P-Valley's Brandee Evans on working with 8 female directors for show: 'You had a new, big sister every episode'
When famed 'Drake' music video director Karena Evans came on set to direct the pilot episode of 'P-Valley', she just had one thing to say. "I'm never going to shoot you in a way that I wouldn't want myself to be shot." Those words were just the start of the extraordinary experience Brandee Evans had playing Mercedes, the number one dancer of the Pynk strip club on the show.
"When I saw what she did, she was absolutely right. Of course, when I first jumped on set, I was a little nervous. But then when we started filming, I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I'm so comfortable'. I got so comfortable that Wardrobe had to remind me to put on my robe every day. And I'm like, 'Oh my bad'. So it just really became like a bunch of sisters. Every day. And you had a new, big sister every episode and you learned something from her and she empowered you," said Brandee Evans in an exclusive interview to MEA WorldWide (MEAWW).
Starz's 'P-Valley' showrunner Katori Hall wanted to tell the story of how women in the stripper club culture had carved a space of liberation and empowerment inside this exploitative space. And a key component of this on-screen experiment was hiring eight women directors for the eight episodes of Season One. A lot of the key crew members like the line producers were also female, according to Evans, which meant the sets were a safe space.
"It felt like being around a lot of sisters. As women, we are our worst critics with our bodies. We're insecure about our bodies because of other women. But on this show, we had other women saying, 'Hey, you look great'. Or if I came on set and said, 'I'm bloated today', they were like, 'girl, so am I... you look great. Let's go'. You know, normalizing it and not making you feel offended or uncomfortable with your body. I have stretch marks. So does she and her and her. We are all the same. It doesn't matter what color, it doesn't matter where we come from. We're women," said Evans, speaking about the sisterhood on the sets. The bond has endured even after they wrapped with Evans wishing they "weren't on Covid time" that was preventing them from having a cast and crew "watch party".
Evans, who is relatively new to the world of acting, treated every episode as a "masterclass in acting". "Episode One, I learned certain things from Karena. Then we jumped to Two with Kim [Kimberly Peirce] who has been in this industry for so long. And by the time I got to Six, oh my gosh, it was Tasha Smith directing. By that time, it was like 'Competition World' in my mind — it was like, let me show this new director what I can do. It felt really, really good to grow and listen to them because I learned their different styles."
According to her, even though all the directors "were on the same page" because Katori Hall, the showrunner and creator picked them, they still had their own individual visions. "I felt like Mercedes grew in every episode. I discovered something new within her character in each episode with these directors helping."
Evans's experience as a professional dancer helped because she was used to having multiple choreographers telling her different things. "Thankfully dance taught me how to take direction very quickly," she explained. "As my acting teacher, Richard Lawson once said, actors have a bunch of colors that they have to work with. So I feel like I was able to use my palette and pick a different color every single time, which helps with range."
Right now, with Covid-19 bringing the industry to a halt, Evans is just focused on 'P-Valley' and keeping her fingers crossed that her role will bring her more movie roles in the future. "I really want to be in 'Black Panther'. I'm telling everyone that, cause I want to do that. But overall, I've been focused on taking a good breather and reevaluating friendships, relationships, spending time with my mom because I'm her caregiver. It's just been amazing to sit for a minute. It's been hard, but I think that it's a much-needed pause for the world."
'P-Valley' premieres on July 12 at 9 pm ET on Starz.