Lee Daniels talks 'Empire' 'growing pains,' race in Hollywood
LOS ANGELES – Empire's characters don't shy from straight talk and neither does co-creator Lee Daniels.
After a screening of the midseason premiere (Fox, March 30, 9 p.m.) to open the 33rd PaleyFest Los Angeles on Friday, Daniels addressed criticism, including a complaint about too many celebrity guest stars, after moderator Kevin Frazier of Entertainment Tonight suggested the show "went left for a second" during the first half of Season 2.
"It was growing pains. I think it would have happened to any show and I think that though we still remained No. 1, we're learning. Sometimes, you don't feel like it's enough, that these wonderfully talented actors are enough, and so you bring in this person: 'OK, you'll get some more eyes.' … It's just a process. It's trial and error. And, at the end of the day, we came back," Daniels said, receiving applause from a supportive Dolby Theatre crowd. "How do you make greatness without testing things?"
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Despite slipping from the ever-upward ratings trajectory of Season 1, Empire, renewed for a third season, still averaged a robust 17.7 million viewers during Season 2's first 10 episodes and is the top-ranked broadcast series among young adults.
Breakout star Taraji P. Henson, who is shooting a film in Atlanta, wasn't present for the hour-long panel, but other Empire regulars were, including Terrence Howard, Trai Byers, Jussie Smollett, Bryshere "Yazz" Gray, Grace Gealey, Kaitlin Doubleday, Gabourey Sidibe, Serayah McNeill and Ta'Rhonda Jones.
Executive producers Ilene Chaiken, Sanaa Hamri and Brian Grazer also took part in the celebratory session, which featured audience members serenading Howard with Happy Birthday on his 47th birthday.
At one point, when asked about a guest-star wish list, Daniels, the director of Precious and Lee Daniels' The Butler, steered the conversation to the cast of the series, which follows the Lyon family's turbulent music dynasty.
"We have a few more guest stars that are coming on the show. But you know what? What I've learned in this journey in television … is that we're good enough. Look at them. I want to see them every week," Daniels said, alluding to his fellow panelists.
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Empire, an immediate ratings and cultural phenomenon, quickly made stars of less well-known actors in the cast. Gray, in his first acting role, acknowledged how life has changed: "I stopped eating ramen noodles."
Success stirred rumors, too. "When I picked up Page Six in the New York Post and saw that Trai Byers was leaving the show, I said, 'We are a hit because they're talking about us and there's rumors and it's great,' " said Daniels, who created the series with Danny Strong.
Byers squelched any talk about leaving: "There's not a stitch of truth to it, but it shows the popularity of the show."
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Daniels took on a question about diversity in Hollywood, acknowledging racism but telling the audience to find a way to succeed despite it.
"I don't have time to deal with racism. Am I delusional to say that there's not racism in America? Look at (bleeping) Donald Trump," he said to cheers. "The minute that I embrace it, it becomes real to me. And I don't have time to blame Paramount or Sony or Fox or whomever. I get my own money, I get my own actors, I write my own scripts. I make my own way and I don't want to hear, 'Woe is me. They ain't treating me right.' … Get off your (behinds) and do it."
PaleyFest's lively Empire session kicked off a 10-day TV festival that will feature such shows as Better Call Saul, Scream Queens, Black-ish, Supergirl, Scandal, The Big Bang Theory, Difficult People, Fear the Walking Dead and American Horror Story: Hotel, along with a tribute to producer Dick Wolf.