Mo’Nique and Lee Daniels End 13 Year Feud With New Movie Project
After a 13-year hiatus in their relationship, comedian Mo’Nique and Lee Daniels have buried the hatchet. The two ended their friendship after working together in a drama film that garnered Mo’Nique an Oscar award. Now, the two are working together in a new film and Daniels has also apologized publicly for hurting his longtime friend.
Their issues began over Mo’Nique’s refusal to do international press for ‘Precious’
Mo’Nique and Daniels were friends before working together, so much so that Mo’Nique says she accepted a minimal payday for her work in the Daniels directed 2009 drama Precious, taking just $50,000. She says she and Daniels grew distant during promotion for the movie because she declined to do international press for the film, citing it not being listed in her contractual obligations and her desire to spend time with her family.
But Daniels and others, including Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry who helped to promote the film, felt that Mo’Nique should have participated in the additional press. Despite such, Mo’Nique took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
Mo’Nique says things became even more tense between her and Daniels when Daniels felt offended that she did not thank him during her acceptance speech. Years later, Mo’Nique says she had a conversation with Daniels about why she was not receiving offers for work. Daniels told her that she’d been blackballed. The director also finds her husband Sidney, who is also her manager, to be a detriment to her career.
The comedian once said the drama caused her to lose thousands of dollars in potential earned income
Since the blackball debacle, Mo’Nique has spoken publicly about her disappointment in Daniels, as well as Perry and Oprah whom she feels treated her unfairly. In an interview with Claudia Jordan on her FOX Soul talk show Out Loud, Mo’Nique says being blackballed and her drama with everyone caused her to lose income.
“For so long, people in “power” feel like I can use you like a piece of trash and ball you up and throw you away when I’m done with you,” she said. “For me, that stage is my therapy. That night I had to say it because they were sitting by watching my career be snatched…it’s cost us generational money.”
She also alleges Perry offered her $500,000 for her to discontinue speaking about their issues publicly, which she declined. “Tyler Perry, keep your money, just clear my name…I’ve worked too hard for my name,” she says she told Perry.
She’s now starring in Lee Daniels’ new Netflix movie
After over a decade of feuding and not speaking with Daniels, Mo’Nique has put their past issues aside to work on a new movie together. Deadline reports that Mo’Nique is replacing Octavia Spencer in Demon House, an exorcism film that Daniels is directing that Netflix acquired in January. Spencer had to bow out of the film because of a scheduling conflict.
Mo’Nique will take over the role of a social worker who helps a family through a series of exorcisms in a film that’s based off of real life events. The package was acquired by CAA Media Finance. Sources close to the situation tell Deadline that it was worth upward of $65 million, which covers the film’s budget and buyouts.
Production for the film begins in June. It’s the first project for the two since 2009’s Precious.
Lee Daniels offers Mo’Nique a public apology
In addition to woking together again, Daniels is following up their private makeup with a public apology that many say is long overdue. “I am so sorry for hurting you in any way that I did,” Daniels told Mo’Nique on-stage during her “Mo’Nique and Friends: April Fools Day with The Queen of Comedy” event in Staten Island. He added: “Y’all, and she was my best friend — my best friend. Y’all think that ‘Precious’ was just…That was God working, through both of us.”
Daniels also hinted at what’s to come in their new Netflix project. “And we’re gonna f–king do it again!” he said in reference to the thriller film.
