Kim Fields reveals what aspect of shooting 'The Upshaws' felt like 'the beginning of a Marvel movie' (original) (raw)
While the new Netflix sitcom The Upshaws sounded like a two-hander between comedians Mike Epps and Wanda Sykes when it was first announced, the secret weapon keeping the titular blue-collar Indianapolis family together is really the comedy's matriarch, played by Kim Fields. "I'm very blessed to breathe life into Regina Upshaw from what they created on the page," the former Facts of Life and Living Single star tells EW. "But you know, part of dropping a series is you have to do it with breadcrumbs so that people keep following the trail."
With interests further piqued by her inclusion, Fields is ready for people to seek out "what the other crumbs are that lead you to the next step," which is watching the series. It began streaming on Netflix on Wednesday.
Read on to hear what made the multifaceted TV veteran return to acting in such a big way and how shooting the show reminded her of the opening of Marvel movies.
LARA SOLANKI/NETFLIX
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How would you describe your character, Regina? And what drew you to the role?
KIM FIELDS: Well, the fact that I had not played a character like Regina for all the years that I've been blessed to be in the game. And also the series overall, it's a tone, [and] a type of sitcom and type of comedy that I had not done before. She's very no-nonsense. She's very direct and certainly in love with her family, with all of its imperfections and flaws, because she realizes at one point or the other, she's got a nice, big old handful of imperfections that she's got to navigate as well.
You've had such an illustrious career. Of course, The Facts of Life introduced us to teen Kim Fields, and with Living Single, we met the adult Kim Fields. Would you say this is our introduction to Kim Fields the mother? Would you say Regina is closer to how you are in real life?
Actually, the opposite, quite the contrary. I think because of certain platforms and other rules and things that people have seen me as a mom, but they realized that that's just an extension of many facets of me. People are multifaceted. Well, interesting people anyway are multi-faceted. And I like to think of myself as that. But again, I've not played a type of character like Regina, and as an actor, it's also welcoming to play a role that is not like you.
That's one of the reasons I loved playing Regine on Living Single because she was nothing like me. There were parts of her I understood, and I could identify with, but they still weren't like me. And so with Regina, even though I'm a mom and she's a mom, we're very different in our mothering. First of all, she's got daughters; I've got sons. But just overall, I feel like what really drew me to her was every moment I was in Regina Upshaw's world, and when I would prepare to be or go into her world, it really was a deep dive into someone that I may know, but that I hadn't been.
And what were those challenges going into playing Regina?
I think the newness, the uncharted waters of it. The fact that she is uncompromising, that she is very strong in who she is. I think, if anything, what we have in common is we take a lot on, we absorb a lot. But baby, when we get to that tipping point, it's a wrap for everybody around. Now that part, I can identify with her wholeheartedly. And I do believe the line "Y'all can kiss my entire Black ass" was an ad-lib from yours truly.
We're thrown right into this complicated family dynamic on the show. How do you work on getting that across in a tight, funny way? For example, we get to understand how Regina feels about Bennie and Tasha, her husband, and his baby mama, played by Epps and Gabrielle Dennis respectively, pretty quickly based on your facial expressions.
Yep. And about the relationship, as bizarre as it is between Bennie and Tasha, they're trying to support the concept in theory of Bennie's relationship with his son with Tasha. When I tell you that it was all on the page, the dynamics were all there. It really became about the nuances that you capture when you are bringing something from the page and bringing life into it. But I mean, our writers' room, they are in a class all by themselves. They are a master class in terms of being able to put down on the page, and put your whole foot in that thing, with characters and the complexities and servicing each character, let alone engaging in relevant storylines with a tone that has a duality of a throwback and something new. Ain't no writers' room doing that right now except The Upshaws.
THE UPSHAWS (L to R) MIKE EPPS as BENNIE, JOURNEY CHRISTINE as MAYA, KIM FIELDS as REGINA and WANDA SYKES as LUCRETIA in episode 103 of THE UPSHAWS. LARA SOLANKI/NETFLIX
What aspects of the show were you excited to explore? What felt fresh in this contribution to the Black sitcom, or sitcoms in general?
I think the very blue-collar aspect, that working-class family. But I also really love, quite selfishly, that I had an opportunity to really put my foot all up in this as an actor. I mean, I can't even find the right words to express how excited I am about the work.
And when you do something, and you go, "My God, I was given this wonderful role, this wonderful project, these wonderful sets of dialogue." And just how engaging it is, the conflicts with Bennie are just wonderful. And so being able to act in those moments, and be true in those moments, just felt fantastic.
It feels like, in recent years, you've been known for wearing so many hats, developing as a producer and as a director. And it's interesting to see you coming back in this big way with this role where, even within the role, it calls for Regina to be many different things to many different people.
You know what's funny about that? Like having the oldest son—again, uncharted waters. And yet there are so many women and so many families who can identify with having a baby in high school. Hell, my mother had me when she was 17. So I love [that] when it's all said and done, she has these many hats that she wears, that you've mentioned, but what it all boils down to is she's a woman. And those labels, those monikers that she wears, it enhances who she is first and foremost as a woman. And she is an incredibly strong and complex woman. Sometimes she's frustrated with how she loves. It frustrates the hell out of her that she cannot shake loving Bennie Upshaw. It's very much, to me, akin to The Honeymooners, Alice and Ralph Kramden. The Kramdens and the Upshaws, they could be related, you know? So I definitely get it.
As someone who's such a TV pro, did you fall into things like giving advice to the young actors?
Nope. When I tell you not at all, not at all. Those kids are such pros, but also they're still very new, but yet they're not green. That's what really put me in awe with them, is the fact that they didn't come across as green. I've worked with a lot of kids, and young actors, and new actors, and they're wonderful. And you could fall in love with their potential, but you can still see the greenness. Baby, our kids brought no green, and yet they were fresh and true in their authenticity to the roles. But I wasn't giving them any advice. I was too busy swimming in uncharted waters. S---, I didn't have time to look at other people and give them some help.
Was it a bit like surrendering to the process, and really coming in completely focused on playing your acting role?
Very much so. And you have to remember too, that the making of this is in such a throwback environment of taping in front of a live studio audience, rehearsing for four days, five days, something like that, [with] table reads.
I honestly was so caught up in creating Regina that there were certain aspects of production that I just missed. And so I honestly did not realize we were taping in front of a studio audience. I didn't have time to process that. When they called my name, it was like the beginning of a Marvel movie where all the characters are there to create the words "Marvel" or "Marvel Studios." You know, when it's that flash of all the characters. It was like every character that I ever played, and all those years of intros before the live studio audience came flooding my brain. It was a trip, man. It was really a trip. But a good trip.
THE UPSHAWS (L to R) KHALI SPRAGGINS as AALIYAH, JERMELLE SIMON as BERNARD, JOURNEY CHRISTINE as MAYA, KIM FIELDS as REGINA and MIKE EPPS as BENNIE in episode 104 of THE UPSHAWS. LARA SOLANKI/NETFLIX
The Upshaws season one is now available to watch on Netflix.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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