*While Lee Daniels’ new Fox drama “Star” is primarily about the hustle to make it in the music business, there are also themes of social justice and race woven into the storylines – as they are in his other Fox series “Empire.”
But some of the narratives in “Star” had to be tweaked after Nov. 8.
“I did this before Trump was in, so we’ve had to shift course,” Lee told an audience at the Paley Center for Media in New York Tuesday following a screening of the “Star” pilot.
“I saw America coming to a civil war, I thought, in front of my eyes,” he continued. “The conversations I’ve had to have with my son. For me there was [Martin Luther] King, Malcolm X, the [Black] Panthers, I remember them vividly. And there aren’t any now, so I’m going to invent one in [the character of] Derek and tell his story. I want people to walk away from this knowing we’re all one. It doesn’t matter that you’re black or white. What do you say when you have a sister that is black, and you’re white? What do you say? Family is wherever you find it.”
Fox is giving “Star” a special premiere on Dec. 14 at 9 p.m., following the midseason finale of “Empire” that has been pushed back to 8 p.m.
More below via Variety:
Daniels says “Star” is the story of his struggle before making it big, a prequel of sorts to his “Empire” days. “This is about those days I first landed in Hollywood and the struggle, living in the back of my car and the back of my church and not really having a mentor.”
While the character closest to Daniels is washed-up manager Jahil (played by Benjamin Bratt), the story focuses on the formation of a girl group, two sisters (Jude Demorest and Britany O’Grady) and a New York City heiress (Ryan Destiny).
“I missed girl groups,” Daniels told Variety before the panel. “And I love writing women. I love women. Maybe I was a woman in a past life, or I’m supposed to be one now.”
Daniels spoke about the uphill battle trying to cast lead character Star.
“It took us forever to find Hakeem and Jamal for ‘Empire’ — months and months,” Daniels said. And so when Daniels saw Jude Demorest audition once, twice, three times, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “It’s so hard to find someone who can act sing and dance and is white at the same time,” he said. “I was obsessed with her.”
Star’s sister, Simone, had a black father, and is identified as black; but Star herself is white, though TV audiences haven’t likely seen this kind of white character in a mainstream primetime drama series. “I identify with Star, being from a generation where you look a certain way and the older generation expects you to act a certain way,” Demorest, who grew up in Detroit, said. “But they are who they are. They’re unapologetic.”
Though the girls are the heart of the show, the godmother Carlotta, played by Queen Latifah, and Benjamin Bratt’s manager Jahil are its DNA, the history behind it all. Daniels sees Jahil as an opportunity “to really tell my struggle, my bout with drugs, how ultimately I became the artist I am, because there wasn’t anyone there to teach me.”
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