Viola Davis embraces her African roots in 'Beautiful Creatures'

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“The history is so palpable in the South,” Davis points out. “I think it’s because – and I’m choosing my words carefully – it’s something that the South still holds onto more than other states. They hold onto the past. You go down to the South, you still see the plowed fields. On Singleton plantation, where I was born, you still see the big house and the little church…My aunt still works on the plantation, and you drive down the pathway, you still see the sharecroppers’ house.

Furthermore, the South tends to shy away from change, its evolution a steady process moving with the pace of the culture.

“[The South] has a way of holding onto the past. And then the heat and the food, it informs who you are, how you carry yourself, how you speak, how you think, the roles that people play,” she explains. “In Mississippi, Baptist Town [is the area] where all the black people – most of the black people – lived in Greenwood, and then there was the rest of Greenwood. There was 85 percent unemployment in Baptist Town. That’s what’s different about it. It’s very different, so different that when you walk back there, people know that you’re a part of town.”

Of course, Davis’ record sets her apart from most average citizens these days, a bona fide movie star now taking the lead in films with the likes of Harrison Ford, Hugh Jackman, and Jessica Chastain. It’s a long way to come for a girl who used to be “too shy to even wear lipstick,” to one whose name shines in lights across billboard marquees. Though she’s quick to point out, sometimes her old, timid self creeps out without notice, like when she was too star-struck by Ford to speak.

“I would just stare at him,” she recalls.

Nevertheless, more important than fame and good casting, Davis says she believes in love, and it was this interest that really sucked her into playing the role in Beautiful Creatures. The story draws a metaphor between racial discrimination and the prejudice of those who are otherworldly, and embarks on a romantic journey to override doctrines that normalize society.

“The fact that this man finds this girl, even though she’s being ostracized, that he sees her…I think that’s how love happens,” she says. “It’s like my husband, that’s how he fell in love with me. He just saw me even through all my complaining, and my bad credit. He just saw me, and I love that about the love story… I love love. I love weddings. I’m probably going to have another one – my third, same husband. I think it happens very rarely in a lifetime that you fall in love and it’s real. It’s a shame when it’s forgotten or it’s lost.”

Follow Courtney Garcia on Twitter at @courtgarcia