Viola Davis rarely slips, and when or if she does, it’s a statistical anomaly. The Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom actress could open up a Home Depot with the amount of hardware she’s collected from awards shows over the years. Davis is just one well-timed audiobook away from EGOT-ing. When it was announced that Davis was cast as Michelle Obama in the Showtime limited series The First Lady, it seemed like a sure thing. Fans online are lambasting Davis’s take on the role, but she’s responded to the haters in what the BBC calls, rather BBC-like, “a trenchant riposte.†“Critics absolutely serve no purpose,†she said. “And I’m not saying that to be nasty either.†Just that haters take “an opportunity to be cruel to you.†“But ultimately I feel like it is my job as a leader to make bold choices,†Davis went with it. “Win or fail it is my duty to do that.â€
Based on these viral moments from the show, it looks like Davis is starring in How to Get Away With Assassination. Davis’s walk-into-the-role-purse-first approach to portraying former First Lady Obama is definitely the definition of a bold choice, and we agree with both the premise that sometimes you gotta swing big and the premise that Davis is, in fact, our leader. She also has a memoir coming out soon, so she might still get that EGOT after all.