Laverne Cox went on Late Night with Seth Meyers to talk about entering the mind of her character, Sophia Burset on Orange Is the New Black, when she’s locked up in solitary confinement or, Security Housing Unit (SHU).
Cox says the role was definitely a challenging one, and one she put in “a tremendous amount of research” into as she was well aware that lots of people who are serving time in prison serve time in solitary confinement, “particularly transgender women who are often serving their time in men’s prison.”
The “psychological and emotional” effects of this were difficult to completely shake and Cox admits that while it went well, she “would leave feeling kind of depressed and suicidal.” Thankfully, she had professionals to call about this. “Sometimes as an actor you can’t leave the job at the job,” she says.
The two also go into Sophia’s transition story and past as a firefighter, with Cox pointing out that it’s a common phenomenon for trans women to enter masculine professions before they transition. While this is very separate from Cox’s story, Meyers points out, “I think it’s nice as well, to remind us all there are different stories of how people make that transition.”
The host also bring up some photos from Cox’s London trip not too long ago, and the two bond over a shared love of James Bond film, particularly those of the late Roger Moore. “I am a huge James Bond fan so when we were driving around I totally felt like I was in a James Bond film,” gushes the actress, “Maybe I was May Day from A View to Kill or Halle Berry’s character.” To lots of applause, she adds, “I’ve always sort of imagined I could be a Bond Girl, you could see that right? So I was living out my Bond fantasy.”
(image: screencap)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
