Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Miss Lawrence on how they became Billie Holiday's glam squad

By Marah Eakin  |  March 2, 2021 | 3:00pm
Film Features Billie Holiday

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It can take a village to give your favorite celebrity their special je ne sais quoi. Someone like Lady Gaga has hairstylists and trainers and assistants and drivers and makeup artists—plus dog walkers, songwriters, and whatever else. And while those teams have certainly gotten bigger over the years—social media wranglers, anyone?—even people like Billie Holiday needed friends and helpers on the road just to help them get by.

In Hulu’s new movie The United States Vs. Billie Holiday, the singer’s glam squad roles are ably filled by High Fidelity’s Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Real Housewives Of Atlanta mainstay Miss Lawrence, who play Holiday’s longtime friends and stylists. They also act as Holiday’s occasional punching bags and drug buddies, but are with the singer through thick and thin.

In the video above, we talked to Randolph and Miss Lawrence about the real people they’re portraying and the Holiday songs that grew on them while they were making the movie. And if you like that video, there’s more! In the video below, we catch up with Evan Ross and Garrett Hedlund to talk about their roles as the film’s dogged (and, in Ross’ character’s case, debased) federal agents. Ross even lets us in on what he knew about Holiday before the movie, given that his mother, the Diana Ross, previously portrayed the icon in Lady Sings The Blues.

The United States Vs. Billie Holiday is available to stream now on Hulu.

 
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