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Lee Daniels Watches 'empire' – And Talks Back To The Screen by bplondscz: 10:03pm On Jan 18, 2017
Lee Daniels was in his Midtown Manhattan loft on a recent Wednesday night, doing what millions of other people were doing at the same time: getting ready to watch an episode of his breakout hit television show, “Empire.”

“Oh, God,” he said as its lead-in on Fox, “American Idol,” finished up. “It’s on. Come on, family.”

Mr. Daniels’s boyfriend, Jahil Fisher, 33, and his 19-year-old daughter, Clara, walked over from the kitchen area. Nearby, buried in a hammock lined with fox fur, was Clara’s twin brother, Liam.

“Get up,” Mr. Daniels commanded. “Say hello.”

The teenager mumbled a greeting. People have a habit of doing what they’re told when the person giving the orders is Mr. Daniels, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker and co-creator of “Empire.” To quote Courtney Love, a guest star on the show, “Letting him down is not an option.”

Mr. Daniels made his name with his 2009 film, “Precious,” based on a best-selling novel about an overweight teenage girl who contracts H.I.V. from her father, who is raping her. Made on a budget of about $10 million, it generated nearly $64 million at the box office and scored six Oscar nominations, winning two.

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After the release of his next movie, “The Paperboy,” which earned mixed reviews and not much money, Mr. Daniels returned with another hit, “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” a 2013 film loosely based on the life of Eugene Allen, a black man who served under eight presidents.

Then came “Empire,” which has confirmed Mr. Daniels’s status as a major creative force. The show debuted in January to an audience of about 10 million and finished its season, on March 18, with 16.7 million watching the final episode as it aired.

Wearing a wool V-neck sweater from Zara, Tom Ford slacks and no shoes, Mr. Daniels described the show as a “black ‘Dynasty.’ ” He created it with Danny Strong, the co-screenwriter of “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” and the final two “Hunger Games” films.

Mr. Daniels is not a constant presence on the set of “Empire,” and it seemed he has some issues with not having the same control of every little thing that he is used to as a filmmaker. “I’m in charge, but I’m not directing,” is how he put it.

Still, the show is a clear reflection of Mr. Daniels, a walking, talking exclamation point of a man, with a sensibility so over the top that sometimes even he marvels at it.

“I’m such a queen,” he said.

He is also a throwback to an era before celebrities had the personality sucked out of them by their handlers.

“Empire” centers on Lucious Lyon, a hip-hop magnate who has just been found to have Lou Gehrig’s disease, and his leopard-print-clad former wife, Cookie, who has recently been sprung from prison.

While watching the episode, which was projected onto a living room wall, Mr. Daniels seemed content — until the appearance of a woman in a minor role. “She’s a bad actress,” he said.

He also thought that a physical confrontation between Cookie and her son Hakeem was hackneyed. “She already beat him with a broom,” he said.

And when one of the characters entered an ornate church with stained glass windows, he nearly lost it. “Whose idea was this?” he boomed. “Who is black and Catholic?”

“Charlie Rangel,” replied Mr. Daniels’s publicist, Ken Sunshine, who was seated on a nearby sofa, apparently to keep Mr. Daniels from behaving so much like Mr. Daniels while in the presence of a reporter. (Points for trying.)

As the opening credits for “Empire” appeared on screen, about 15 minutes in, his mood lightened. “There’s my name!” he said.

He also seemed to enjoy live-tweeting his reactions to the episode. Or more accurately, dictating tweets to his assistant, Kaycee Devoe, and his daughter, who tapped away at the keyboard of his MacBook.

One tweet was a shout-out to Taraji P. Henson, who plays Cookie: “cookies weave… TO DIE in this episode.” Another slighted a costume choice for the character Jamal Lyon, who is played by Jussie Smollett: “no more hats jamal! not cute.”

