his powers for a little, a little something different. Yeah. Yeah. So, you worked with Will Packer a few times. Was he also an influence for you to join this project?
Taraji P. Henson: Well, yeah, because I know he's going to know how to make it a hit is going to make it do what it do, baby. And I just love working with will. He's a producer that takes care of the entire project. Everyone involved behind the scenes in front of the scenes. He takes care of hair and makeup. He's just an incredible producer and I love working with them.
