Naomie Harris received a Golden Globe nomination Monday for best performance by an actress in a supporting role. We caught up with Harris Monday morning shortly after she got off a flight from L.A. to New York.
Q: This a really good morning for you.
A: I'm really great. I'm very happy this morning.
Q: What was your initial reaction?
A: Oh, I was just over the moon. I'm so delighted because "Moonlight" is a tiny little movie that was made for a really small budget. Nobody expected it to really have this kind of impact, and every award show we go to, every nomination we have, makes a huge impact on this movie. We don't really have a big publicity budget in the same way the other movies we are nominated with do. So, these awards are incredibly important for getting awareness of the film out there.
Q: You filmed your role in three days. Did you think three days of work would get you here?
A: (laughs) I so did not. No, it's crazy. It was just a passion project. I felt like this was a really beautiful script. I thought it was just such a beautiful story. I never ever in a million years thought it would lead to a Golden Globe nomination.
Q: And the film has six total nominations, with Mahershala Ali also getting recognized for role. This "small film" is taking the industry by storm.
A: It feels really overwhelming and surprising. It makes me really emotional because this is a movie I feel very passionately about. I also think it's one of these movies that's incredibly healing. It's a very timely movie; we really need this, movies that remind us of our shared humanity, now more than ever.
It really just makes me happy that a movie like this is getting the recognition it deserves because I do think it's one of these movies that has the ability to change the way people look at life and each other.
Q: You've been outspoken about taking on this role, of a drug addicted woman, that you didn't want to play...
A: That's the other thing about it. A role I did in three days and a role I didn't want to take on...(laughs) and now I have a nomination for it! This is crazy. Now I look back and I'm just so glad I did it.
But I knew after speaking with Barry (Jenkins) that I didn't need to be afraid. My concerns were that I didn't want Paula to fall into being a cliche. But when I found out that (Jenkins' mother) suffered from crack addiction _ and in the movie I'm basically playing an amalgamation of his mother and Tarell Alvin McCraney the writer's mother. I realized he had a vested interest in ensuring that she wasn't reduced to a stereotype and that she got her full emotional complexity and full humanity that she deserves
