Da’Vine Joy Randolph is a riot. When I walk into the 37-year-old, Philadelphia-born actor’s London hotel room, she’s sitting on a sofa and dressed in a silky teal cocktail dress—except I can barely see it because she has a giant white duvet pulled up to her waist. “It was up to her chin,” her publicist tells me, as Randolph shoots me a grin. “But we were like, it’s Vogue… so let’s lower it slightly.”
I sympathize: It’s mid-January, the time when absolutely no one wants to get out of bed—but also, Randolph has barely had a second to rest since the year began. For her heartwarming, dryly funny, wonderfully nuanced supporting performance in Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers, she’s so far collected a Golden Globe and a Critics’ Choice Award, and looks poised to win the SAG Award and Oscar, too. There’s already been an endless stream of red carpets, awards ceremonies, interviews, luncheons, and screenings to attend, and there will be plenty more before the Academy Awards on March 10.
Those who’ve watched her give speeches from various podiums in 2024 but are unfamiliar with her previous work might assume that she’s an overnight success, but, in fact, she’s anything but. She was originally a classically trained opera singer who switched to musical thester, attended the Yale School of Drama, and took Broadway by storm over a decade ago, earning a Tony nomination for her role in Ghost: the Musical. Since then, she’s racked up memorable onscreen parts in everything from This Is Us and High Fidelity to Dolemite Is My Name, The United States vs. Billie Holiday, and, most recently, both Rustin and Only Murders in the Building (the latter alongside fellow Yalie Meryl Streep).
Her latest part—Mary Lamb, the head of the cafeteria at a boarding school in snowy ’70s New England who, while processing the loss of her young son who was serving in Vietnam, finds herself spending Christmas with a curmudgeonly professor (Paul Giamatti) and a left-behind student (Dominic Sessa)—is the culmination of years of hard work, and the biggest showcase the actor has had to date. A different film might have relegated her, a sharp-tongued, chain-smoking cynic with a heart of gold, to the sidelines, but in Randolph’s hands and under Payne’s direction she’s a fully formed, thrillingly lived-in character—someone who is still mired in grief, but trudging on regardless; someone who can make you laugh as easily as she can make you weep.
More than anything, it’s the level of detail in Randolph’s performance that is striking—how she moves her arms as she smokes, or the finishing touches in her intricate costumes—and it’s something that’s present in everything she does. In the 25 or so minutes that she and I spend together, she’s overflowing with references, frequently handing her phone over to me excitedly to show me a moodboard for her onscreen hair and make-up look, or a clip from an Old Hollywood classic that inspired a red-carpet outfit. For her, the work never stops. It’s the reason that (barring catastrophe), when she finally walks up to that Oscar podium, I know her speech will be as well considered as her dress.
Here, the actor speaks to us about cooking for real on the set, the most surreal moment of her awards season to date (it involves The Rock), and why she won’t be watching on Oscar nominations morning.
Vogue: You’ve said that, in the past, you’ve been offered parts that haven’t felt fully realized. Tell me why Mary felt so different.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph: There’s been a shift as I’ve been working, but I don’t know if being offered this part was, like, I’m ascending, or if I just happened to get a really good script [laughs]. I still wonder: As I continue my career, is the writing going to get better, or was this just a very unique situation? But Mary—it was just so exciting to play her, because she was fully realized and fleshed out, and that doesn’t happen often. And then, as we were working, the director and the writer [David Hemingson] were open to continuing to make her even more fleshed out and realized. There was no mansplaining and nothing, culturally, that didn’t get asked. I was shocked. I thought that they’d be telling me, like, this is what she does.
Do you remember a moment when you spoke to them about something you thought should be different?
I remember a couple. One thing we talked about was: were we going to address the elephant in the room that is this time period, the ’70s, and racism and segregation and all that stuff? In the end, we realized that just by her being onscreen, you get it, you know? Literally, she’s like a walking billboard of it—in the best and in the saddest way possible. So, we didn’t have to state the obvious. The other thing I remember is that Alexander wanted me to have curlers in my hair for most of the movie. I was like, “She’s not… that’s like you showed up to work in pajamas.” And I don’t think that was what he wanted to go for, though I did understand this sense of seeing her have moments when her guard was down. I was like, “Sure, let’s find a place where that works, but to do it throughout the entire movie? No—she’s working.” And he got it, he understood.
I heard that once you signed on, he sent you two cartons of cigarettes?
He did. At first I was nervous, but I was ready to do it because, from the scripts, I could tell that everything was just so real, and that if we didn’t really do it, you would be able to tell and it would be a giveaway. I knew the smoking was going to look fake if I didn’t practice, so I wanted to make it look natural. My theory about Mary is that she’s always been a smoker. It’s also something that’s very of the period. But now she’s smoking a little bit more and drinking a little bit more than she used to, and that’s part of her vice. After a long day she likes to cuddle up and watch TV with a cigarette—it’s part of her Netflix and chill, if you will. And the way she smokes is very loose. It dangles from her hand or her mouth. It’s like another appendage.
I read that you also prepared for the part by making a lookbook of ’70s hairstyles?
Oh yeah. So I have different shared albums that I always make. [Hands me her phone with the lookbook open.] This is the Mary Lamb hair inspo—it’s 38 pictures. You have Phyllis Hyman from her album cover; Diana Ross when she does that hair flip; and Lenny Kravitz’s mom, Roxie Roker, who was on The Jeffersons. These inspired Mary’s flip.
And what about Mary’s costumes? What do they say about her?
She’s very well put together, she carries herself well, and she cares about how she’s perceived. I think as a woman of color that matters a lot. You’re already walking out the door and potentially facing so much judgement and negativity. So her clothes, her hair, her make-up are part of her armor. I especially love her outfit for that Christmas party. We spent a lot of time creating that look.
