Lee Daniels says he did Empire just to see what it was like having a boss for once

Lee Daniels has one of the most varied careers in Hollywood today, and that’s because he’s been able to function mostly independently. That gave him a lot of freedom, but it also made him curious about the constraints elsewhere in the business. “When I got into television, I really just wanted to be able to answer to suits. I wanted to know what that experience was like,” he tells The Film Stage in a new interview. “All of my friends, they get notes and shit. And I’m like, ‘What is that like?!’ You know what I mean? Because every film of mine had been independent. All of my shit is independent.” 

Monster’s Ball, which Daniels produced, “was developed with drug money,” and ultimately made Halle Berry the first Black Best Actress winner at the Oscars; Precious was similarly independent and gained numerous accolades, including a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Mo’Nique. Daniels had a great run of critically acclaimed filmmaking, so it was somewhat of a surprise for him to pivot to television, especially because he was enjoying the independence of being able to “Do my thing and nobody is in my head,” as he puts it. But “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.”

What was it like, you may ask? “Horrible,” he says in no uncertain terms. “Absolutely the worst experience. Horrible! But guess what? Fucking that money, money, money!”

Empire was a smash hit in its time, and Daniels was a champion for it, its stars (including the controversial ones, like Terrence Howard and Jussie Smollett), and its spin-off Star. When the latter was unceremoniously canceled, he even attempted to have it shopped to another network. (Even when it was announced that Empire would end with its sixth season, he told Vulture that it wouldn’t really be the end of Empire. It was.) Perhaps those late-stage disappointments with the Fox network—particularly after he’d delivered them a highly successful series—soured his experience with television altogether. But, he says, “I was able to put my kids through college and shit. So that in itself was worth it.”