Da’Vine Joy Randolph reveals some of the surprising influences behind her award-winning performance in The Holdovers.
“I think of Beyoncé,” says the actress, 37, when asked what inspired her portrayal of boarding school manager Mary Lamb in the Alexander Payne-directed film.
In particular, she tells PEOPLE, the Destiny’s Child hit “Independent Women Part I” comes to mind. “She’s drinking, swearing, and then there’s a sweet woman in there,” says Randolph.
Referring to another Beyoncé song, he jokes: “Who’s running the world? Maria!”
Playing Mary, the head cook at the fictional Barton Academy who stays over winter break in 1970, the Pennsylvania native earned a Golden Globe nomination for supporting actress, a National Board of Review win and more.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph at the 2023 Gotham Awards.
Bryan Bedder/Getty
The Holdovers costars Paul Giamatti, who tells PEOPLE he immediately connected with his fellow Yale School of Drama graduate. “She and I are very similar in some ways,” says the 56-year-old actor.
He adds without hesitation: “She’s a better actress than me.”
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Randolph says that designing and inhabiting the “always put together” Mary involved immersing herself in the aesthetic of the 1970 film. “Getting me into that period helped me really fall in love with her,” he explains. “I love details.”
She also likes the “flower” of mid-century films starring Bette Davis – another influence on her performance, Just the murders in the building says the star.
“Mary smokes and drinks whiskey,” Randolph points out. “I think Bette Davis is one of the best…I would watch a lot of her movies and a lot of them are nonchalant.” There is “something sexy” or even “more masculine,” she adds, about a woman who isn’t afraid to drink or swear.
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“I wanted people to think of their aunt, their grandmother, their mother,” Randolph says of her character. “She is a sweet, gentle, loving woman who unfortunately had a very difficult life and had to weather many storms.”
Payne, he recalls, “came up and said he had me in mind for this role” after the director read David Hemingson’s script. “They were auditioning 30 other more famous actresses, and he said, ‘No, I still want to go with her,'” says Randolph.
“Based on what I read and seeing that this was a fully realized character with her own wants and needs and a real arc,” she adds, “I have to be honest, as a woman of color, I don’t get that too often and I don’t take it for granted. ”
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Randolph credits Payne, Hemingson and Giamatti for allowing her to showcase her talent in such a nuanced role. After breaking through with Eddie Murphy Dolemite is my name and Sandra Bullock inside The lost city, Mary is “the new bar,” he explains. “Because my name is associated with it, I have to fight a little less now.”
“I want to set the bar for myself so that other creatives know: You have to be right when you come to Da’Vine and create really beautiful and full characters.”
The Holdovers is in theaters and airing on Peacock.
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