Reese Witherspoon
And Cheryl Strayed’s book was so beautiful and sacred to me because it spoke to me so deeply about how we as women have to save ourselves. There’s no mother or father coming to save us. There’s no spouse. I thought it was radical that at the end of the film, she ends up with no family, no money, no job, no partner, and she’s happy.
In the past four years, I’ve emphasized positivity and optimism. There’s a tendency to delight in the trauma of women. We see it in the news constantly, and I believe that you can create engaging, deep entertainment without exploiting women. Obviously, at this point in life, comedy is a superpower, so at our company we’re really focusing on comedy. I don’t think things have to be non-impactful just because they’re really entertaining. Especially after this year, we’re looking to our TV shows and our films to show us a hopeful side of humanity.
Stacey Abrams
STACEY: For me, the inauguration is a reminder that voting, that democracy, isn't magic. There's noting about democracy that's magic. It is work. It is hard work.
STACEY: I think the thing that was stunning to me was the translation of thoughts into action... As a writer, I understand how things go from thought to paper. You meet this character you’ve created in your head, and you get to keep revisiting it. The dimensions that come with film, with the ability to say, “I want the story to be told,” and for the story to be so real, raw and complicated, is fascinating to me. It was also the ability for me to speak [my idea] to others, and to have them tell me what they saw and to see all of those pieces come together.
STACEY: What has also been an amazing discovery is the deep humanity of the people I’ve met here — like you, Audra McDonald, Tracee Ellis Ross, Kerry Washington, Bradley Whitford and so many others who’ve [had] the deep humanity and the willingness to help make things real — it’s reaffirming.
STACEY: Sometimes we need to vote out of revenge: Your failure to do your job to serve me is cause enough for me to remove you from office. I think vengeance gets a bad rap. We see it as sort of evil. If you aren’t willing to do your job, you don’t deserve your job... The perennial fight that you have successfully battled is to give empathy and to make empathy real. My battle is to make power real.
Taylor Swift
Her experience with the trial was crucial, she says, in finding herself “needing to speak up about beliefs I’d always had, because it felt like an opportunity to shed light on what those trials are like. I experienced it as a person with extreme privilege, so I can only imagine what it’s like when you don’t have that.
"I still think it’s important to be polite, but not at all costs,” she says. “Not when you’re being pushed beyond your limits, and not when people are walking all over you. I needed to get to a point where I was ready, able and willing to call out bulls— rather than just smiling my way through it.”