DeWanda Wise on Crafting Kayla Watts, Han Solo “Jurassic World’s”

On Monday night, DeWanda Wise performed “Jurassic World Dominion” in front of the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood, eliciting emotion about the reveal of her new character, pilot Kayla Watts, to a stage filled with anxious fans.

Asked what she will remember most about joining this 30-year-old franchise, Wise said diverse“Maybe fans will love it, especially tonight.”

Wearing a sparkling Valentino gown, Wise shared the black carpet with her mother, brother, husband (co-actor Alano Miller) and some of her lifelong friends. “my family is here. My friends from New York are here, it’s very special.” “This is my first day, more than 20 days. My success to them.”

The raucous red carpet experience stands in stark contrast to today, five months ago, when Wise patiently waited at home for the first photo of her character to hit the internet.

It’s already been a long way for the actress, a 20-year industry veteran whose huge success came to a halt with the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, when production on “Jurassic World Dominion” was shuttered the Saturday before Monday. starting date.

“I just saw the email and just got on the plane and went home,” she said, recounting her experience filming alongside co-stars Laura Dern and Bryce Dallas Howard in diverse Cover photo in March.

It was her first day back in July 2020 to shoot this scene on Ice Lake with Pratt. Although Wise is a veteran actress, she admits: “I had my own Kayla crust, but Dewanda was terrified.”

It was a tough time starting a business that she might describe as “career-defining,” which Wise Kayla sees. And it’s even more difficult when your “wise and intelligent” character is expected to be as “non-interference” as Han Solo or Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones.

Eighteen months after that – five months after filming the movie Dinosaurs, and quarantined with her fellow co-stars in the UK – it was time for Wise to confront a new set of nerves, as a photo of that very scene was due to be released. world on January 7.

“I knew the photo was showing up. I didn’t know what the context was,” Wise explained.

But when the first photo of Kayla standing next to Owen Grady, animal behaviorist Chris Pratt and preparing to take on an unknown predator, appeared on “Jurassic World” social channels, Wise retweeted it on her own page with the caption: “She’s your newest hero from The Mesozoic is resourceful, deceptive, and adventurous. I can’t wait to meet her in 5 months!”

Overall, the response to Kayla has been largely positive. “It’s a very pure fan base,” Wise thinks. “Maybe it’s the love of dinosaurs, but everyone wants to see you win. I don’t think that’s common. They’re just like, ‘We can’t wait to meet her.'”

Jurassic World Dominion’s co-screenwriter Emily Carmichael was also on Wise’s nerves, noting that she felt Kayla especially protected as a character “entering the franchise as a novice.”

Carmichael shared: “I have a special love for each one of them, but I have a very deep fondness for Kayla Watts.” When producers or studio heads are like, ‘What kind of films should we consider? “The thing I’m going to say now is ‘any movie that has a character that can be described as a female Han Solo’ because Kayla is gritty on this gun-for-hire archetype.”

Getting a new hero into a long-running series is a huge challenge, but it was clear to Carmichael and director Colin Trevorrow early on that Wise was “stealing the show.”

“DeWanda makes the character really jump off the screen and really take on her character,” Carmichael noted, adding that after watching the final movie, “I was so grateful for her performance and silly because I felt so protected.”

Read as Wise shares how she, Carmichael, and Trevorrow worked extensively to develop Kayla’s backstory—she’s an Air Force veteran with a legacy of military service on her mother’s side; She is from Detroit. She’s bisexual – and what she hopes to achieve with this character:

When you started thinking about Kayla and who you want her to be, where did she start?

There are two small flags in the script that my hat was obviously hanging on. Her background was military. I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be a black woman in this underground market, as if it somehow gives me the feelings of an expat. And I’m a very comfortable person on my own – I’ve always been. I love a seven-course meal myself – so there were certain elements of it that I kind of implied, like how lonely she was. And then there were a few things, which we linked in the text: There’s an exchange between Kayla and Owen on the ice, and that was all my background. Some are woven into a wardrobe in Morse code.

I was very intent on training and representing a strong female body – a post-military force [body], this girl obviously made it through boot camp—just to say, “Yes, we’re ready; we can.” We serve on the front lines. We’ve been doing this since the late 80’s.

It was truly a psychedelic and atypical opportunity to give her some legs to stand on. I always thought he showed up [on screen]; You can feel the difference between a one-dimensional character and someone who clearly lived a full life before you met any of these people.

Emily shared one such thing that Kayla is from Detroit. How did you choose that city?

