Kerry Washington shows off her sexy side as the woman who tempts Chris Rock's married man character into thinking about cheating in the comedy film, I Think I Love My Wife.
The Appeal of Playing Nikki in I Think I Love My Wife: Writer/director/actor Chris Rock says that Kerry Washington was perfect for the part of the gorgeous woman who causes Rock’s character to consider having an affair. “Chris keeps telling people that I did not read for this role which is a big deal for an actor, that's why he's saying it,” said Washington. “Like that it was an offer but the truth is, I feel like I have been auditioning for this role for about four years. He's been working on the script for about five or six years and four years ago he did a table read of the script. He called me up because we had done Bad Company at that point. We were friends and he said, ‘Will you come and read the Brenda role?’ I said, ‘Sure, yeah, whatever, just send it to me. I'll meet you there. I'll read the role.’
I hadn't read it before the reading, and so while we were sitting there reading it out loud, I was completely taken with the Nikki character. I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, who is this girl?’ She became sort of this puzzle that I had to crack. I really was so taken with how well she was written and how complicated she was, and how powerful she was yet completely insecure. I just loved her from the first time I heard the character out loud. So I went up to Chris after the reading and I said, ‘The project's really great. When you get this made because I know you will, would you consider me for the role of Nikki?’ And he laughed at me. So it has taken a very long time for him to be open to that idea.”
Who Exactly is Nikki?: Asked if her character is a realistic portrayal of a single girl or a scarier version, Washington replied, “I don't think you can say that single women as a population are any one thing. I think what I like about her is that she's very much a fully realized, three-dimensional, complicated human being all to her own. She doesn't represent women, she doesn't represent single women, [and] she doesn't represent black women. She doesn't represent New Yorkers. She represents Nikki Tru. There are people in the world like Nikki Tru, but she doesn't stand for anything, I think, other than a woman with some issues, some complicated things she's dealing with. Somebody who's really afraid and really wants to be taken care of.”
Fleshing Out Female Characters: “I'm so impressed with Louis C.K. and Chris [Rock] for writing this script with these real women, like these real three-dimensional women. I'm like, ‘First of all, you're guys. Second of all, you're comedians. How did you write this poignant monologue about being the old girl in the club? Where did that come from?’ It's really incredible. They listen. They listen, the two of them.”
Washington had to figure out just how to play the character and examined her motivations from many different angles. “I came to a crossroads with Nikki where I was really having a hard time. It was harder than I thought it was going to be for a week, especially because I was coming right out of Dead Girl and so I was having a really hard time letting go of that character and beginning this one. It was really frustrated. I started thinking that I am a very, very independent, self-reliant woman. Some might say to a fault - like my assistant. But I very much believe in the ability to take care of myself. It's very important to me. And it occurred to me one day in my actor's homework that Nikki is almost the exact opposite of that.
[Nikki] actually thinks that she's completely incapable of taking care of herself. And furthermore thinks that a man has to take care of her. I thought, ‘Well, okay...’ To make it totally opposite from my childhood, I decided that Nikki, unlike me because I literally have the almost exact opposite experience, that Nikki has always been from the moment she was born, the prettiest girl in the room. She's always been daddy's little girl. She's always had the prettiest dresses; she's always been absolutely beautiful. People have always fawned over her. They've always given her anything she wanted and she's never been forced to be self-reliant.
There was a point in my life where I was like, ‘All right, well, it's not going to be about boys. I guess it's going to be about books.’ Or like, ‘I'm not going to be the prettiest girl in the room, so I guess I better have a personality.’ I don't think that Nikki ever had that bridge to cross. I think she grew up thinking of her physical appearance as a currency to be taken care of. Like, ‘If I'm pretty, then I will get taken care of. If I can be sexy enough, then I will be safe.’ Now she's at a point in her life where it hasn't quite panned out the way that she hoped, so she's kind of desperate for somebody to love her and take care of her.”
Working with Writer/Director/Actor Chris Rock: Was there anything that surprised her about the experience? Washington answered, “Honestly, I didn't expect him to be as good a director as he was, to be totally honest. I fought for this role and fought for this role and fought for this role and then when he got the financing, I found out that he was directing it. I was like, ‘I don't know if I want to do this movie anymore.’ And he was like, ‘Really?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, you know, Head of State is not my favorite movie on the planet.’ I was a little nervous about it. But I think he's a fantastic director.
He takes what he does very seriously - storyboards and shot lists and real acting directions. He wanted me to do a voice, you know, he wanted me to talk in a lower register and was really clear about the clothes that he wanted Gina [Torres] and I to wear. He just really [knew] what he wanted, even Steve Buscemi's character. ‘I want his hair this way.’ He was very specific. I think what he does best as a director is that he's got an incredible eye for talent. He doesn't claim to know how to do anything, but he knows how to spot good work and then he lets people do their work. He doesn't get in your way. He really encourages you and affirms you in your process, which I think is what a good leader does so I think he's a great film set leader.”
