ROSE & IVY Introducing June Starring Shaunette Renée Wilson

You’ve been busy including a stop at the Cannes film festival. Where you got to reunite with the cast. What was that experience like? Your vintage Armani dress was fantastic.

Thank you, I was also thrilled to collaborate with Chopard, they were amazing because they got me out there. I had never been to Cannes, but I had been to Nice, but obviously Cannes is a whole different ball game. The city is so electrified during that time. It was great to reconnect with everyone. I had seen the film at a screening in New York, but it was on a bigger and more insane scale. They honored Harrison Ford with a montage of his career before the Cannes screening. It was so cool to be in that space with him and to hear his words and how happy he has been.

I’m sure it was a pinch me moment.

It is such a male-heavy movie, but it was wonderful to connect with Phoebe (Waller-Bridge) and hold it all down. She’s so lovely; she’s one of the people I got the closest with during filming because we were the only two women. There was a breakthrough artist award that Variety gave me on behalf of the film.

above and cover Top by Ralph Lauren; gloves by Marc Jacobs; earrings and necklace by Alexis Bittar

Congratulations! That’s awesome.

It was quite a shock but it was lovely. Also, getting to connect and be around other young and diverse film makers from all over the world.

What was the road like to landing the role as Agent Mason in ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’?

I got a call from my agent who told me they had been talking to Nina Gold, the casting director for the next installment, and they had been talking about me. They wanted to set up a meeting with me and James Mangold, the director. They sent me the film encrypted and told me to read it and then they set up a meeting. I read it and I don’t think they knew exactly what part it was for but it was made clear that it was the only part that made sense for a black woman in the movie.

Initially, I had some reservations with the way this character’s final moments in the film looked and the dialog surrounding that moment. To me, it was a little heavy-handed and unnecessary gratuitous language and problematic essentially. I didn’t want to embody that despite it being a scene where we get to see the depravity of this other character through this language. I brought my concerns to my team, which they relayed to Nina and she responded positively. She told me I could bring it up with James if I still wanted to meet with him. I didn’t want to walk away from an opportunity like that so I was able to have a Zoom with him. I talked about my initial reactions and he was very receptive. He was open to hearing out actors and collaborating with them.

above Blouse by Armargentum; suit by QL2 Quelledue; earrings by Ben Amun

above Blouse by QL2 Quelledue; jacket by Marc Jacobs; earrings by Alexis Bittar

That must have been super empowering.

Totally, it made me feel like I had more agency and ownership in taking up space. I hadn’t been in something that size with that kind of role before. In Black Panther, I was only in the first scene and on set for two weeks. This had a bigger presence. Initially it was intimidating but then it just melted away just from the positivity of everyone, from the cast, you feel like you belong there. Any imposter syndrome just went away.

what was the experience like filming it? Did it take you anywhere amazing?

I went to London and then to Glasgow. It was stunning and it was uncannily the perfect weather. All of the locals were astonished, there was not a cloud the entire time we were there.

It’s those Hollywood people bringing the sunshine. What can you say about your character and what about did you like most about playing her?

She’s a field agent, so she is boots on the ground getting invested in a particular situation. Initially we don’t know what side she lands on. Is she rooting for the bad guys or the good guys? The idea of good and bad and sides is a bit more murky in this installment. What I really enjoyed about it is she’s someone who is thrusted into dealing with something that she isn’t interested in being part of, but because it’s part of the job she has to. So how do you try to navigate that and deal with working with people who are the antithesis of everything you stand for. I also enjoyed watching Harrison Ford do his thing in the bigger sequences on a horse. In one scene, we were all running around trying to chase him, that action was fun.

I’d love to know what was the catalyst behind pursuing a creative life?

I’m a middle child and I feel like I was always vying for attention and for people to remember me. I am one of three girls and I have a brother—people would always seem to forget about me. My sister is the eldest and my other sister is the youngest and my brother is the only boy so people would be like, oh there is another one? (laughs). I felt slighted and overlooked so it spurred when I was younger to have a bit more of a spotlight on me. I was always clowning around the house making the most noise and acting ridiculous.

I was born in Guyana and then we moved to the States when I was two. When my mom was working, I was home with my dad and we would watch daytime TV and the news. Apparently I told my mom that I wanted to be like Oprah and Sam Champion, the local weather man, who is now on Good Morning America. Sam Champion is gay and so am I, so maybe it was the combination of this incredible black woman and Sam Champion (laughs).

I did some plays in middle school and was more into writing but I think art and storytelling were always such an interest of mine. I didn't go and see Broadway shows until I went to Queens College, which is where I think my acting really honed in. The idea of escaping into another soul and experiencing someone else's life through plays and theater was really intriguing for me. I am an adventurous kind of soul but there are limits to my life. There is definitely a container. I can’t do everything, I can’t experience everything but I can experience the most of what I can of the human experience and what it means to be human in acting. I think as that has gone on I have craved it more and more. The transformative nature of it and what it’s been able to reveal about myself and reveal to me about the world I live in and the body I contain as a black woman has been truly special.

I had a wonderful mentor at Queens College, Claudia Feldstein, who still teaches there. She mentors and shepherds a bunch of talented young students into the craft. She saw something wonderful in me and she cast me in my first play at the school. She told me I had something special and that I could go all of the way. She thought grad school was a great next step if it was something I felt like I wanted. I wanted to get more in-depth training and to be around people who were the best of the best and who could only better my experience. She helped coach my monologues and I got into some pretty great schools, Yale being one of them and it was my top choice. I wanted to get out of New York. It was my first time doing something on my own. Being independent was vital at 23. I needed the experience to help explore my sexuality and my artistry without any interference—one of those was being raised in a religious household. I am a pastor’s kid, both of my parents are pastors at a church in Brooklyn. I grew up very much involved in that and had such strong belief and faith. It has gone away because I couldn’t hold both of those ideologies. One felt more like myself and another like I was putting on something and trying to present something that wasn’t there. So going away to New Haven and experiencing the things I experienced there, theater became more of my church, acting became my practice. I think that has sustained me, even though now, I am trying to meld my creativity and my creative spaces with a faith or belief of some kind to transcend just the hustle and bustle and the gig to the next gig. What else is there to glean from being an artist? That’s my place right now.

Is there a type of role, opportunity or story you’d like to tell in the future?

The thing I loved about grad school was I got to experience presenting as I am. I wanted to create a more dynamic and transformative nature in my work, like doing western stories like Shakespeare. I’d like to tell stories that are about the black experience that aren’t leading with trauma and pain. I think there is a way to showcase what oppression looks like but to leave it with a sense of hopefulness.

What’s next for you?

I got to do this Hulu series Washington Black and an A24 movie, which will be coming out sometime this year. I am excited about the series, which is about this enslaved boy and his journey. I play his mom, she comes from a particular background but is also enslaved. The way in which the story is told is showcasing the different types of people who existed in that time—it’s not your typical slave narrative. I think you become desensitized seeing all of this a bit because you have been inundated with it and our viewpoint on slavery is limited. I think Washington Black is showing the bit of possibility with the black spirit and the black strength and resilience in a way.

Introducing June Starring Shaunette Renée Wilson