Detroit is one of the first cities we think of when we think of classic Americana. I only have a thing for people from Detroit. I’ve never met someone from Detroit that I didn’t really, really, really, really, really agree with. Dominic Moreso is a playwright, and one of my favorite humans is from Detroit. Simon Messick from Detroit. Just some of the most authentic, consistent, generous, fun, and honest people.

I’m from Baltimore, Maryland, and I appreciate being from a certain place and that kind of authenticity. I just love the little cultural norms.

Coleen mentioned that there was a lot of conversation about Kayla’s hair. Because as black women, we know hair is a real part of who we are, and making sure it reflects who Kayla is, is very important. How did you start developing the look?

Did I tell you that was like the first question he asked?

He didn’t say it like that. He just said you guys had a lot of talk about poetry. I love that!

I haven’t seen a script yet, and Colin was like, “What’s hair like?” I’m not joking. It was the first time we met, and I was like, “You’re obviously an Oakland boy.” [laughs].

He knows what’s up.

He knows what’s up. First, this is the first option I chose for each character. Before I even decide where they come from, I say, “What would poetry be?” And it’s a mixture of very practical concerns when we’re shooting, and what makes sense in terms of where they are, when they’re there, and what I’m actually going to do in the movie. Then, in this case, we were just trying to find something that could be – which was part of the first conversation [Colin and I] It was – creative.

When you even go back to the first Jurassic World, it’s very clear that it’s a tough suit from Collins. When Claire Dering appears on screen with that asymmetric bob and those bangs, it’s a look. It was a throwback in that respect, in terms of its asymmetry.

And then, too, the braids. The experience of getting it on, everything about her was just black femininity at its best. They called Josee Mamboya (owner of Josee’s Professional Braiding Studio in North London) and her daughter, and every time they came and braided my hair in the UK, they brought in food. It was, as it were, a spiritually satisfying ritual, a precious thing every time I braided my hair, and re-braided the forehead, during production. This has become my respite and home, because they do what black women do, they have spoken in my life. I felt like raising a family with me in the process.

Another very important part about Kayla’s story is that she is bisexual. Why was this so important to you and how did you guys develop how to make her sexuality impactful? So, it’s not just a passing thing, it’s a real part of her identity.

I mean, we’ll see. I think it still has to be seen.

My relationship to representation of sexuality, I think, is important to continue to expand and diversify what it looks like, what it means, and what it feels like on a female or male scale. I long and hope to continue moving forward to expand the scope and scale of what this means. It’s the same thing when you come into conversations about diversity and acting in general, and at some point, it has to be well woven, so really, you feel it in the fibers and the reality of the character.

We hope to move more towards the level of normalization of that. I’m trying to live in the future, which is like a balance between idealism, and also realizing that it’s important to have these kind of beacons and people trampling the earth.

When your character first appeared, and people didn’t know who you were, initial speculation was that you might have been playing Kelly Curtis, the daughter of Dr. Ian Malcolm. First of all, what do you think about Kayla being a different character? Did you have any interest in playing that character?

no. Vanessa is here and she is an actress. Rebooting Nola Darling’s character is one thing, 30 years later and another thing to be like “I’m that person now”. Like this is just silly. I’ll never forget the impact of seeing her on screen just being a phenomenologist, a gymnast, an inconspicuous, and that fun kind of translation for the character in the book.

I’ve invested heavily – and this is also something Colin and I have talked about a lot – in playing new heroes, building new heroes, building new cinematic icons, TV icons and in creating something from scratch. This is my personal history and my strengths, coming from the nerdy theater that I do. Just selfishly, the pressure is less, but it’s also fun being able to cooperate the way I was able to cooperate.

Was there anything else that was really important to you for people to know about Kayla or your experience as a woman in this franchise?

I was talking a little earlier with someone else about how being a black woman in a gamut isn’t necessarily an exception to being a woman in a zodiac. What is psychedelic about the franchise in general, is that it gives this kind of broad representation, to both women and what women’s power actually is. What’s really exciting about this post-Time’s Up world is that we’re moving toward a more integrated feminism, which is vital for times like this for obvious reasons.

So, it’s just a really exciting moment to be an actor who defines himself as a woman and to keep taking some steps in real life, while also acknowledging that there are a lot of touches you’ve stuck with like Grace Jones and Lucy Liu and Pam Grier’s Foxy Brown, all these amazing women who It really paved the way and we planned in many ways.

I think there is a lot about Kayla that a lot of people would be able to be proud of and stick with. So it’s really exciting to witness how it resonates when you’re actually out of the world.