Sidebar with Sidibe for LaHitz Media

May 10, 2012 - PRLog -- Sidebar With Sidibe

By Jackie Wright, Wright Enterprises
for LaHitz Media, San Francisco.


 




The recent Dallas International Film Festival honored Gabourey Sidibe with it’s Dallas Star Award along with fellow cast member of the “Big C” Laura Linney, costume designer Bernie Pollack and film industry executive Eric Pleskow during a fabulous sold out event at the Hotel Palomar kicking off the last weekend of the festival.

Much like the truth of India Arie’s “I Am Not My Hair,” Sidibe resounded in fifty- leven different ways to Sunday, “I Am Not Precious,” as Dallas Film Society Artistic Director James Faust interviewed her after a screening of the film that skyrocketed her to celebrity and gained an Oscar for Talk Show Host/Actress/Comedian, Monique.

When the lights came up after the screening, Faust immediately asked the audience “Are you all ok,” referring to the intensity of the film.  The mood of the audience was somber but lightened up as Sidibe shared that she was from Brooklyn but did not have a life anywhere near Precious’ experience.  Far from the character of a 16-year-old illiterate, obese, HIV positive girl and mother of two children fathered by the man who was supposed to protect his daughter, her father, Sidibe was enrolled at New York City College at the time of her casting by director Lee Daniels. 

Sidibe described trying out for the role as serendipitous.  “A couple of people had told me about the casting call and on the day of the tryouts, they were doing construction on the subway, I said to myself, if they’re constructing on the side of the subway that leads home, I’ll go ahead to the audition; if they are constructing on the side that leads the to audition, I’ll go home.”  So thanks to obstruction her path led her to a different world.  Like a flip of a coin, Sidibe went to the audition got the role and within three days began filming and her life has been a whirlwind since.

“With things changing for you so quickly, how did you ground yourself,” asked Faust.  “I grounded myself in the reality that as quickly as things changed they could quickly change again, so I take it one day at a time,” Sidibe responded.

Sidibe’s refrain of “I Am Not Precious,” was affirmed when an elderly Caucasian man stood up in the audience and said with a soft-spoken southern twang, “I just want to thank you for being here.  Seeing you as you are really defines what a great job you did as an actress.  You are nothing like the character I just saw in the film.”  Her message was received. After finding out Sidibe did not have a fan club, Brenda Morgan of Waxahachie, Texas was so impressed that she said she would start a fan club for Sidibe. (Sidebar to this sidebar, Waxahachie, Texas’ claim to fame is where “Places in the Heart” starring Sally Field and Danny Glover was filmed.  The film was instrumental in launching Glover’s career that included “The Color Purple” and the “Lethal Weapon” franchise with Mel Gibson.)

“It’s the soul that lives underneath” that matters as India Arie and Akon crooned in Aire’s “I Am Not My Hair (http://music.aol.com/video/india-arie-i-am-not-my-hair-ft...).” And so, Sidibe affirmed those true lyrics.  Sidibe described her “soul underneath” as one that gravitates toward the comedic.  She said she thoroughly enjoyed filming her latest film “Tower Heist” with a cast of comedic characters including Eddie Murphy, Ben Stiller, Alan Alda and Matthew Broderick.  I loved working with everyone, but said Broderick was her favorite, if she had to choose. “He’d come up with the most endearing disarming expressions. He was hilarious,” said Sidibe.  She also talked about the struggle to get back to her own voice after more than 12 hours of filming and speaking in a Jamaican accent day after day. The audience delighted as she expressed herself with the accent.

“Sidibe, your father’s from Senegal isn’t he.  So do folks in Senegal know about you,” queried Faust.  “Oh yes, they are aware.  My name is like “Smith” in Senegal. Sidibe is quite a common name in Senegal,” she replied.

“Sidibe, a Psych major at NYC and now a celebrity,” how does that feel Faust asked getting his guest to open up more.  “It’s certainly off the course I was charting for myself, but it’s brought me back full circle as far as my mother is concerned.” Sidibe’s mother, Alice Tan Ridley (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95KWbaluKT0) is a singer and was on “America’s Got Talent” during the 2010 season.  “She would take me to commercial tryouts trying to get me into child acting, but I would always cry.  You can say I was the reluctant ‘Huggies Baby,’” said Sidibe.



“I stayed away from acting because I didn’t want to open myself up to the opinion of other people and the kind of scrutiny the entertainment industry causes.  But I have grown a lot and frankly I am not concerned about what other people think.  I am just taking the path that has opened up before me.”

Sidibe’s comments about scrutiny and the opinions of others carry additional weight in retrospect and in light of the recent Hollywood headlines about her reaction to what some termed as “benign but harsh” advice from Joan Cusack.  “If I were you I’d get out of the business because Hollywood is so image conscious,” Cusack is credited to quipping and also suggesting the actress get a “good dietician.”  Sidibe talked about Cusack’s remarks on “What Happens Live” with Andy Cohen a week after her Dallas Film Festival appearance.  From all reports, Cusack’s remarks were not meant to sting and Sidibe obviously used the experience for growth because as she told the Dallas audience, “I am not concerned about what other people think.”

Sidibe’s “soul that lies underneath” is trekking her own journey and is an example that life can go on successfully no matter what others think and feel.   The best driver and indicator for success is how one feels and thinks about one’s self and taking “day by day” action to achieve one’s dreams.  Sidibe’s star is rising and the Dallas Film Society made note of it by presenting her The Dallas Rising Star Award. 

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Gabourey Sidibe Talks About Joan Cusack’s remarks.
http://www.bravotv.com/watch-what-happens-live/season-6/videos/bye-bye-bye-justin-timberlake

Alice Tan Ridley
http://youtu.be/95KWbaluKT0

India Arie & AKON “I Am Not My Hair”
http://music.aol.com/video/india-arie-i-am-not-my-hair-ft-akon/indiaarie/adam:6201954