An actor is lucky enough to have one hit show, but here we go again forDanielle Brooks! After seven seasons with the Netflix smashOrange Is the New Black, Brooks is a main player in one of the hottest new shows of 2022,James Gunn’sPeacemaker.
Brooks plays Leota Adebayo in the HBO Max DC series. She’s Amanda Waller’s (Viola Davis) daughter, but would much rather be running an animal shelter than contributing to the Project Butterfly task force. Trouble is, Adebayo needs to support her family, so she’s got no choice but to get into her mother’s line of work. No one on the team is especially thrilled about being assigned to work alongside Peacemaker (John Cena), but it’s Adebayo who manages to strike up a connection with the impulsive and often obnoxious anti-hero, encouraging him to change for the better.
In celebration ofPeacemaker’s stellar run on HBO Max, Brooks joined us for an episode ofCollider Ladies Nightto explain how she went from being a 15-year-old aspiring actor admiring a performance ofThe Color Purpleon Broadway to starring in a DC adaptation alongside John Cena.
Brooks had some very talented individuals showing her the way early on. She watched asTeyonah Parris,Nicole Beharie,andStacey Scottall graduated from her performing arts high school and then made their way to Juilliard. The Juilliard School is one of the most prestigious performing arts schools in the world, so one can imagine Brooks took quite a bit from her experience training there. But, she did pinpoint one particular lesson learned that she finds herself applying to her work quite frequently today.
“The thing that I got from Julliard was that your work does not end after an applause. Your work continues past that, and that was very important. As actors, sometimes we can be selfish and after we receive the gift of getting a standing ovation, we think the work is done, but we have so much more work to do and it’s okay to be a little political, and it’s okay to have something to stand for, and I definitely take that with me forever.”
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Again, Juilliard is one of the best of the best, but training in a school setting is mighty different from getting industry experience. Here’s what Brooks said when asked for something that all the studying in the world could never have prepared her for:
“Something that all of the studying in the world could not have prepared me for would be for Orange Is the New Black. In school we’re taught something called IPA, the International Phonetic Alphabet, and it’s supposed to be like [a] standard American way of speaking and it neutralizes your voice so that you’re able to go from country to doing a British accent to doing all these things, and with Orange, I just needed to be myself. I needed to bring what I knew. There were technical things that I have definitely taken from Juilliard to play that character, but there were so many things that I had to let go of the training to play Taystee.”
That approach to playing Taystee was a monumental success in every sense. Brooks managed to shine in a rather large and very impressive ensemble, being part of that cast earned Brooks three Screen Actors Guild awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, andOrange Is the New Blackalso played a key part in helping Brooks secure even more work. In fact, her work inOrangemeant she didn’t even have to audition forPeacemaker. James Gunn just offered her the role. She explained:
“I didn’t have to audition for this. James Gunn was just like, ‘You’re my girl.’ But it’s terrifying because you don’t know if you’re really what they want. When you audition, you know. You got the audition, they said yes to you, everybody had to approve you. And they had to approve you even if you are chosen, but you still never know until you get on set, so I was terrified. That first few days, I think it was the first or second day I was on set, James asked me to improv and he had me go and go because he loves giving people an opportunity to do their own thing. And I improvved, and it was so funny. James would not stop laughing, and he ended up using a lot of it. Steve Agee, my castmate, is sitting there taping it. We’re all breaking character. We even got John Cena to break a little bit, which is very hard. But it was nerve-racking! But the cool thing [is] you do good work, you do the work so that you’re able to beget more work and that’s what Orange did for me.”
Just before thePeacemakerSeason 1 finale was made available on HBO Max,news broke that the show was renewed for a second season. While Gunn did direct a number of Season 1 episodes, the plan for Season 2 is to have him both write and direct every single one. What are the standout qualities of a James Gunn set that Brooks will get to experience for the entirety of Season 2?
“It’s efficient. Not that I haven’t been on other sets that way, but we do French hours, which are 10-hours days and he gets it done. That man knows what he wants and he gets it done, and his crew does as well. And that’s been really cool to not feel like you’re wasting time, you know? That’s not fun for anybody in any job, so I would say that he runs a very tight ship and he knows exactly what he’s looking for and I love that.”
As for Season 2 specifics, Brooks does have something in mind she’d like to see explored further — Adebayo’s experience growing up as Amanda Waller’s daughter.
“It’s more internal than we get to share with the audience what that is, and that would be so cool for a Season 2, especially because I love Viola Davis! Who doesn’t? We’re South Carolina girls, and Julliard girls! How cool would it be to go into their past in a similar way that we do with Peacemaker? So I definitely hope that James Gunn explores that in Season 2. But yeah, it’s this whole internal struggle with dealing with her mom and having to be grateful for this job so that she can provide for her family, her wife, but at the same token, it’s like trying to operate in a way that she knows is best for her and what’s right for her to do and not just what her mother is telling her to do. Which brings such a beautiful parallel between her, Adebayo, and Peacemaker. They’re both struggling with the same thing. They’re so freakin’ different but yet their biggest challenge right now is the same challenge. And so it’s really cool to see how they’re navigating it and how they both have to be honest with each other and push each other forward.”
Looking for even more on Brooks’ journey toPeacemaker? Be sure to check out her episode of Collider Ladies Night at the top of this article or listen to our 30-minute conversation uncut in podcast form below. There’s loads more on herOrange Is the New Blackaudition, somePeacemakerSeason 1 spoiler talk, and then some!
