Exclusive interview with Lee Daniels
interviewed by David Christopher Lee at the Montage Hotel, Beverly Hills
Lee Daniels’s PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL “PUSH” BY SAPPHIRE is a vibrant, honest and resoundingly hopeful film about the human capacity to grow and overcome. We were honored to interview the Oscar nominated director Lee Daniels at the beautiful Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills. He reflects on his award winning film Precious.
Set in Harlem in 1987, it is the story of Claireece “Precious” Jones (Gabourey Sidibe), a sixteen-year-old African-American girl born into a life no one would want. She’s pregnant for the second time by her absent father; at home, she must wait hand and foot on her mother (Mo’Nique), a poisonously angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School is a place of chaos, and Precious has reached the ninth grade with good marks and an awful secret: she can neither read nor write.
photography by David Lee
hair & makeup by Jhizet Panosian for Exclusive Artists
styling by Gary Samuelian
hair & makeup by Jhizet Panosian for Exclusive Artists
styling by Gary Samuelian
Precious may sometimes be down, but she is never out. Beneath her impassive expression is a watchful, curious young woman with an inchoate but unshakeable sense that other possibilities exist for her. Threatened with expulsion, Precious is offered the chance to transfer to an alternative school, Each One/Teach One.
Precious doesn’t know the meaning of “alternative,” but her instincts tell her this is the chance she has been waiting for. In the literacy workshop taught by the patient yet firm Ms. Rain (Paula Patton), Precious begins a journey that will lead her from darkness, pain and powerlessness to light, love and self-determination.
In Official Selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival – Un Certain Regard, and winner of three awards at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival including the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL ‘PUSH’ BY SAPPHIRE stars Mo’Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd, Lenny Kravitz and introducing Gabourey Sidibe.
for more, visit www.weareallprecious.com
[...] * Photography by David Christopher Lee. Used with permission. Photo originally published in Destination Luxury. [...]