Home » , » Billy Dee Williams On Star Wars, Femininity, and Using Both Male and Female Pronouns

Billy Dee Williams On Star Wars, Femininity, and Using Both Male and Female Pronouns

No comments
Billy Dee Williams in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Photo via Lucasfilm)

“Be Yourself,” Billy Dee Williams told Esquire’s Matt Miller in a recent interview. “I never tried to be anything except myself.”

Billy Dee Williams has charmed audiences since Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back first released in 1980. As Lando Calrissian, the suave, smooth-talking actor first appears in this film as one of the few tricksters in Star Wars able to outplay Han Solo. Later, in Return of the Jedi, he plays a central role in destroying the second Death Star, becoming a proper hero and arguably doing more to end the threat of the Empire than Luke Skywalker. With Williams’ Mid-Atlantic accent, the intelligent, heroic Lando commands an almost royal presence on screen, breaking boundaries in the sci-fi genre as a pivotal, named black character with unquestioned agency. As Williams explained to Miller, “The Rock calls me the OG. What I presented on that screen people didn’t expect to see. And I deliberately presented something that nobody had experienced before: a romantic brown-skinned boy.”

Now, Williams is breaking barriers again by revealing the he uses both male and female pronouns and sees himself as having both feminine and masculine sides. “I think of myself as a relatively colorful character who doesn’t take himself or herself too seriously,” he told Miller. “And you see I say ‘himself’ and ‘herself,’ because I also see myself as feminine as well as masculine. I’m a very soft person. I’m not afraid to show that side of myself.”

This isn’t out-of-the-blue for Williams. Though he is most well-known for his role as Lando Calrissian, he told Miller that he is most proud of his role as Gale Sayer in the 1971 movie Brian’s Song, which was nominated for an Emmy for its story about two football players who were roommates and dealing with the impact of segregation on their interracial friendship. “It was a love story, really,” Williams explained. “Between two guys. Without sex. It ended up being a kind of breakthrough in terms of racial division.”

While Williams never explicitly applies a genderfluid or non-binary label to himself in the interview, many younger fans have found solace in his embrace of femininity, seeing it as part of a sea change for general views of gender. At 82 years old, Williams words help prove that seeing beyond the gender binary is not a new trend, even if he doesn’t use the same language to describe himself as younger people.

Williams himself also seems plenty happy to support younger generations reading his work as queer. When Miller told Williams about Donald Glover and screenwriter Jonathan Kasdan’s decision to interpret Lando as pansexual in 2018’s Solo, he lit up. “Really? That kid is brilliant- just look at those videos,” he explained, referencing Glover’s music videos under his rapper name Childish Gambino.

Williams has been a present figure in the Star Wars community throughout his career, plenty happy to offer encouraging words to fans and appear as both himself and as Lando in parodies since. True to his word, he doesn’t take himself too seriously, and is happy to joke about his character.

Williams will reprise his role as Lando in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker later this month, sure to bring his charm with him and help further push the boundary he cracked in the ‘80s, much like how Carrie Fisher’s take on General Leia in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi has strengthened the character as an icon for women in leadership.

Read the full interview on Esquire to dive into Williams’ thoughts on fashion, on-set drama during the original trilogy, and Lando’s future going forward. Peace and love, baby.



from Geek.com https://ift.tt/2sINRYx
via IFTTT

0 comments:

Post a Comment