In Spike Lee’s provocative new work, “Girl 6,” Theresa Randle plays the title role, an aspiring actress whose failure to find consistent work forces her to seek a job as a phone sex operator. The film tracks the emotional and psychological repercussions of her choices as her life spirals out of control as she is seduced by the power and allure of easy money.
“Girl 6” features superstar cameos (Madonna, Quentin Tarantino), but the movie turns into a showcase for Randle’s skills and range. Written by the playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, “Girl 6” is a meditation on race, sex and representation, illustrating how black images have evolved within the larger context of popular culture.
Randle was born and grew up in the tough South Central area of Los Angeles. “Girl 6” is her breakthrough part. “I accomplished my goals with this film,” she says during an interview in a Chicago hotel. “For those in the past who hadn’t been offering work because they hadn’t seen me, or whatever the excuse was, now they have something they have to contend with before saying no.”
Randle’s experiences weren’t vastly different from those of her character, Judy.
“My struggles were basically my own fears,” she says. “When you’re rejected that much, you go inside. I was born right up the street from Hollywood. When you’re an aspiring actress, having your heart broken day after day in auditions, you have to find a place where you’re comfortable with rejection. I thought I could handle it, but I couldn’t.”
Still, she has appeared in Lee’s “Jungle Fever” and “Malcolm X,” and Abel Ferrera’s “The King of New York.”
Lee, who has been criticized for his unsympathetic treatment of women characters, cast Randle without an audition. It’s an experience completely removed from the epic humiliations suffered by Girl 6 (all the phone sex operators are assigned numbers).
The film opens with her reading for a highly coveted role for a young black woman, in which the powerful director (well played by Tarantino) requests she take off her shirt. Lee shoots the awkward, painful scene with a video camera.
“That was the first time I’ve ever done any nudity,” Randle says. “When those pages came to the door, my initial response was there’s no way I’m going to do this. After I started to think about it, I’ve always believed if a (scene) makes sense, you do it.
“I came to the conclusion with Girl 6 being an aspiring actress meeting with a top Hollywood director, she would have conceded. Spike wasn’t even in the room when we shot the scene. We knocked it off quickly; it was a couple of takes. It wasn’t as painful an experience as I thought it was going to be, (but) it was difficult.”
Next up, Randle makes a cameo appearance as the wife of Bulls superstar Michael Jordan in “Space Jams.” The film, by commercial director Joe Pytka, interweaves live action and animated sequences with MJ and the Looney Tunes characters in a galactic winner-take-all basketball championship against alien forces.
“I welcome change,” Randle says. “I’m tired of struggle. I’ve upped the ante. I’ve been knocking at the door long enough and I think it’s time for somebody to finally crack the door open and look. If they open it, that’s even better.”
