Lee Daniels has reflected on his time working on Empire, admitting it was ‘absolutely the worst experience’.
The acclaimed series ran for six seasons between 2015 and 2020, focusing on Empire Entertainment founder Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) as he attempts to decide which of his three sons should control his company.
Taraji P Henson, Jussie Smollett, Bryshere Y Gray, Trai Byers and Grace Byers also made up the star-studded cast.
The first series pulled in more than 15million ratings and currently has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 82%, however it wasn’t all fun and games behind the scenes.
Speaking to the Film Stage, the Deliverance director – who co-created the drama – confessed that he didn’t have the best time of it.
‘I don’t like staying in the same lane just as a creative. When I got into television, I really just wanted to be able to answer to suits,’ he said. ‘I wanted to know what that experience was like. All of my friends, they get notes and s**t. And I’m like, “What is that like?!”
‘Every one of my films has been independently financed where I’m able to…do my thing and nobody is in my head. There’s so many filmmakers and writers that I respect that have to answer to people. So I only did Empire just so I could see what that experience was like.’
Unpacking what that ‘experience’ was like, Lee didn’t really mince his words.
‘Horrible. Absolutely the worst experience,’ he continued. ‘Horrible! But guess what? F**king that money, money, money!
‘I was able to put my kids through college and s**t. So that in itself was worth it.’
Empire ended in 2020 but fans were due to get a spin-off following Cookie, aka Taraji’s iconic character, before plans were eventually scrapped.
Thankfully, Lee seems to have had a better time with his latest project, the Deliverance – which recently premiered on Netflix, starring Mo’Nique and Glenn Close.
The exorcism horror focuses on single parent Ebony Jackson (Andra Day) who moves her family to a new home for a fresh start, but something evil already lives there.
The filmmaker went the extra mile to make sure that his cast felt safe and secure, and appointed an apostle to anoint the set every day.
‘We had people praying over us constantly, from the time we had someone that did deliverances there, praying for us, over us constantly every day. Glenn [Close] wasn’t spiritual when she walked into this, and she walked out a different person,’ he told IndieWire.
Glenn was thrilled about the decision, adding to Bloody Disgusting: ‘I’ve never seen that on a set. I’ve never witnessed this on a set. Never had somebody talking tongues before you start working.
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‘I loved it. I loved every single minute of it, every minute of it. I think it really did inform each day when he was there, and we did that. I felt protected.’