Javicia Leslie & Robin Givens – Batwoman

By starrymag | October 19, 2021

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) Javicia, could you talk about Ryan’s initial encounter with Poison Ivy?

 

Javicia: Oh, my goodness. We haven’t had Ryan’s encounter with Poison Ivy yet. So, it’s a little bit harder to talk about. Actually, Bridget [Regan] just started and I wasn’t the first character that she’s worked with yet, but I’m super excited to work with her. I think it’s going to be an amazing addition and an amazing character to play with.

 

Q) Javicia in season two it felt like Mary and Luke were both like, “This is temporary. This is a temporary thing.” And it wasn’t until the very end of the season, where they were kind of like, “Yeah, this is yours. This is Ryan and Ryan is Batwoman.” How has that changed the way that you approached the character in season three?

 

Javicia: Um, I never I think that. I feel like a lot of the journey of Ryan feeling like she was worthy enough to be Batwoman did happen in season two. And, yeah, you’re right. But in the season two she goes into season three, with the acceptance of like, “I am Batwoman. This is this is my job. It is my job to protect the citizens. It is my job to keep order. It is my job to make sure that there is really a middleman between Batwoman and Gotham City.” So, yeah, no. It makes a huge impact on this season on a lot of the things that are happening this season. Just the confidence of knowing that Ryan no longer has to prove herself as Batwoman. But, I mean, there’s still a lot of challenges that come up where she starts to kind of feel like, “Oh, no! Did I miss other things that are very important?”

 

Q) Javicia, what was it like when you read the season two finale scripts and found out that your mom was alive first? And then what was your reaction when you found out Robin Givens was going to be playing her?

 

Javicia: So, I was shocked. I think I found out a little bit before I read the script. But even when I found out I was shocked because I just knew Ryan’s mom isn’t alive. And that’s the story of my character. And then I got super excited because all I could think to myself is oh my goodness, like you’re gonna get to find out more about Ryan. You know what I mean? I’m gonna get to find out about her history and her story and what her influences are. And then come on now, it’s Miss Robin Givens. Like I grew up watching Robin Givens. First of all, I still don’t think that we are even at the age distance apart for her to play my mom. But it’s really cool to pretend like this can be realistic because she is such a joy to work with. And as an actor it’s an honor to be able to really like play with the greats. If you’re lucky, if you can even sometimes grace your presence with them on the stage together, but then for her to play my mom and like we’re having these one-on-one scenes together…I was saying earlier, I’m just constantly like, “Oh, I see what she did there. I’ll try that later.” You know what I mean? Like I’m taking notes because that’s the whole part of this journey, as well as learning throughout the process.

 

Q) I want to know if you could talk about what it was like for you stepping into the Batwoman suit for the first time. And then Robin It looks like you have a wardrobe of designer dresses and everything so if you could talk a bit about that, too.

 

Javicia: The suit is epic. I think Maya Mani, our costumer, as Batwoman does such an amazing job with the suit. I think the way it fits – the shape and silhouette that it creates. It’s so powerful. It’s so womanly, yet it’s still very like badass like, “Don’t mess with me.” And , I always say whenever I put on the suit, I automatically feel like a superhero because it does grab me up like this and so it makes me walk with my shoulders back and my head high and you automatically kind of like feel the responsibility of being a hero.

 

Robin: And I have to say in a similar way, it’s not this superhero costume but you really see how people and white costume designers win Oscars right for what they do and it really helps you create a character. So, everything about the way Jada dresses says everything about her I am so different than Jada and a lot of the women that I played, but clearly when you put on those tight dresses there’s only one way to walk in those high heeled shoes and it really establishes the character. So, yeah, she dresses very well. I have to kind of, if you don’t mind, go back. I just thought about something. Javicia and I have been talking quite a bit offset and then today we’re on set and when whenever you kind of talk about me it’s interesting because I think of the first time when I did “Women of Brewster Place” and I found out Cicely Tyson was going to be my mom…I remember being so intimidated the first day walking into hair and makeup. Javicia and I got to have dinner together, so we got to feel each other’s rhythm a little bit. But I’ll never forget being in hair and makeup and Cecily had these like headphones on and I was just like thoroughly intimidated. And when I got to meet this lady, we became dear, dear friends and she’s the she’s the funniest person you could imagine. She’s like you, Javicia. Like the times we have where we’re just cracking up. So, I don’t know. I just have a little bit of a flash, that sense of things. So, it warms my heart.

