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CHICAGO — You’d never guess it from meeting her on the street, but Gabourey Sidibe makes an incredibly convincing troubled, abused teenager.
The 26-year-old New Yorker plays the jarring titular role in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” which offers a yearlong glimpse into the life of a 16-year-old junior high school girl battling obesity, illiteracy, her second pregnancy and a horribly abusive mother.
The story comes from “Push,” the gritty, memoir-style novel that in 1996 launched the career of author Sapphire, but the character is all Sidibe.
In person, decked out in a black dress and heels, and freshly primped makeup for a photo shoot, Sidibe glows with happiness and confidence. She’d been studying psychology for a little less than two weeks at Lehman College in the Bronx when she auditioned, on a whim, for what would become a life-changing role. Director/producer Lee Daniels, who joined Sidibe for interviews, said he offered her the part over more than 400 other potential Preciouses — recruited from McDonald’s, small towns, anywhere and everywhere — because she offered a necessary distinction between acting and reality.
“I realized that if I used those other girls, they were Precious,” Daniels said. “I cannot articulate it, other than (Sidibe’s) spirit affected me, her smarts affected me, and I knew that I wouldn’t be exploiting something that was not her. She’s not the character.”
Sidibe slipped off her heels and got comfortable to discuss her breakout debut and the acting career that awaits.
Q. You went to your audition at the urging of a friend. Was it a whim, or has this always been a dream of yours?
A. Oh, absolutely a whim. It was nowhere near a dream. The last thing I ever wanted to be was an actress.
Q. Really?
A. Really. This was a long time ago. Life has changed (laughs).
But I didn’t want to be an actress. I mean, I’ve always kind of dreamed of a life of fanciness, in a way, but I did not think I’d be an actress at all. I did not plan it.
Q. So you auditioned — on a whim — on a Monday, had callbacks on a Tuesday and had landed the part by Wednesday.
What was that audition process like?
A. I read the part, and then Billy Hopkins, the casting director, asked me what my childhood was like in school, and he asked me if I was made fun of a lot. And I said, “Yeah,” but usually the people who made fun of me got beat up because of such a thing. That was really young, like elementary school, but once I got to junior high, my personality kicked in and I actually had a lot of friends. The next day was a longer scene, and in this one they didn’t ask me any questions at all. But after I did it, nobody said anything for about 60 seconds.
They were just staring at me, looking at each other. It was quiet.
Finally Billy sighed and started yelling for them to get me a script. Immediately. And then they said, “We don’t know when, but we’ll call you, and you’re going to read for the director.” And I was like, “Word!” ... And they called within a half an hour.
Q. Both Precious and her mother, Mary, are incredibly difficult characters with difficult lives. Have you known these people in real life?
A. Yes, absolutely. I’ve certainly grown up with people who are like Precious, who are like Mary; I know a few Miss Rains (played by Paula Patton) and a few Ms. Weisses (Mariah Carey). Certainly, all my friends, their parents have gone through the whole, “Well, you gotta talk to the social worker in order to get your check, in order to keep food in the house, keep the lights on,” and so forth. It’s a very real story.
Q. Mo’Nique, who plays Mary, the abusive mother, is convincingly scary.
A. She is. Mary’s scary. I came to this film without any experience, and I have a very skewed view on how to pull off a performance and all of that, and how to act toward actors. Mo’Nique is such a loving person, there is no way I could have mistaken her for Mary when the cameras weren’t rolling.
But there’s one thing that’s really funny: I did a photo shoot with her for W magazine, and she grabbed me and said, “Precious!” and did it in that (Mary) voice, and it scared me! (laughs) It scared me because I’ve seen the film, and seeing the film is a completely different experience than making it, and I was scared of Mary from seeing the film.
Q. You’ve since completed another film and seem to have taken to acting. Do you think you’ll ever return to school at this point?
A. I would love to. I was a psych major before all of this.
Whether or not I want a job in the field of psychology, I don’t know anymore. But I certainly want to know all that there is on the subject. When will I have time to do so? God only knows. But for now I have been concentrating on acting, because I love doing it. I’ve fallen in love with it.
