The drama and tension in Power, Starz's New York-based hip-hop crime drama—created by 50 Cent and Emmy-award winning The Good Wife writer Courtney Kemp Agboh—built slowly last season, but by the last episode...well, let's just say the slow-to-boil teapot was whistling, rattling on the stove, and spilling over. This Saturday, June 6, Power is returning with 10 new, intense, and sexy episodes, and the answers we've been nail-bitingly awaiting are finally coming to us.
In the meantime, Glamour caught up with Lela Loren, who plays gun-toting federal prosecutor Angela Valdes. She dished on how she feels about playing "the other woman," what it's like to work with (speechlessness-inducing) Omari Hardwick, and why she doesn't really feel successful.
Power is filmed in New York—do you ever think of moving here?
Lela Loren: You know, I think about moving there, but it's hard because all of my really dear female friends, the women in my life, are all here. It's taken me so long to build that base, and they're all such great women. In New York, with my work schedule, it'd be really hard to socialize. Then on your time off, you want to reach out to the people that know you.
How is your dynamic with Omari Hardwick? You have incredible chemistry.
Loren: The reality is I would say we have little chemistry because we're always making ruthless fun of each other. He gets mad at me a lot because I'm kind of gross in real life, a little bit crass. I'm not always a proper lady. He goes, "L, would you stop talking about that?!" But we trust each other completely. He cares deeply about women on set feeling safe and protected so that we can do some really intense scenes. Courtney did an amazing job at hiring men with a lot of integrity.
What drew you to the character of Angela, and how is she similar or different from you?
Loren: What I really loved about Angela was that she was full of contradictions. Even though she's a tough, intelligent, disciplined woman, she also has these kind of shady, selfish qualities. At the same time, she was full of longing that she would cover up. She's a messy character, and I like that. Angela and I are very similar in our intellect, but I'm way more of a goofball and lighthearted. And I have a much more strict sense of morality, you know? [Laughs]
Our TV critic, Megan Angelo, wrote an essay in Glamour's March issue about the demise of the evil mistress on TV[1]. So many "other women" on TV now aren't being treated as these one-dimensional characters defined by this one terrible deed. I like that what Angela is doing doesn't define her.
Loren: What's also interesting to look at is, well, how does a young, smart, capable, intelligent woman with good self-esteem find herself in that situation? [Her relationship with love] is very childlike, and it's full of projection and fantasy. That happens to so many women. She chooses to follow the laws of her heart, but she's not a victim about it.
Even though her love life is a mess, Angela is otherwise really successful. What's your definition of success?
Loren: I don't feel like I've ever subscribed to the stereotypical notion of success. I've always equated success with having integrity, conducting yourself with compassion and honesty, and following your heart despite whether or not you ever make any money at it. Doing the right thing doesn't necessarily mean that you'll have success by society's standards.
That makes sense. Have you felt successful or do you feel successful now?
Loren: Who are these people that walk around and feel successful? I walk around and I'm like, "Oh, thank God. I made it under the door by the hair on my chinny-chin-chin." Before Power, I got down to $86 in my bank account. I don't know if I feel successful as much as I feel relieved because for the first time in my life I'm not scared about how I'm going to pay my rent, and I can start to put money away.
Gina Rodriguez made a comment recently about Latino actors coming together in a sense and being indiscriminate in the nationality of the characters they choose to play[2]. You're Mexican-American, but you play a Puerto Rican character. I was wondering what your thoughts were on that.
Loren: I'm mixed race—my dad's Caucasian, and my mom's Mexican—so I want to play anything and everything, from American to Latino, the whole spectrum, because I'm insatiable like that. Speaking to [Gina's] comment, I think maybe what she means is, "Don't limit yourself." My whole thing is, "Sure, don't limit yourself, but get the character right." You want the dialect that's appropriate to the character you're playing. If you're a character that's supposed to be Cuban, speaking with a Mexican accent or vice-versa grates on me and immediately pulls me out of the story. So, I don't think Latino actors should limit themselves, but I don't think that's an excuse to not get the dialect correct.
Is there anything you can tell us about what to look forward to in this upcoming season?
Loren: Ooh, there's so much stuff. If you loved first season, second season is just going to ratchet all of that up. I'd say the first season lays out the chessboard; in the second season, you see a lot of that play out. Second season, particularly for Angela, is a season of consequences. For Ghost, it's a season of, "how's he going to navigate all of this?" Tasha shows a very fascinating side that I think will surprise a lot of people. Whenever I listen to Naturi, I'm always like, "Oh, that's so good!"
I feel like Angela...I was going to say, "Angela and Tasha are my two favorite characters," but then I was like, "I can't say my character is one of my favorite!" [Laughs]. But that's what excited me [about the show]—all the women were fleshed out.
Photos: Starz Entertainment
References
- ^ the demise of the evil mistress on TV (www.glamour.com)
- ^ being indiscriminate in the nationality of the characters they choose to play (variety.com)
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