1
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- If you were to die...
- Mm-hmm.

2
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And you were
to come back as anything,

3
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what would it be?

4
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I would come back as a
wealthy, powerful white man,

5
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and I would start a movement
to dismantle patriarchy.

6
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Have you ever wondered
how to find your center?

7
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How to balance yourself?

8
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I don't have a fucking clue.

9
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But let me tell you,
I think Miss Tessa Thompson just may.

10
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We're gonna take a journey to figure out

11
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how she does that little
balancing act of hers.

12
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Welcome to "Centerpiece"!

13
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Thank you so much.

14
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This is like
the inner workings of my brain

15
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manifested as a set.

16
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It's like the garden of your mind.

17
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Yeah!
Oh, my God!

18
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And now, let's take
a journey to the center!

19
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So, what kind of flowers are you drawn to?

20
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I really like succulents.

21
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I also love this idea
of something that's beautiful,

22
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but hard to touch or something.

23
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Oh, a prickly.

24
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A prickly guy.
I like the prickly guys.

25
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Okay.
Like kind of like these.

26
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You know, they don't look like they're--

27
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They're bottlebrush.
They're gorgeous, but they--

28
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they bring you in,
but they also say, like,

29
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you know, "Give me my space."

30
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Okay, now let's get into this

31
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'cause I think this is talking
about something here.

32
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I like that.

33
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Like I feel there's
this balance to you.

34
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As I see you in things, I feel
like you have a sense of, like,

35
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"I'm letting you in,"

36
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but I'm also like, "Not too much."

37
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So I think the same thing
about characters in a way.

38
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So, maybe that's my approach a little bit

39
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is that I want to open up enough

40
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to let the audience see everything

41
00:02:04,750 --> 00:02:06,750
and also realize
that there are some things

42
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inside the character that I play

43
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that are hidden even to myself.

44
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Oh.
Because we are just...

45
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- Complex.
- Endless.

46
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The projects that you pick

47
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I feel like they forward
that conversation.

48
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So, I'm wondering
how do you pick a project?

49
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I've been working now
for over a decade,

50
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and when I first started,

51
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there was a such a limited scope
of what you could be

52
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as a young black woman,

53
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in terms of what Hollywood
wanted you to be.

54
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- And that is just true.
- 100%

55
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Like I want to be able
to occupy a lot of spaces

56
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because that's something
that we haven't been able to do enough.

57
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What I'm hearing, if I may,

58
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is there's like a fluidity
to, like, how you work,

59
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and there's a freedom to that fluidity.

60
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Are those your Libra vibes?

61
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- You like that?
- I love that.

62
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Maybe.

63
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And now, let's go deep.

64
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Dramatic lighting change.

65
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Spring or Summer?

66
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Spring.

67
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Sister, Sister

68
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- or "Moesha"?
- "Moesha"!

69
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I know.
Moe to the...

70
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"E" to the Moesha!

71
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DC or Marvel?

72
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Sir...

73
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they'll come for me.

74
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But, no. Marvel, sincerely.

75
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Not just 'cause if I said the other,

76
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they'd, like, fly down and...

77
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Hemsworth or Michael B?

78
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Oh, my God. Both.

79
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- You've been busy.
- I know.

80
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It's a lot of work.

81
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But I just mean
if you could meld them.

82
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All in one.

83
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And lastly, probably the most
important question,

84
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if you were to describe me as a flower,

85
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what would I be?

86
00:03:57,362 --> 00:03:59,162
You know like those, um...

87
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they're, like, blue and
there's a little white part,

88
00:04:02,075 --> 00:04:05,035
and then there's these little
black squiggly things

89
00:04:05,078 --> 00:04:06,538
that come out of it.

90
00:04:06,580 --> 00:04:08,330
Is it a passion flower?
Oh, my God!

91
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- I'm totally there for that!
- Yeah!

92
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You stay here.
I'll be back.

93
00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:13,420
Or maybe you'll join me later,
I'm not sure.

94
00:04:13,462 --> 00:04:15,092
- But we'll figure it out, okay?
- Okay, great.

95
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It's so good to see you, all right?

96
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- Have a good one.
- Bye, Maurice.

97
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All right.
Bye!

98
00:04:19,635 --> 00:04:21,795
See you.
I'll just be here.

99
00:04:22,804 --> 00:04:26,024
Girl, it's time to process.

100
00:04:26,892 --> 00:04:30,192
Tessa talked about complexity
and simplicity.

101
00:04:30,229 --> 00:04:34,319
And that's what I'm working through
as I'm building her installation.

102
00:04:34,358 --> 00:04:39,488
I mean, she exudes balance
and boundlessness...

103
00:04:39,530 --> 00:04:43,160
stillness, but yet there's
still some motion.

104
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Light, and she still engages the darkness.

105
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Her centerpiece is going to embody it all

106
00:04:51,542 --> 00:04:54,672
and the vast array of who she is.

107
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Or at least I hope so.

108
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Are you ready for this?

109
00:05:03,220 --> 00:05:05,510
No, I don't know if I am.
I just got--I don't know.

110
00:05:05,556 --> 00:05:08,556
Like nervous, excited.

111
00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:10,850
You've been so generous

112
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giving us, like, opening up,

113
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sharing with us about balance and energies

114
00:05:16,191 --> 00:05:18,441
and openness and endlessness

115
00:05:18,485 --> 00:05:22,695
that I was like, "How do I synthesize this

116
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in the form of a flower arrangement?"

117
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Cue the curtain!

118
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Oh, my God!

119
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Wow!

120
00:05:35,919 --> 00:05:38,919
We chose this area 'cause
it was vast and endless.

121
00:05:38,964 --> 00:05:42,094
It represents how we just
go on in our complexities,

122
00:05:42,134 --> 00:05:43,974
but it's also very simple.

123
00:05:44,011 --> 00:05:45,391
- Yeah.
- And spare.

124
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- She spins around if you want it to.
- She--does she really?

125
00:05:48,557 --> 00:05:50,677
Yeah, spin her.
Give her a whirl.

126
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Oh, she's cool.
She's mobile.

127
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- Isn't that amazing?
- Yeah, it's incredible.

128
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I could live, like,
really just live here

129
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- for the rest of my life.
- It's all right?

130
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Yeah, it's beautiful.

131
00:06:02,196 --> 00:06:04,736
It's better than all right.
Look at it.

132
00:06:04,781 --> 00:06:07,411
When you present yourself,
you're always so, like,

133
00:06:07,451 --> 00:06:09,371
you take up risk.

134
00:06:09,411 --> 00:06:13,871
You kind of have a moment,
but it's still so beautifully composed.

135
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Like I just love that.

136
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I mean, like, you're serving me hair.

137
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You're giving me drama.
You're giving me leather.

138
00:06:19,922 --> 00:06:22,172
You're giving me lace, basically.

139
00:06:22,216 --> 00:06:24,126
- Also, we matched this.
- Well, you know.

140
00:06:24,176 --> 00:06:27,256
And it sort of looks
like a dance floor.

141
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Get it double time!

142
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Got--got--got to go!

143
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- Bye!
-  Bye. Out.

144
00:06:54,289 --> 00:06:55,419
- Thank you.
- See you soon, okay?

145
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- Love you!
- Bye!