Los Angeles — In one of the last scenes of “Insecure,” Issa, Molly, Kelli and Tiffany are having a girls night-in when one of them gets a little emotional and they all come in for a hug.
Kelli, played by Natasha Rothwell, bursts into tears and shouts, “The f— I’m crying for?!”
Rothwell was in character, but she knew it was one of their last hugs before the hit show that changed her life wrapped for good.
“That scene is only good because she was vulnerable enough to go there and then that let all the women to engage in such a way,” said Amy Aniobi, who directed the episode, and was the head writer and executive producer of “Insecure.” “That moment is so real and it’s because of Natasha. She’s a powerhouse.”
As the “Insecure” chapter of Rothwell’s life comes to a close, she’s writing many more. In “The White Lotus,” Rothwell stood out among an ensemble cast who all put in stellar performances. Rothwell wrote a romantic comedy with herself in mind to play the lead, and she sealed a major deal with ABC Signature to develop new projects for television. She also began filming the secretive, big budget “Wonka” in London alongside Timothée Chalamet, Olivia Colman and Sally Hawkins.
All of that in one year.
“It’s crazy,” Rothwell recently told The Associated Press on a video chat from London. “I could not have predicted this moment or what ‘Insecure’ has done to bring me to this moment. I used to sort of like, roll my eyes every time Taylor Swift was all, ‘Aw shucks, really, me?’ And now I get it because I feel that way constantly.”
She’s particularly excited about a show she’s writing and starring in as part of the deal with ABC/Disney. “It’s one of the things that’s been in my heart for some time,” she said.
The show will be the culmination of everything Rothwell learned on “Insecure” as a writer, actor, producer and for the first time this past year, director.
Part of that means creating an inclusive writers room, opportunities for female directors, and representing all people, including those with disabilities and the LGBTQ community. Rothwell also wants the show to bring attention to the issues she cares most about, like bodily autonomy and voting.
Ever since Rothwell got a platform, she’s been using it to talk about injustice and express her disgust with politicians. That includes tweeting “You are trash” to Donald Trump daily during his presidency. (Her new target is Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, whom she tweets, “You are trash,” daily.)
She calls the tweets “a daily meditation for me to remind myself that this is not normal.”
“There’s so many issues … The list seems endless and daunting,” she said. “Sometimes all I can do is fire off a tweet. Other times I have more energy and resources where I’m just like, lacing up my boots, grabbing my sign and like, ‘Where we marching?’”
Shining a light on disenfranchisement, police brutality and other issues is important to Rothwell as a Black woman in the world.
For now, Rothwell is focused on her project with ABC/Disney and two others at HBO, and of course, filming “Wonka,” a prequel to the 1971 “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” starring Gene Wilder.
