Lee Daniels struck TV gold with his hit music industry-based soap opera Empire, which debuted on Fox in 2015. As successful as the series ended up being, though, the experience seemingly wasn’t always great for the show’s co-creator. Daniels recently called his experience working on the show “horrible.” The multi hyphenate’s brutally honest comments really turned a lot of heads after he made them weeks ago. Now, however, Daniels is seeking to provide clarity when it comes to the sentiments he shared.
The Precious director commented on his since-ended show while promoting his latest movie, The Deliverance (which features some wild lines from Glenn Close). When asked about his time working on Empire, the filmmaker said it was “absolutely the worst experience.” As he explained to The Film Stage, there was a bright spot that came with spearheading the musical dramedy, which was “that money, money, money.” The Butler helmer said that because he was able to “put [his] kids through college” that made the job worth it.
During an interview on Sirius XM’s Andy Cohen Live, Lee Daniels walked back those declarations to some degree. He explained that he doesn’t look down on the entirety of his tenure making the Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard-led show. In actuality, there was one specific aspect of the workplace that was difficult for Daniels:
That's so not true. … What I meant was the worst experience because all of my films have been independently financed, it was the first time that I was taking notes from anybody. You have to understand, no one gave me notes to do anything. … It's normal, you know, it's normal for the studio to sort of do that, but it was like, ‘What?’ It was jarring for me…
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Any creative who’s familiar with working within the studio system surely knows that creative decisions have to be approved by various people. For some, it can definitely be a challenge to receive notes from the various powers that be, and that seems to have been the case for the Star creator. Based on the show, though, it feels like he was ultimately able to mostly execute his vision as intended alongside series co-creator Danny Strong. (One of the show’s most shocking scenes was even drawn from Mr. Daniels’ own life.)
Empire focused on the exploits of Lucious Lyon – a former drug dealer, who eventually founded record label Empire Entertainment. Throughout the show’s six seasons, Lucious contended with the actions of his three ambitious sons, who were in line to take over the business. Simultaneously, the patriarch also had to contend with the unpredictable nature of his ex-wife, Cookie. Later in his interview with Andy Cohen (which is on YouTube), Lee Daniels expressed pride when sharing his take on the cultural impact of the show:
I think that things really changed. You have to understand, when Empire was around, there weren't any Black writers in any rooms. There weren't any Black directors on television. There wasn't Black Panther, there wasn't Insecure, there wasn't any of that. You know, and so we were learning as we were growing and there were all these rules and Black people were not able to be employed creatively because the system was not for us, so it was a bit of a struggle, but I think that I had a great experience with them and they really, they understood that things had to change, and then also, you know, you can't, it was the first time somebody's like, ‘You can't tell me how to be Black. Stop with the insanity. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop.’ And so it was a first for all of us and it was challenging for me, and it was a nightmare in the beginning, but then it was great.
Despite the creative challenges he faced, it’s honestly good to hear that Lee Daniels’ entire experience crafting the show wasn’t “horrible.” He’s since served as an EP on The Wonder Years and The Ms. Pat Show. Despite those subsequent gigs and given his other experiences, I’d be surprised if Daniels ever decided to serve as showrunner on another ongoing series. For now, fans can stream all six seasons of Empire now using a Hulu subscription or by screening them for free on Tubi.