Viola Davis Reveals the Science of Choosing an Audition Monologue While Eating Spicy Wings on 'Hot Ones' & It's Going Viral

At one point during the interview (at 12:55), Sean asks Viola: “Is there a science to picking out the right audition monologue? Is there a right or wrong way to do it?”

“Yes,” Viola answered, “I think so. I think that when you audition for something, I think you should always pick a monologue that’s closer to who you are, and don’t talk for too long,” she continued. “Nobody wants to sit ten minutes.”

“I think you got about 3, 4 minutes at the most. And here’s the other thing: you start with your best monologue first so you get their attention right away. I say that because I see it all the time. People say, I’m going to do King Lear, and you see them doing King Lear, and you’re like…that’s not good. You’re 20-years-old doing King Lear, don’t do that s–t.”

She also revealed what monologues she’s used.

“I did Celie from The Color Purple, and Martine from Learned Ladies. Martine was like eh, looking back, I was like eh…but there is a science. You do something dynamic. You wanna do something memorable. You wanna wake people up. They’ve already seen 50 people before you. They don’t want to work at it.”

“he always gon ask a good a– question love that,” one user wrote on Twitter of the exchange, with over 28,000 likes.

Viola Davis also reacted to claims that The Woman King isn’t historically accurate.