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 It was a big step up for the former Hollywood publicist, one
that has reaped recognition even before the awards season takes
off at the Golden Globes on Sunday.
Regardless of whether she and the Martin Luther King Jr. biopic
collect honors, DuVernay made history as the first
African-American woman to be nominated for best director in the
72 years of the Globes. If she wins, she would be the first
black man or woman to win a best movie director Golden Globe.
"I don't believe I am the first one who has made something
worthy," DuVernay told Reuters. "That is where the bittersweet
moment comes in. It is sweet for me in this moment and my mother
is very happy, but certainly I know I stand on the shoulders of
a lot of amazing women."
"Selma," which focuses on the civil rights leader's role in the
seminal 1965 marches in Alabama for black voters' rights, was
percolating for years and several directors had come and gone.
DuVernay, 42, got the call from the actor signed to play King,
David Oyelowo, who was in her previous movie.
It seemed like destiny. No other filmmaker she knew had a father
from the county where Selma is located, nor a mother who crossed
the landmark bridge featured in the marches on her way to work.
"That was the entry point that allowed me to go from a $200,000
film to a $20 million film without a lot of jitters because ...
I know that place, I know how to recreate the lives of black
folk on film," DuVernay said.
'A DAMN GOOD KING'
She also knew she had "a damn good King" in Oyelowo, nominated
for best actor in a drama at the Golden Globes.
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"He's a Brit, he is very posh, but he is one of the most exquisite
souls and hard-working actors I have ever met," she said.
DuVernay has also been praised for deftly handling a large
supporting cast that includes veterans like Oprah Winfrey, a
producer of the film, and newcomers like Canadian Stephan James.
"If there is anything I bring from my publicity background it is
working with a lot of people at one time," she said.
The film, which goes into wide release Friday, has resonated in the
current debate about racial justice in America following killings of
unarmed black men by white police officers. It is nominated for the
most coveted Golden Globe award, best drama, and could earn a best
picture Oscar nod.
One thing not going DuVernay's way is criticism that President
Lyndon Johnson is misrepresented in the film as lukewarm to
African-Americans' fight for voting rights.
"It's not a documentary. I'm not a historian. I'm a storyteller,"
DuVernay said of the controversy last weekend. "And we take it from
there. We don't let this stuff get us down, we just go onward."
(Editing by Jill Serjeant and James Dalgleish)
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