I also love when her hair is down—when she goes to her sister’s, we decided that she’d literally and figuratively let her hair down. I have on this beautiful dark denim blouse with this green and navy plaid pencil skirt. It’s nice and stiff and of the times. I also asked wardrobe to please put me in period undergarments, because they feel very different—especially bras. They’re stiffer, more pointy, like a cone shape, and that’s a little uncomfortable because you’re just stuffed in there. They don’t really have underwire, but they like that shape. I guess that was attractive, I don’t know [laughs].
And then my shoes, I made sure they were dated. She wears these kind of nurse, orthopaedic white shoes, and moccasins, and these little kitten heels with her blue dress. Those details help me. I don’t know if it’s because I love fashion or because I started in theater. In theater, even in rehearsal, you’re in some kind of mock-up of what you’ll be wearing, so I need to have that—it’s like sensory for me and it helps especially for period pieces. You put on heels and you walk differently, you sit up more. You can’t fake that. Or like wearing tights. I haven’t worn stockings since high school. You have that and you’re constantly yanking them up. All that stuff is just great stuff to make the character come alive even more.
Another thing you did to get into character was that you cooked for real on this set. What did you make?
To me, that was necessary because, again like the smoking, you’d be able to tell if it wasn’t real. I needed people to see that this was a job—there’s a difference when you’re hired to do something and when you’re dictated to do something; it’s like being the chef versus the help. It was imperative for me to show people that this lady’s trained, she knows what she’s doing, this is something she’s passionate about. I like to see my characters being good at what they do, unless it’s stated otherwise, obviously. It’s important. Why would you not? So, I made oatmeal, a chicken noodle vegetable soup, and even the Christmas dinner which we ate. When we were shooting, the series Julia about Julia Child was filming in Boston, so their food props department came to our set and between us we cooked all these different dishes. It was great.
Cooking is something Mary seems to be using to get through her grief. How do you balance the melancholy and the humor in her?
I think you need it. That’s life, and we didn’t want her to be stereotypical in any way. And Alexander was great when it came to maintaining the tone and making sure that we were constantly adjusting the dial, moment to moment, scene to scene, so that it was an authentic and real depiction of grief.
You’ve had an incredible awards season so far—you’ve won the Golden Globe, the Critics’ Choice Award, and so many other critics’ prizes. How has all this awards attention felt?
Very surreal. I’m very grateful and I’m just trying to take it one step at a time. It can be very overwhelming. It’s just really, really wild.
What’s been most surreal about it so far?
You’re just seeing very famous people every weekend, and you’re like, Oh, there’s so and so. It’s bizarre. And then if they come up to you and give you a compliment? It’s just so weird. Like I went to a party last week and Emily Blunt was there. She’s been very kind and sweet and vocal about the film. She texts me—it’s crazy. I’m texting Emily Blunt. And she and The Rock did that Disney movie together, so she introduced me to him. He was like, “I haven’t seen The Holdovers yet, but Emily raves about you.” And I’m like, “What?” Not only is Emily aware of me but she’s spoken about me to this man? And he’s here talking to me? I’m deceased.
What’s the secret to getting through awards season with your health and sanity intact?
You need a good publicist. My publicist knows me very well. She knows when I’m like… flagging. Yo, fatigue is a crazy thing. I get why people in war use sleep deprivation as a tactic. You need good people around you that you trust, people who know your limits, who know time management. And it’s also important to smell the roses at some point. Like, Wow, we’re here. Because I wasn’t here before and now I am. I’m trying really hard to be in the moment. There’s gonna be some years when I’m working and I’m not here, but then I’ll have these moments to look back on.
Talk to me about red carpet dressing. I heard that you make lookbooks for your red-carpet looks, too. What’s been the inspiration behind them?
Honestly, I wanna give international movie star vibes. I like things that are timeless. It’s half of the reason why I watch a lot of old movies. I’ll pause movies and screenshot things and then send it to my stylist like, “I really love this neckline.” Because, in my opinion, how they designed back then? Wow. That’s when movies were like: “And Audrey Hepburn is wearing Givenchy.” And you’re like, “Damn! For the whole movie?”
What films have you screenshotted from recently?
What a Way to Go! with Shirley MacLaine. There’s a sequence in it that’s unreal, when she’s getting out of cars and going to different parties. [Hands me her phone with the video.] They just don’t do stuff like this anymore. Prepare to have your mind blown.
That’s amazing. Finally, how are you feeling as we approach the Oscars? Will you be watching on nominations morning?
I will not be watching. I’m gonna wake up and my publicist is gonna call me. That’s what I’m gonna do—people think I’m playing. [Da’Vine’s publicist says, “She won’t even let me say when they are. She has no idea.”] Actually, I do know [laughs]. She told me by accident, but in general I don’t like to know because I’m not gonna sleep and I’ll be worried. [Da’Vine’s publicist: “But, for sure you would’ve forgotten by now?”] No, that’s why I said don’t tell me [laughs]. I know that it’s the 23rd. Every day I wake up, I’m like 23rd, 23rd, 23rd.
How does it feel?
I’m excited. I mean, we’re here so it’s like, let’s just finish it out and what will be will be. But I’m excited because I can now say that I’ve experienced this thing in its totality and that’s so awesome.
Do you have any idea what you’ll be wearing yet?
No, I need to figure out what I’m wearing to the SAGs! I want to do something slinky, because I do a lot of structured things. That’s beautiful, but I want to do something with yards of fabric and I love a train. That’s rich. If you can just let fabric be on the floor? You’ve made it.