Occasionally, other people in the room chimed in. When Lucious, who is played by Terrence Howard, shows up to a White Party much like the one given annually by Sean Combs, Mr. Fisher, the boyfriend, suggested his costume was not up to snuff. “It’s like they’re at a wedding in Atlanta,” he said.

“You shady Dam,” Mr. Daniels said back to him.

Once the episode was over, Mr. Daniels flipped over to CNN in time to see an interview he had recently taped with the anchor Don Lemon.

Asked what he thought of the fact that there were so few black people nominated for Oscars this year, Mr. Daniels told Mr. Lemon: “I felt like: ‘Why are we all here presenting? Why are we all there to serve you if we can’t eat the food?’ ”

He also spoke out against the situation in Ferguson, Mo., adding that there was nothing surprising to him about police brutality anywhere. “I’m still pulled over. … We were nominated for two Oscars for ‘Monster’s Ball,’ and I almost didn’t make the Oscars because I got pulled over in Beverly Hills,” said Mr. Daniels, whose father was a police officer killed one night when Mr. Daniels was 15.

While watching the CNN segment, Mr. Daniels actually seemed a little upset that the edited cut focused largely on his comments about race relations, rather than what he had said about his hit series. “I don’t want to have this black conversation,” he said. “It bores me. It honestly bores me.”

He perked up when his iPhone buzzed with a call from the television host Gayle King. “The show is so damn good,” she said, her voice coming through the iPhone speaker. “It just seems to grow and grow. It’s the only one I watch in real time.”

A little more than a week later, Mr. Daniels and Mr. Fisher were on their way to the Tribeca Grand Hotel for the Cinema Society’s unofficial premiere of Disney’s “Cinderella.”

Mr. Daniels wore a black cashmere Vivienne Westwood coat with piping down the sleeves, a black Gucci V-neck sweater, black Tom Ford slacks and black Lanvin sneakers with red shoelaces (untied). “My kids are grown, and this queen wants to see ‘Cinderella,’ ” he said, glancing at Mr. Fisher and shaking his head.

In the downstairs auditorium, the couple took their seats with Gabourey Sidibe, who made her acting debut as the lead in “Precious” and now plays a put-upon record-label assistant on “Empire.”

Within minutes of Mr. Daniels’s arrival, it seemed that three-quarters of those in attendance had approached him to effectively kiss the ring, among them Harvey Keitel, the celebrity stylist June Ambrose and the actresses Gina Gershon andsuper bowl 2017 tickets Debi Mazar.

“I’m addicted, to your show,” Ms. Mazar said. “It’s like crack. I want to be Cookie’s lover.” (As yet, no lesbian subplot exists for Ms. Henson’s character.)

Cuba Gooding Jr., who appeared in “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” approached as well. “If one more person mistakes me for Terrence Howard,” he said with a smile, “I’m going to punch them.”

The movie began. Mr. Daniels turned to Ms. Sidibe. “How many calories do you think are in popcorn?” he asked.

“About zero,” she said.

He left his seat and soon returned, carrying a small bucket of popcorn.

As Cate Blanchett appeared on screen in the role of the wicked stepmother, wearing a floor-length gown, Mr. Daniels said, “Cate is bringing fashion.”

He continued with the running commentary as the movie went on. Here he was, noting the arrival of the first black man on screen, who was playing one of the prince’s subjects: “We got one!”

And he welcomed the sight of Helena Bonham Carter in another role: “Miss Fairy Godmother is everything.” During the scene of the ball, with numerous young women parading in front of the prince, Mr. Daniels said, “It’s like ‘The Bachelor.’ ”

When the lights went up, well-wishers (including the actor Michael Shannon and the reality TV star Bethenny Frankel) once again swarmed Mr. Daniels.

Mr. Fisher and Ms. Sidibe headed off to dinner without Mr. Daniels; he had to get through a script draft for his next project, a biographic film about Richard Pryor for the Weinstein Company.

“I feel like Cinderella, going home now to write,” he said.

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