Oprah Winfreystill gets teary-eyed talking about her friend and mentorSidney Poitier, who died in January.
Winfrey and directorReginald Hudlin(Boomerang, Marshall) wouldn’t have it any other way.
Read on for our conversation.
Robin Platzer/Twin Images/Getty Images
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I really enjoyedSidney.
It feels more like a film than a documentary, which is a testament to both of you.
OPRAH WINFREY:Tell us why you really enjoyed it.
Sidney Poitier and his historic Oscar for his work in ‘Lilies of the Field’ in 1964.Bettmann/Getty Images
I thought I knew a lot about Sidney and his career.
But I learned things from this.
REGINALD HUDLIN: This was the goal.
How did you both get involved?
I was immediately very excited.
I knew, yes, of course she can make things happen.
But more importantly, it was a completely organic thing because she is one of Sidney’s dearest friends.
WINFREY:Reggie says it’s a gift that we are giving to the world about our beloved Sidney.
And his story is like no other person I even heard or read about.
It was a mission of love and protection.
And that is what we have done.
One of the things I really enjoyed was the cast, the people you got to talk about him.
Oprah, were you the best booker ever as far as getting everyone to do it?
WINFREY:No, I wasn’t.
HUDLIN:We did an enormous amount of deep research: magazine articles, media over time.
He has written two very popular autobiographies.
So people know a lot about Sidney Poitier.
He was a very complex man and his life didn’t progress in a straight line.
What went into the decision to leave things in, especially some of the more uncomfortable moments?
And we have to tell a real honest story."
As they say, without humps, there’s no getting over.
So we have to see and hear that, and feel his struggle.
WINFREY:It’s uncomfortable because, for me, he was the epitome of perfection.
Because that moment seared the possibility of hope for my future.
Because if he could do that, I wondered what could I do?
He was an extraordinary human being.
WINFREY:I talked about him to everybody I knew, and certainly another documentary worth doing isQuincy Jones.
Because Quincy Jones has known every human being on earth, intimately, personally, close up.
And when I came down the stairs, Sidney Poitier was there.
WINFREY:Sidney says longing.
HUDLIN:And he doesn’t just say it.
And we ended up sitting in the corner for hours for the rest of the night talking.
And we talked for years after.
I was wondering about your timeline shootingSidney.
When were your subjects interviewed, and when you were interviewed in relation to when Poitier passed?
Because some of those interviews are very emotional, including yours at the end, Oprah.
WINFREY:He had not passed.
That was before he passed.
HUDLIN:We were very fortunate that the vast majority of the interviews were before he passed.
Because I feel like doing it after the fact would affect the tone.
WINFREY:Yeah, it definitely would’ve been different if it was afterwards.
WINFREY:I never thought of it that way before.
That’s good, you’re right!
And then I was like: Stop, just stop.
Just go back to work.
And they were so insightful and so honest and so real.
It’s a first-name basis.
When we picked everyone, we said we want to talk to people who knew him.
WINFREY:Knew Sidney, not just Sidney Poitier, butSidney.
HUDLIN:He has a planet of admirers, but who knows him?
So they have a different take on him.
And that’s the take we wanted to invite the public to know.
Was there anybody on your casting wishlist that you didn’t get?
WINFREY:[turning to Hudlin] Was there anybody else you wanted that we didn’t get?
Because I thought the big get was getting [Poitier’s first wife] Juanita.
HUDLIN:That was the get, because I just thought there’s a giant story there.
It’s like in physics, there’s a black-hole effect.
I knew she would be that thing that would make everything else in the celestial make sense.
WINFREY:And theactressfromGuess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
[Katharine Houghton]
HUDLIN:Oh wow, she was spectacular.
WINFREY:The fact that she didn’t know that the kiss was such a big deal.
I’m like, “What world were you living in?”
All of us knew that was a very big deal.
Because Sidney was so aware, so plugged into what was happening with people.
Thing about movies, they take at least a year.
So he lines up all these movies, he’s working back to back.
But in the time he finally gets to that movie, he knows: This is an important movie.
I’m committed to it.
I’m going to do it.
And he always knew the right moment and the right time to do stuff.
And he always did the right thing.
He says, Look, I don’t have to be the Black superhero anymore.
Now there’s all these new actors and new movies being made.
Now I can be funny.
I can do comedies…
WINFREY:…I can direct.
I want to direct.
HUDLIN:Those instincts are extraordinary.
And so I think everybody watching comes away with that.
Sidney, available on Apple TV+, is out today.
