Fresh off the heels of the release of Ava DuVernay’s OWN series, Queen Sugar, she kicked it with Stephen Colbert on the Late Show. The director explained why the series has an all-female production team:
It’s a big deal in Hollywood because they kind of try to keep us out. These are women who are so talented, so vibrant, have so much to share and have been trying to get job after job on television and then had the door closed. So we open the door, invite them in and make beautiful episodes. They’re badass.
They had a lot to talk about, including the first time they met which was at President Barack Obama’s secret birthday celebration. Everyone who is everyone attended, and DuVernay recalled having to turn in her phone upon arrival. Colbert said that at some point in the party, Paul McCartney leaned over to him and said “It doesn’t get better than this”. Then DuVernay went on to explain exactly how it got better:
At some point a dance battle starts between Usher and Janelle Monáe. And you’re watching it and you’re thinking, can this be? So they’re dancing and they’re going at it. I’m like, it can’t get better than this. On the periphery, you see POTUS and FLOTUS getting into it, like, it can’t get better than this.
Then it got even better. Colbert joined the battle after McCartney and Chance The Rapper joined. Colbert admitted:
It was a peak feeling. When Janelle Monáe put her hat on my head and we started trading moves, I had a flirtation with cool.
