How Lee Daniels Drew on His Own Life to Shape Empire, TV's Surprise Hit

Scratch the surface of Fox's monster hit drama Empire and you'll find a whole lot of truths that are based on the experiences of Lee Daniels, who created the series with his partner, Danny Strong. Just as fictional hip-hop artist Jamal Lyon was beaten as a child by his homophobic father, so, too, was Daniels, who serves as Empire's executive producer, writer and sometimes director. (Unlike Lucious Lyon, Empire's father figure and head of a powerful music company—portrayed with steely-eyed grit by actor Terrence Howard—Daniels' father was a Philadelphia cop.) Daniels' work has won fans and awards. Photo: Sheryl Nields The show's most popular character, stiletto-heeled Cookie (Taraji Henson), got some of her kick-ass qualities from Daniels' "corrupt politician" grandmother and his drug-dealing sister. Then, there's Daniels' mother, who once beat him with a broom for misbehaving, just as Cookie beat her son Hakeem. Daniels shared these stories and much more in a recent interview with Adweek. Notably, he discussed the "trauma" he experienced creating the series for Fox, which involved a far different process than he had as maker of such movies as Monster's Ball, Precious and The Butler. Adweek: How hard was it to sell Empire? Did it take a while for you and Danny Strong to feel the Fox love? Lee Daniels: No. There was a bidding war. Isn't that crazy? We were red hot, Danny and I, coming off The Butler. We love working together. He wanted to do it as a film and I wanted to make money, so I saw it as a TV show. After The Butler, I was blown away by the amount of people who saw the story. It touched so many people's lives. So I thought, wow, what would happen if we told the story in people's homes? Did you feel right from the start that it was going to be such a hit? No. I don't pay much attention to numbers. I'm so busy working that I don't come out of my bubble to know the insanity and the "Cookie-mania." I'm nervous about what my next episode is going to be, or what my next season is going to be like. I don't read reviews unless my publicist tells me, "You really should take a look at this." I don't want it to affect the work. But when I finally did come up for air, I turned to my mother and said, "Mom, what do you make of this?" And she said, "Well, you know, when you did your first movie [Monster's Ball], you got that girl [Halle Berry] an Academy Award. And that made history. So where else are you going to go from there?" So now you're working on a biographical film about Richard Pryor? Yes. And I'm simultaneously writing another TV show. Do you see yourself as eventually becoming a Dick Wolf or Shonda Rhimes, with lots of series on the air at the same time? Empire was a very traumatic experience for me. It was very schizophrenic, and it wasn't what I expected it to be. I think I've learned to become a better filmmaker because you have to make decisions immediately. You don't have time to ponder. And if you don't make those decisions, there are 80 people that will. And all 80 people have a say so. That, in itself, was shocking to my system. I have a very specific way of working. I've never done a studio movie, let alone worked for a network. Every one of my films has been independently financed. I've been responsible for every frame that you see—and now I've got these people to talk to [laughs]. I had no intentions of going back [to television after Empire]. But I must be a masochist because once I looked at the success and all the people that were affected by it, I thought, OK, maybe the next time it will be easier. I don't profess to be Shonda Rhimes by any stretch of the imagination, or Dick Wolf. They're icons. I'm a filmmaker. They've really done something and I guess I have, too, but I don't see myself as astute, with a body of [TV] work like those two people. I've been talking with people about Empire and other shows on TV that feature people of color, and there seems to be a sense that we're moving into a new era where TV is much more inclusive of multicultural talent. Really? I can't tell you what excites me more, that I get my stories told [with Empire]—they're 80 percent of the show—or to look out in my writers room and see a roomful of African Americans. I think with Empire, we've been able to touch Hollywood in a way it hasn't been touched before. And that's the kind of shit I can take to my grave. What about the 80 percent? It's just part of the process. I can't direct every episode. I'd be batshit if I did. I directed two episodes. Then I had to go write Richard Pryor. The 20 percent is a roomful of writers. Those are not all my words up there. They're my ideas, but not all my words, and I'm not on the ground directing. Everybody has a different interpretation of my words. The pilot is 100 percent me; the first episode is 99 percent me. But the actors understand the world that Danny and I created, and that's key. Speaking of actors, Terrence Howard is riveting as Lucious Lyon. Who is his character based on? Many shades of me. I can't create anything that I haven't lived. He's a lot a bit of my dad, and the entrepreneurs that I've grown to know. He's a lot a bit of Berry Gordy, a lot a bit of Joe Kennedy. When you think of the Kennedys, they are the American dream. Joe was bootlegging and doing all sorts of shady shit, and he produced the president of the United States. What about Cookie? You're a part of her, obviously, but what about your mom? No. Although I do call her the original Cookie. Hmmm. It's so hard to explain. The broom beating happened. That was my mother. What did you do to deserve that? I used to roller skate, and I would climb onto this tree and go out on this branch and go flying out into the middle of the street. And my mother said, "You're going to break your arm." I kept doing it, and I broke my arm. I thought the world stopped. I had a cast and I felt so special. Daniels says he can't create anything he hasn't lived. Photo: Sheryl Nields When you have a lot of siblings, you always do something to feel special. I was beating my sisters up—I was a total jerk. I would always hold my cast up in front of me when my mother would go to slap me. And one day I held my cast up and she had a broom and she went for me [laughs]. I called the police, and the police came. Back in those days, it wasn't the same. My mother told the police, "I suggest that you take him now, because [if you don't] when you come back—and you will come back—he's going to be in a body bag." So yes, my mother's a little bit of Cookie, but really my grandmother is Cookie, [as is] my sister. My grandmother was a corrupt politician in the '60s. She had many of the judges in her pocket in Philadelphia—and she carried a gun. She would get blacks to come out and vote. And my sister was a drug dealer, as many of my friends were. It was the only way we knew how to make a living—that or robbing the system that we lived in. That's the world we lived in. People deny what's going on in Baltimore. I'm so blessed living the life I live, you know? My work reminds me—it makes me never forget. And I mustn't forget. The minute that success gets to me, then I'm lost. I've done everything I can to make sure my kids don't have to worry or be hungry or be in the same place that I was. And I regret that now because I don't think my son realizes that he's black. He's 19, and he doesn't realize that he's a black man in America. What do you mean? What do you regret in raising him? Ignoring why taxis weren't picking us up, … just shooting by us in New York City. And shielding him from the truth. It's politically incorrect to talk about racism in Hollywood. But that's not the real world. That's not 90 percent of America. And people think that we've got Obama in and things have changed. In fact, I think that only inflamed things. Well, one of the great aspects of Empire is that it shows African Americans in true seats of power. Yeah. The only issue I have with the show is the push-back I've gotten from African Americans on the depiction of the drug thing. I just tell my truth in my world. And I'm not going to lie to placate the masses. Photography: Sheryl Nields; Grooming: Roxanne Saffaie; Styling: Nonja Mckenzie/Opus Beauty; Set Design: Nathan Carden

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How Lee Daniels Drew on His Own Life to Shape Empire, TV's Surprise Hit

The creative force tells us what he's learned and what's next

Janet Stilson

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Janet Stilson