Michelle Rodriguez thinks it’s time to get less “furious.”
The actress, known for kicking butt in the “Fast and the Furious” movies, is now starring in a new coming-of-age film, “Milton’s Secret,” and says she is interested in doing some more children and family-related projects.
Rodriguez told The Huffington Post, “I’m in my late 30s and female hormones start kicking into maternal mode. It’s just the natural process of aging. I resonate with kids. I love them. I think they’re beautiful creatures. I feel sorry for them because it’s a crazy age to live in.”
The world may have a chance to get a little less crazy after the upcoming U.S. presidential election, according to Rodriguez. The actress, who revealed she’s voting for Hillary Clinton during a Facebook Live video, says there’s a big reason the country needs a female president:
“I think a lot of people might not see. I see it for sure. The subconscious effect of having a person of color in power or having a feminine person in power who you wouldn’t think can handle [it] or could do a good job. There’s just things that you might not know that are embedded in you. That’s just being raised in a society that oppresses it. But having someone in one of the most powerful countries in the world leading in a nurturing fashion and being that feminine principle will affect people in ways that they won’t even know.”
In a chat with HuffPost, Rodriguez covered everything from her new film to her death bed. So buckle up.
In the movie, the kids make a big speech in the auditorium, and they can pick any topic. If you were making a speech right now, what would you say?
Like, Death-Bed-type stuff?
[Laugh] Just whatever’s on your mind.
I would say it is a beautiful time in history and in life to think about bringing back the feminine principle to the forefront of society around the world. We’ve had a lot of this creation, destruction, scientific thinking, rational thinking this, rational thinking that, and corporations and capitalism being our new religion — the materialism that comes with it and the lack of humanity that comes with this type of thinking. It needs that feminine principle of nurturing and love and emotion to come back into it the humanity.
I think guys and girls were put on this planet to merge. We weren’t put on this planet to suppress each other, and I feel that once we really as a society start looking at the anima of the feminine principle in a respected way, that a lot of the ills in society around the world will start to heal. And we’re going to start looking holistically at the way we create things and will look to shared valued principles, kind of like what Harvard guy Michael Porter is talking about now in doing business. I just think that the feminine principle, the holistic one, looking in the subconscious, going inside and paying attention to the fact that you’re a human. You’re not just a robot that does things, makes things and dies. We are living, feeling, sentient creatures. And we need to get back in touch with that. And the feminine principle is that way.
“Milton’s Secret” is way different from roles we’ve seen you in. What made you interested in it?
I was at Burning Man. My buddy was like, “Dude, I got this awesome script that I want you to read. You need to check it out. I think that it’s different from anything you’ve done, but you’re gonna love it. It’d right up your alley.” I read it, fell in love with it and met [director] Barnet Bain right after.
Burning Man really brings people together.
[Laugh] It really does.
If the movie was called “Michelle’s Secret,” what’s your secret to living life?
I think it’ll involve three things. It’ll involve respecting everybody that you come across. It would involve standing up for everything that you believe in and never giving up on that. And the third principle is to try to wake up and become aware of who you are and what you are. I think it is important to wake up and really look at yourself and think, “Is this my truth?”
What can people expect from the new movie?
You know how there was that riddle with the Sphinx? I don’t remember who had to solve the riddle. “What is the creature that walks on four legs, on two, and then on three”?
Oh, sure. The answer is “man.”
It’s about the ages of man, right? I think this film, in a very beautiful way, puts into perspective what life’s about by exploring the life of a child peering into the world for the first time. That level of awareness, and then looking at that guy about to walk the other side into it all and see that wisdom in the eyes of that man—to realize that humanity. I think it’s a really great metaphor for pattern in your life.
“Milton’s Secret” is available in theaters and VOD on Friday.
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