 

Q) Ryan has a lot to deal with. This year last year she almost gave up and died. What do you think gives her the inner strength and the will to keep going despite all the odds against her?

 

Javicia: I know what she reminds me of. There are people in this world that they know their goal. They know what makes them feel like they’re alive and they will do that to the day they died – to their last breath. And that’s kind of what I take Ryan for. She’s a type of person where it’s like, “I can’t sit still. I have to help people because no one helps me, and I want to make sure that I can help others the way I wish someone could have helped me.” And so, that’s why she gets into these moments of like, “This may be my last breath, but I’m not going to I’m not going to stop.” There was never a moment where she would have ever quit helping people. Whether she quit being battered woman is different and that’s because she felt like it wasn’t hers. You know what I mean? But she definitely would have never stopped helping people because it’s who she is from the core.

 

Q) Can you both talk about Nick [Creegan] as the son for you Robin and Javicia as your brother?

 

Javicia: Marcus is a very interesting character. He’s so he’s so dynamic and he’s so colorful and layered. I really look forward to you guys watching the development of Marcus. I think Marcus is going to be one of the biggest, unexpected twists. The show is really going to open up a lot of doors and a lot of conversations. I love that Caroline [Dries] has done is every season. It’s really her focus to bring up something that’s really happening in the world. And it being something that we focus on through our storytelling. So, like last season, it was the Black Lives Matters episode and everything that kind of surrounded it was obviously mirroring what was happening in the United States. And so, for this season, a lot of it has to do with mental health. I’m really excited because Nick is certainly such a talented, dynamic actor, and to be able to play in this world but also play with a theme that’s so personal and real. He does it so amazingly well. And so, it’s just like an honor to be able to play with him. Like, literally when him and Robin and I we have scenes together we leave like, “Yo, that was so much fun. I can’t believe we were able to do that.”

 

Robin: I have to say, we need to get to have this gathering again after a little bit later. You’re going to be blown away by Nick and what he does and this character. It is unbelievable and history making as well and captivating, and current and cool. And for me, what I have to say what I love about this character, and I’ve been saying I played some powerful women before and Jada is so awesome and so powerful and runs a major company in Gotham City. But she’s a mom. She is a mom. And this is her soft spot to the point where it could be her Achilles heel that she’s willing to do anything. And listen to me, hear me when I say anything for her children. And I think the dynamic between Jada and Ryan…I mean, at first she keeps you know Ryan at bay, right? Because of the guilt cheat she feels about not being in Ryan’s life. But then do we get close? Well, I put her in danger being close to her wanting to protect her just loving her. So, I love that because I’m a mom. So, I love that. I’m playing this powerful woman, but I’ve never I’ve never kind of done it with that kind of that sensibility of mom underneath it all. And even Javicia tells a story about the seat one of the scenes that she had an eye and Nick did where she’s so much of a mom and does such peculiar things that was even like, “Maybe I don’t want to be a part of this family.”

 

Q) Javicia, Batwoman has pretty much always been a queer icon and icon in the queer community. But with your casting now she’s also an icon in the black community. And so my question is, when did it hit you that you’re representing these minority communities? And what does that mean to you?

