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 The 33-year-old made history last year as the first black woman
to win an Emmy for comedy writing for an episode of Netflix
series "Master of None" that was inspired by her own coming-out
story. Waithe also created Showtime series "The Chi" and stars
in Steven Spielberg's "Ready Player One," a film about a digital
world called the Oasis. In the movie, Waithe portrays a woman
named Helen, a part-man, part-machine avatar named Aech, and a
larger-than-life robot.
Waithe spoke to Reuters about "Ready Player One," virtual
reality and women in Hollywood. The following are edited
excerpts.
Q: What was your favorite part about this character?
A: The fact that she is masculine and feminine. I can be a guy
and do things that guys do, behave in a way that maybe a guy
would, in the Oasis. In the real, live-action world, I'm not
that different. I just happen to be a girl. People may look at
me and judge me differently, but my personality is pretty much
the same. I can be a guy or a chick, but the personality is just
as confident.
Q: Are you a fan of virtual reality now?
A: It is really cool. It's a little scary too. It can be
addictive. You can leave that thing on all day. But I definitely
think it's where we're going.
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Q: What will people learn about VR from this movie?
A: At the beginning of the film, everybody has their (VR) visors on.
People are just going on about their day, but no one is looking at
each other. No one's talking to each other. It's a really
interesting metaphor for social media. They are communicating with
each other, but in a virtual reality, so there is very little
hand-on-hand contact. I think as humans we need that. We need to
look at each other. We need to shake hands. There needs to be a bit
of balance.
Q: In Hollywood, TV seems ahead of film in promoting women in front
of and behind the camera. Why is that?
A: The movie business is an old one. (In TV), we feel like we can
move a little bit faster and we can make changes quicker. If we hear
there's a problem, we can quickly go to set and make sure things are
fine.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Richard Chang)
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