Viola Davis appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Friday mostly to chat about her recent (and fourth) Academy Award nomination, for the role of Ma Rainey in George C. Wolfe‘s adaptation of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Before getting into how much she loved the physical transformation of the part (“my grills!” she said, pointing to her teeth) and how she “never felt sexier” than wearing the padding that reminded her of her 300 lb Aunt Joyce, there was a little back and forth concerning an upcoming part.
Filming has begun on The First Lady, a hour long Showtime series in which Gillian Anderson plays Eleanor Roosevelt, Michelle Pfeiffer plays Betty Ford, and Davis, who is also an executive producer on the project, plays Michelle Obama.
While she was clearly playing it up for the interview (and Jimmy Fallon‘s guffaws) there’s definitely a real sense that the actress, who has an Oscar, an Emmy, two Tonys and a Golden Globe on her shelf (amongst other prizes), is a little bit terrified at the thought of playing the former resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
“I think it was temporary insanity,” she joked about accepting the role. “I lost my damn mind for about five minutes, and made a damn decision that I can’t take back.”
Elaborating, she said that meeting Michelle Obama, as she has, is “quite frightening,” because it is a rare case of someone who lives up to their image. “The woman is a Goddess,” she said.
Ever the professional, though, she calmly remarked that she’s “just gonna’ do the best I can.”
As has been proven time and again, Viola Davis’s best is always something extraordinary.
— Woody Allen, Dylan Farrow, and the Long, Uphill Road to a Reckoning
— The Fall of Armie Hammer: A Family Saga of Sex, Money, Drugs, and Betrayal
— Justice League: The Shocking, Heartbreaking True Story of the #SnyderCut
— Jimmy Kimmel Breaks Down in Emotional Interview With Ady Barkan
— Sharon Stone on How Basic Instinct Nearly Broke Her, Before Making Her a Star
— Oscar Nomination Snubs and Surprises: Delroy Lindo, Aaron Sorkin Strike Out
— Raya and the Last Dragon’s Kelly Marie Tran Believes Her Disney Princess Is Gay
— From the Archive: Who Stole the Oscars?
— Not a subscriber? Join Vanity Fair to receive full access to VF.com and the complete online archive now.