 

Javicia: Honestly, like no matter what role I do, I’m representing that because that’s my community, you know what I mean? It’s really cool when the stories represent me as well, obviously, but I feel like one of the most important parts of representation is that even if the story isn’t about race, even if the story isn’t about gender, just us existing is that representation. So, anytime I get the honor of playing any character on TV, I feel like it’s my job to be my community’s representation the best that I can be. And since that’s what my always my goal is, it allows me not to put so much weight onto that and just put more weight into the work, you know what I mean? Like, it’s beautiful that it checks these boxes. And so what I want to do is I want to match the quality of the storytelling with the history that it’s making. I don’t want to just be the first black bat woman…I don’t want to be like…I want when you turn it on, you’re watching it and you’re captivated by the storytelling by the storylines, by the castings in the in the dialogue and the and the performances. That’s what I want to bring to life. I want that if I’m that representation, that I’m worthy to be a better representation. And I think that this show in the writing of it, in the in the characters involved, allow that to happen. And like that’s why I’m really, really excited about the season. I’m more excited about this season than my first season. I’m excited about this season because I think that everything matches to the level of being able to say, “Wow, she’s black, she’s queer and I feel proud of what they’re doing over there. I feel proud of that show. It is a good representation of my community.” That’s what I want to be a part of.

 

Q) I was wondering as Ryan would when she finds out her mother’s alive, from a psychological standpoint does that have any way of how you’ll how it influence, or impacts you as bad woman? For Robin, can you talk about the psychological impact as well as learning more about Ryan?

 

Javicia: I mean, it definitely influences because at the end of the day, there’s so much. There’s like so many secrets that are happening at the same time that Ryan’s on this journey, and then they start to conflict. Her journey of her trying to figure out this situation with her mom starts to conflict with her role as balancing because, at the end of the day, my job is to protect Gotham City. And if at any time someone I love is interfering, that it becomes a very complicated situation. And that plays on a lot of different levels this season, like a lot of different levels, not just with obviously, Jada Jet, but with other characters as well. And so, psychologically, I think that it’s a very, obviously tricky situation to be in when it’s your mom. You know what I mean? Like, no matter how much she wasn’t there, Ryan, what’s this relationship? Because who wouldn’t want this relationship? And I think more than anything, what Ryan wants to find out is that there had to be a reason why you gave me up. Ryan doesn’t want to feel like, “Oh, you just gave me up because you didn’t want me. She wants to feel like he gave me up. Because I don’t know, were you being hurt? So, that becomes very conflicted in her journey as well.

 

Robin: Yeah, I think that whole mother daughter, you really see it and I, especially being in the inside doing a scene with Ryan and it seems adversarial at first. Ryan, for her reasons, right? And me, for my data for her reasons of wanting to keep her at bay. And then it’s nice to watch them become mother and daughter. And then my daughter just happens to really know how to kick butts, like a serious ass. We do one scene a look of, “Whoa,” but I think the psychology of dealing with the guilt that Jada feels and Jada just as a woman, I love the fact that her being a mother is really…Like I said could be her Achilles heel and her love for her children. I mean, she loves and adores Ryan. And that brings up, I think, a lot of guilt for her that she wasn’t in her life. And I think wanting to protect her. I can feel Ryan feeling her vulnerability. In spite of however Jada comes off, I see Ryan looking at me with these big eyes saying love me, you know, am I okay? I did. Okay. And that’s really nice to watch an actress play to be this bad ass put on this suit, kick butt. And then in a simple way, just say, am I enough? Do you think I did?

 

Q) What is something that we’re going to see this season for Ryan or Batwoman that we haven’t seen before?

 

Javicia: The dynamic of a mother, which is a huge influence, mentally and emotionally. Especially, it’s going to be a huge influence on the bat team. I don’t think that we realize how much that’s going to affect Ryan’s place in the bat team in the bat team’s place. Because there’s a difference between the family that you choose and the family that you were born into. And I think the moment that Ryan starts to feel like she has a family and that you start to feel like you belong somewhere where she went a long time that felt like she had anywhere to belong. Another big change is we might see a little bit of romance in Ryan’s life because we really didn’t get to see that last season.

So, I’m excited for that side of Ryan. I haven’t played that side of Ryan. So, I’m actually excited to play because I haven’t played, and I would love to see what naturally what my natural instincts are going to be in the romance department. I’m probably a dork about it because I am here, right? There’s always a lag. I’m glad I don’t have to like make the first move. Oh, we’re bringing in a lot of the bat villains, so you’re gonna get to see Ryan interact with characters like Poison Ivy and the Mad Hatter. Like, come on, that’s really cool. Like this season of “Batwoman” is gonna be epic.

 

 

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