When adapting the story of Madam C.J. Walker, America’s first Black female self-made millionaire, into Netflix’s limited series “Self Made,” co-showrunner Elle Johnson knew that there was one thing the team must get right — the hair.
“This was something that myself, the other co-showrunner Janine [Sherman Barrois] and Nicole [Jefferson Asher, series writer] were all really concerned with,” Johnson says. “Because we knew that this project, obviously, is about hair and beauty, that it had to be on point and that we would get dragged if it didn’t look authentic on screen.”
Over the course of the four-episode limited-series, Madam C.J. Walker (portrayed by Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer) goes from a struggling laundress, trapped in an abusive marriage to millionaire hair-care empress after developing a line of eponymous hair-care products for Black women. So, the creative team focused on each individual’s hair journey as it mirrored their character arc.
“In the first episode,...
“This was something that myself, the other co-showrunner Janine [Sherman Barrois] and Nicole [Jefferson Asher, series writer] were all really concerned with,” Johnson says. “Because we knew that this project, obviously, is about hair and beauty, that it had to be on point and that we would get dragged if it didn’t look authentic on screen.”
Over the course of the four-episode limited-series, Madam C.J. Walker (portrayed by Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer) goes from a struggling laundress, trapped in an abusive marriage to millionaire hair-care empress after developing a line of eponymous hair-care products for Black women. So, the creative team focused on each individual’s hair journey as it mirrored their character arc.
“In the first episode,...
- 7/6/2020
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
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