Lee Daniels Says Working on ‘Empire’ Was ‘Horrible’ and ‘Absolutely the Worst Experience’
Daniels adds he got paid well enough to put his kids through college.
Lee Daniels’ time at the helm of Empire wasn’t exactly enjoyable.
In a new interview with the Film Stage, the show co-creator described the Fox drama series as “absolutely the worst experience.”
At the time that Empire debuted, in 2015, he wanted to expand his wheelhouse.
“I don’t like staying in the same lane just as a creative. When I got into television, I really just wanted to be able to answer to suits,” he told the outlet. “I wanted to know what that experience was like. All of my friends, they get notes and shit. And I’m like, ‘What is that like?!’ You know what I mean?”
Daniels explained that “every film of mine had been independent” before he created Empire, which was his first TV show, and wanted to gain exposure to working with a major studio.
“All of my shit is independent,” he said. “Every one of my films has been independently financed where I’m able to…do my thing and nobody is in my head. There’s so many filmmakers and writers that I respect that have to answer to people. So I only did Empire just so I could see what that experience was like.”
He then said that working on the show was, “Horrible. Absolutely the worst experience.” Daniels added, “But guess what? Fucking that money, money, money! I was able to put my kids through college and shit. So that in itself was worth it.”
Empire, which starred Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson, aired on Fox from 2015 to 2020 and was a massive hit. Now, Daniels has been promoting his latest feature, the Netflix horror movie, The Deliverance, for which he served as director.
