In a story for Variety last month, actress Amandla Stenberg talks about her career, diversity in Hollywood, and more.
On working on The Hunger Games at the age of 14, Amandla says, “It was all a dream come true.”
“As a kid, it was my favorite book.” She recently saw co-star Jennifer Lawrence at a breakfast event. “She said, ‘Oh, my God, you have boobs!’” Stenberg recalls with a laugh.
“And I said, ‘Yeah, I’ve gone through puberty since I last saw you.’ We don’t stay in touch necessarily in the way we used to. But she will definitely always remain as a big-sister figure to me, just because she was so endlessly sweet to me when I was a kid and made me feel comfortable in a space that was intimidating.”
Amandla also played the role of Ruby in another recent YA dystopia adaptation, The Darkest Minds.
“The character was written white,” she says. “It was exciting for me to have a black girl at the helm, because we’ve seen these with Jennifer Lawrence and Shailene Woodley, and they’ve done a fantastic job. But we’ve never gotten diverse representation.”
Further, she addresses working with the screenwriter of her next YA adaptation, The Hate U Give, which comes out in theaters October 19.
“I would go to sessions with Audrey [Wells] in order to provide my experience as a black girl because Audrey is white,” Stenberg says. “Anything that struck me as inauthentic or not accurate to me and Starr’s experience, I would communicate it. From early on, the nature of the project was collaborative. I didn’t feel like I was just fulfilling the role of an actor. I felt like I was doing a lot more.”
Amandla goes on to discuss Time’s Up movement, auditioning for Black Panther, and colorism among many other details. Check out the full story on Variety here.
HungerGamesNet.com 