The Business
Ava DuVernay on 'Selma,' Building a Career Her Own Way
Before she became a filmmaker, Ava DuVernay worked as a film publicist. DuVernay traces how she shifted her career and ended up making history as the first African American woman nominated for Best Director at the Golden Globes for the historical drama Selma.
By Kim Masters • • 29m ListenAva DuVernay is the director of Selma, the first feature film about Martin Luther King, Jr., which focuses on the time period around the 1965 civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. The film faced several hurdles getting off the ground, a major one being that DuVernay didn't have the rights to use MLK's actual speeches in her film. DuVernay recounts how she came to be at the helm of Selma, and how she approached writing her own versions of King's speeches for the screen.
Photo: Director/Executive Producer Ava DuVernay (C) on the set of Selma, from Paramount Pictures, Pathé and Harpo Films.
