Debbie Allen
Debbie Allen
Deborrah Kaye "Debbie" Allenis an American actress, dancer, choreographer, television director, television producer, and a member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. She is perhaps best known for her work on the 1982 musical-drama television series Fame, where she portrayed dance teacher Lydia Grant, and served as the series' principal choreographer. She currently portrays Catherine Avery on Grey's Anatomy. She is the younger sister of actress/director/singer Phylicia Rashad...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionChoreographer
Date of Birth16 January 1950
CityHouston, TX
CountryUnited States of America
As one who loves literature, art, music and history, I've been deeply rooted in the Harlem Renaissance for many years.
There are so many famous people now that are not really gifted or talented at doing anything other than getting made up, putting on tight dresses, acting badly, getting married. I mean, what the hell? I don't know where we are going with this here in America. And we are setting a tone for the world, because everyone looks at what we do.
There are some scenes that work beautifully in a moving, sweeping master, which is how I like to work.
The first thing that goes into shooting a scene is understanding whats on the page.
It goes back to a style of moviemaking I remember seeing as a child, in movies like The Man With The Golden Arm, which I think was shot all on a sound stage.
There was a time when fame meant that you were either someone who is really gifted in your field or you were making an impact or you are famous because you were a really horrible person, you know? But now, you can become famous by eating a frog. It's just not the same thing.
Michael Ralph brilliantly plays the street prophet, a West Indian who foreshadows the Harlem riot.
That's the only way I can control my movie. If you shoot everything, then everything is liable to end up in the movie. If you have a vision, you don't have to cover every scene.
I use something that is a real staple in the directing world. It's called a dance floor. You lay it down so that it's so smooth you can roll around, and you can put furniture on top of it. It's seamless and you don't see it.
Fame is fleeting, honey. Fame is fleeting and it changes.
I think a good director casts a film so that the actors bring a lot to the table.
The clothes back in those days were made so much better than clothes are today. They actually took time to make clothes to fit a woman's body. Today they make clothes that fit sizes, so it stretches to fit this and that.
Time management is a big part of the director's job.
If you just change one person's life, you feel like you've done something. But if you can change a whole lot of them and get them looking at themselves differently, it's amazing.