For its new "Indulge in Fashion Issue," Kontrol magazine chose actress Sanaa Lathan to grace its cover. During the interview for the November/December 2015 issue, Lathan spoke candidly about the developments made in Hollywood surrounding black actresses, but believes there's still work to be done. She also spilled the beans on a possible Love & Basketball sequel.
Despite more and more women dominating television and box office films, actors and actresses in Hollywood still aren't treated equally. The wage gap between Hollywood's elite has been a major topic of discussion since a hacker exposed several emails from Sony executives in 2014.
The emails revealed a shocking difference in pay between leading actors and actresses working on the same film. Celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain have openly spoken out against it.
While the battle for equal pay continues to be fought, minority women are still fighting a war to be seen in both television and film. Shows like Scandal, Empire and The Haves & The Have Nots star black women as a main characters. Lathan, 44, admits these women are making strides in the advancement of black women in Hollywood, but she hopes more changes will be made.
A photo posted by Sanaa Lathan (@sanaalathan) on Nov 3, 2015 at 1:55pm PST
“There have definitely been some advances," Lathan told Kontrol. "I mean, never before have we had so many shows led by African-American actresses. … I support and congratulate Taraji P. Henson, Tika Sumpter, Kerry Washington and Viola Davis, but at the same [time], more of those opportunities are needed."
How can this issue get resolved? Lathan would like to see more women behind the camera and in front of the camera. This would allow more opportunities for black women to not only work in more roles, but also learn to tell stories from their point of view. "The solution can be to produce our own projects, as we did with [The Perfect Guy], and then we need audiences to support them. At the end of the day, Hollywood is a business and numbers do talk. They are going to go with what’s successful and making money,” Lathan told Kontrol.
A photo posted by Gabrielle Union (@gabunion) on Mar 22, 2013 at 9:12am PDT
Typecasting can act as both a curse and a gift for black actors, but Lathan has managed to stray away from stereotypical roles. From playing an editor in chief for a top hip-hop magazine to an expert guide in the Arctic and Antarctic environments, Lathan demonstrated her skills in a variety of roles.
Arguably her most memorable roles came in 2000 when she played Monica Wright in Love & Basketball. The movie was an instant hit, making over $27 million in the box office. Fifteen years later fans are still hoping the director produces a sequel. Lathan, however, believes the movie ended on just the right note.
“Well, you would have to speak to Gina Prince-Bythewood, the director of Love & Basketball, about that officially. I’ve heard the rumors and I feel like that was a story to itself … I mean, how could you go about making a sequel to it? I feel the ending was pretty finite,” Lathan told Kontrol.
