Exclusive: Sherri Shepherd Talks Leading Role In Robin Roberts Presents Angel in the Rubble: The Genelle Guzman Story
Premiering Saturday, September 12 at 8/7c on Lifetime is Robin Roberts Presents Angel in the Rubble: The Genelle Guzman Story, starring Sherri Shepherd and Dondré Whitfield. Manu Boyer directs from a script written by Robert Eisele.
Blackfilmandtv.com spoke to Sherri Shepherd on her portrayal as Genelle Guzman.
What led you to take on this role in this story?
Sherri Shepherd: When they came to me, it just it because Genelle, through this experience of you know being the last survivor of 911, but being buried alive for 27 hours, and finding her faith in God, that really got me as a woman of faith. I just was like, wow, and wanting to honor all of the folks who may have lost a loved one in 911, I just was like, yeah, I think the story needs to be told.
How much time did you spend with her to get an essence as to who she is, so that way, when people see your portrayal of her, they know they got that you got it right.
Sherri Shepherd: Right. It just I spent um I spent a few it's about five hours with Genelle and just getting a sense of who she is. She has a lot of life. She went through some devastation. I got to spend a lot of time with Genelle, and despite everything that she went through, wow, she's a woman of faith, of strong faith. She's a woman of resilience, and also she went for survivors, survivors' remorse. So really digging into that and how you felt you could go on when you lost your best friend, your colleagues. There was a lot to glean from Genelle's story when I spent time with her. It was, and that's hard doing somebody who is still alive. Being able to bring life to survive their story and portray it accurately. But she had so many different facets of her life that I could glean from. I hope that answered the question.
When it comes to a movie, there's some liberties that have to be taken for dramatic purposes and so forth. So when you're watching this movie, as I watched it, obviously after being trapped for hours, how much of the Paul aspect, as well as the aspect of her and her husband having issues, come into play? Was that real?
Sherri Shepherd: No, no, it wasn't for dramatic purposes at all, but it was really meant to show that expected this to happen. This was but one person, but it was every person. You got up, even you. Like you said, you were there. You remember what happened. You up on that day, like the day before and the day after it would be. So I think what they wanted to show was this was every other day. Everybody had an issue going on. In Janelle's case, it was always trying to see her daughter. It really was her her real life husband. He was at the time. That is who Dondre Whitfield was playing. Roger. That was her boyfriend at the time. At the time, they were having issues. Janelle wasn't trying to do being. She came out here to the United States because she dreams. She said when I talked to her, she said I was wanting a party. Like I was young, I was in the United States. I wanted to go out and escape. Robin and Gary, she get married, you know, and so they were having their issues. So no, there wasn't no embellishment. But I think it also went to show people it just was an average day when something extraordinary, extraordinarily tragic happened and changed everybody's words.
Where were you at the time when it happened?
Sherri Shepherd: I was L.A. and I remember being on the couch. I think I was maybe watching one of the daytime shows. Oh, what happened? And I said, "Is this a joke? Is this like somebody? I forgot what the show was where they tricked me. Is this an episode of that? Because not, I had nothing to compare to. I had no frame of reference for this. So I watched in shock with everybody else, and walked outside to ask my neighbors, "Did you see what I saw? Was this real? So I can't even imagine what folks like you went through being actually there. My assistant said, "Sherri, I worked down there. I had to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge just to get home. I had to go and do stand up. Maybe when they opened up the airlines, we had one comedy show, but it sold out four more shows, which showed that people to release. They needed to find some type something that was normal. Flew and we did the comedy show. It was like five shows we ended up doing, just because we knew people needed to laugh, it was devastating.
Did you want to add anything to your performance that was outside of the script?
Sherri Shepherd: Probably, I wanted to add the Trinidadian accent. Genelle was from Trinidad, as was her boyfriend Roger. We ended up agreeing that we would not put an accent in there, but you know, just to show she was very proud of her culture, so I didn't get to do that. And of course, you look at the movie afterwards and you say, "Oh, maybe I should have done this, maybe I should have done that. But in the moment, those were the decisions that I made, and I stand by them. So I try not to critique myself too hard.
Now I got to get up the guts to ask Genelle what she thought of my performance. Because I took what she said and been my spirit, and then I added what I thought this might be. There was a floor. My I fell into the floor, and I looked at my colleague because we just really knew that we were going to die, and it was that look that we gave each other that maybe Genelle didn't have a chance to do in real life with her coworker, but do it in in the in the movie where we looked at each other and that realization hit. But it was just really something about it just being an ordinary day, and you having to make that phone call to your loved ones to say goodbye, to say tell my daughter I love her. That just had to go through, and what other other people that that that happened to had to go through.
You've acted before. I've seen a lot of work. Obviously, you had your talk show. You've been on front of the camera for a long time. But when you do a movie like this, where you're number one on the call sheet, and a lot of it rests on your friends, what's your takeaway after the production was done that helps you?
Sherri Shepherd: Because so many people know me as a comedian, and I don't really get the opportunities to go in for dramas like I would like, I think comedians make very good dramatic actors: Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, just exactly Steve Martin, you know Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, Kat Williams. So able to be able to tap into that part of me, I'm very grateful to Tyler Perry, who put me in Straw, to Robin Roberts, Lifetime, who casted me in the Genelle Guzman story, Angel in the Rubble. So, what do I take with me? I now it's because I'm doing this more. It's easier to access those emotions that I have to have access. Doesn't take as long because this is something I don't really get to do often, so I really kind of do move back. So I've learned how to access the emotions quicker, and also to let go of them quicker. I'm not. I'm not a method actor where it's like I got to hang on to this stuff for six months and then get divorced because now I'm I'm you know won't allow any other feelings to come in.
On another note, congrats on playing the Genie in Aladdin, the first woman on Broadway to play this role. Did they come to you?
Sherri Shepherd: Oh my goodness! I remember being a little girl seeing Stephanie Mills do the Wiz, and I just remember she said, "When I think of a place, I think of home. And I saw the effect of the crowd, and I had my patent leather Mary Janes on, my little Bobby socks, and everybody thinking I want to do this, I want to do that, and she planted a seed within me as a little girl, and to know that I'll be able to get on that stage, and you always see the little girls dressed as Princess Jasmine, but to know that little girls now will be dressed as the Genie, oh my gosh! To be able to plant that seed in a young child's heart and mind that maybe they want to do what I do is, and and maybe they might think of wow, the Genie granted wishes. Maybe I could do that too. Maybe you know, thinking outside of the box. Maybe I could run for president. Maybe I could own this architectural firm just from when I saw Miss Sherri play the Genie, so I'm very excited.
