Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor Says Hollywood Needs More Films Like ‘The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat’: ‘There Is a Lack of Curiosity About Black Women’

When the script for “The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat” landed on Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor ‘s desk, she jumped at the opportunity to star in the historical drama. Despite a three-decade-long career, it’s a rarity for Ellis-Taylor to find herself cast in projects that pass the Bechdel test . “The Supremes,” which debuted at the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival (MVAFF) on Wednesday night, is based on the best-selling novel by Edward Kelsey Moore.

Directed by Tina Mabry, the film offered Ellis-Taylor and her castmates, Sanaa Lathan and Uzo Aduba , the chance to participate in something rarely seen on screen. “There is a lack of curiosity about Black women, about the lives of Black women. A lack of interest, and a lack of care,” Ellis-Taylor says, sitting down with Variety at the festival.

“[The Supremes]” is a rebellion against that.” Set in a small southern town, the film follows lifelong friends Odette (Ellis-Taylor), Clarice (Aduba) and Barbara Jean (Lathan) as they experience the joys and sorrows of life, grasping tightly to their friendship until a series of tragedies during their middle-age years threatens to rip them apart. When Mabry (“Mississippi Damned”) first learned about the film, which follows the women across 30 years, she was intrigued.

“Gina Prince-Bythewood had done the first adaptation, and she reached out to me and said, ‘Hey, there’s a movie. You’ve got to read the book,'” the director says. “Upon r.