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April 4, 2018 The Skanner Page 7 Arts & Entertainment Lena Waithe: The ‘Ready Player One’ Interview With Kam Williams For The Skanner News with a grand prize of half a trillion dollars. Born on May 17, 1984, Lena Diane Waithe was raised along with her sis- ter on the south side of Chicago by a single-mom. She showed an interest in writing at an early age, and was encouraged to pursue her passion by both her mother and grandmother. After earning a degree in Cinema and Televi- sion Arts from Colum- bia College Chicago, she embarked on a show- biz career not only as a scriptwriter but as an actress and producer as well. She is probably best known for playing Denise on the Netflix se- ries “Master of None,” al- though she made history last fall by becoming the first African American woman to win an Emmy for comedy writing. Openly gay, Lena was named Out Magazine’s Artist of the Year for 2017. She is also the cre- ator of “The Chi,” a su- per-realistic Showtime series set on the south side of Chicago. Here, she talks about her role as Aech in “Ready Player One,” Ste- ven Spielberg’s adap- tation of Ernest Cline’s young-adult novel of the same name. In the diz- zying sci-fi thriller, she plays the protagonist’s best friend and member of a team of gamers par- ticipating in a virtual reality Easter egg hunt Kam Williams: Hey Lena, I’m honored to have this opportunity to speak with you. Lena Waithe: Oh, I’m honored to speak with you, too, Kam. How are you? KW: Great! How about you? LW: I’m good, thanks. KW: Actress, producer, screenwriter. Which hat is your favorite to wear? LW: I’m a writer first. The acting thing came along because I’ve been blessed to cross paths with some phenomenal casting directors like Al- lison Jones, Ellen Lewis [“Ready Player One”], and Leslee Feldman who runs casting for Amblin Entertainment. These amazing women and God are the reasons why I’m an actor. I believe God orders my steps. He saw this for me, because I definitely didn’t see it for myself. I’ve always been a bit of a ham and a bit of a performer for my friends in my circles, but I never, ever would have pursued it on my own. So, I’m just very grateful to these ladies for seeing something in me. But at the end of the day, I was born a television writer, and I’ll die a television writer. That’s what I’m most comfortable doing. KW: Well, congratula- tions on making history in winning the Emmy for “Master of None.” LW: Thank you so much, Kam. KW: What interested you in “Ready Player One”? LW: I got a call from my agency at the time, saying, “Yo, we got a call about the Steven Spiel- berg film. They want you to come in and read for it.” I said, “Sure. Why not?” So, I went in and read, got a call back to read again, and then I call saying that Steven had chosen me to be Aech in the movie. That was a moment you can’t even imagine. Obviously, the biggest draw for me was the director, since I didn’t know the book and they hadn’t given me the script to read, because everything was very top secret. All I had were some sides. Spielberg is a famous brand, like Co- ca-Cola. I felt that I could trust him no matter what the project was. And I’m glad I did, because I love the movie and it’s already getting a great response. It’s a classic Spielberg ad- venture that you’ll never forget. It’s phenomenal! KW: Did you read the novel before you began shooting? LW: Yes. As soon as I was cast, I got the script and the book. I read the script, which I loved, first. Then I read the nov- el which I also thought Lena Waithe as Aech in ‘Ready Player one’ was just phenomenal. KW: I haven’t read the book. How faithful is the film to it? LW: I think people will have to go to the theater to see, because we have a lotta fans of the book. Ste- ven made a great point today. He said there are about a dozen different movies you could make from the book, because there’s so much going on. I’m not sure which of those twelve he would say he chose, but he did what he does best by making a really fantastic film. And I think Ernest Cline’s bestseller served as a wonderful blue- print. KW: How did you pre- pare to play Aech? LW: Aech’s avatar is this six-foot-tall, half- man, half-robot, very swaggy guy. My influ- ences were Mr. T and Ice Cube. I kept them in mind while I was playing the character, because it’s an alter-ego, who you wish you were. And who’s cooler than Mr. T and Ice Cube? Nobody! KW: Did you play video games as a child? LW: Definitely! I re- member my dad buying my sister and me the original Nintendo. I’ll never forget that day he brought it to the house. My mom was not happy about it, because nothing got done for the next few months. We were ‘90s kids, so it was a big deal to us. We had a Gameboy and played Tetris all the time, before graduating to Sega Genesis. And we borrowed a friend’s Nin- tendo 64. I went through those different stages of gaming, since it was so easy to get sucked into it. But when I got older, it got a little too compli- cated for me, because I had homework to do. But I’ve always had an ap- preciation of the games. They’re a lotta fun, so I get why people do it. KW: What message do you think people will take away from “Ready Player One”? LW: That reality is more fun than fantasy. The movie is one, big, great escape. But I think Steven’s saying escapism is fine, but that you don’t want to escape so much that you lose the appre- ciation of what’s right around you. Read the rest of this story at TheSkanner.com