King makes her debut with a fictional narrative of a real night of 1964, when Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay), Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown were hanging out in a hotel room after one of Ali's fights. The projects culminates a period of success in the career of King, who, in 2018, won her third Emmy for the miniseries Seven Seconds and,

a few months later, won an Oscar for playing another mother shaken by tragedy, in Barry Jenkins' adaptation of James Baldwin's novel If Beale Street Could Talk. Last fall, he starred in Damon Lindelof's bold reinterpretation of the Watchmen comic for HBO and this year he surprises us by making and starring in his first film. Regina doesn't shy away from the political conversation - in fact, in 2010, five years before #oscarssowhite, she published a letter criticizing the Emmys for ignoring actors of color.

Earlier this year, in her Golden Globe acceptance speech, she called for gender parity and promised to set an example with her production company. If King gets a directorial nomination for a testosterone charged story, she would be the sixth woman and the first black woman to be nominated in the best director category in 92 years.

A lover of books and reading, the actress turned director confesses that she does speak Spanish and has read some Spanish authors especially those who write theater plays. When Regina King was growing up in Los Angeles she had many friends who spoke Spanish to her.

Q: How do you feel showing the world your first movie as a director?

RK: I am very nervous because of the pressure of being released behind the cameras. I feel like I have thousands of eyes staring at me intensely. I want to see the public's reaction to this film, aware that its reception can help other African-American women who come after me. I want to become the bridge to success for other daring women like me.

Q: How did the COVID affect your movie?

RK: I began filming last November in New Orleans and in July we decided that we would release the film on Amazon, after stopping its presentation due to the pandemic. We have waited several months but, given the social storm that has unleashed in the United States, we decided that the time had come to release it.

Q: How is Regina King as a director?

RK: I will say that I do like to treat people with respect.

Q:  It is important for you to make history with this movie?

RK: Hopefully this film makes history. For us black Americans, the conversation that we had in a hotel room 60 years ago is the same that we continue to have now.  In the fiction, we find the four protagonists before they meet in that room in Miami, when none of them are living their best day. Ali is first seen in the ring staggering against boxer Henry Cooper. Sam Cooke plays in Copacabana, where he is ignored by the white public. Malcolm X considers leaving the Nation of Islam and Jim Brown experiences racism in his hometown. I wanted to unite four icons that are references in my community talking about their achievements, but also their moments of vulnerability.

Q: One Night in Miami is inspired by the fictional account of former journalist Kemp Powers. Did you know this story before?

RK: When we started shooting the movie we didn't venture that we were going to find ourselves in the current situation. We live inside a boiling pot about to explode and this film can ease the pressure, creating a relevant and current conversation. I am a believer in destiny and this film was called to be made, I was lucky enough to find myself in the position to direct it. My intention was never to take advantage of the awakening of a movement, because I did not anticipate it. That said, I do not deny that we have the opportunity to be a piece of the puzzle and, from the platform of culture, we can turn the wheel towards a real transformation.

Q: Do you Speak Spanish?

RK: I would not say that I do, but I’m not going to deny that I can understand more that I am willing to recognize. I can make sentences and read some words because I learnt Spanish at the school. Not much, but enough to use it in Los Angeles. I grew up with many friends around me that spoke Spanish.

Q: Have you read any Spanish authors?

RK: I like theater and as an actress, I know Federico Garcia Lorca. I read Blood Wedding and also I read something from Reinaldo Arenas, what I don’t remember what.

Q: Do you believe in destiny?

RK: Things happened for a reason. With this movie we thought we'd push it back because we didn't know what the climate of going to theaters would be like and then a couple of months after the pandemic hit, George Floyd died in police custody, and for all the producers and everyone involved, we were like; this needs to come out now. I feel like fate always had it planned out this way, but maybe we're lucky and we're going to have the opportunity to be a piece of art out there that moves the needle in a conversation about transformative change.

Q:  What would you say is your breakthrough moment?

RK: I kind of look at my career as a series of breakthrough moments. My approach when it comes to life and growth and goals is that once you reach a goal or have a breakthrough moment, then it’s time for the next one.

Q: When your interest in directing began?

RK: I think the first seed was planted at college, when I was at UCLA but I don’t know that I knew that it was being planted.

Maria Estevez

Correspondent writer