In “Ma,” Octavia Spencer’s deranged horror villain takes an iron to the stomach of Gianni Paolo’s teenaged character, Chaz. In real life, Spencer surprised the early-career actor by covering the costs for a publicist.
Paolo told the story of Spencer’s good deed on the “Boyfriend Material” podcast, relaying how he filmed the cult classic horror movie before he’d made enough money to afford a publicist. When Spencer learned about this, the on-camera villain did an off-camera good deed for her young co-star.
“This was pre ‘Ma’ coming out, and I was like, ‘I just can’t spend $5,000 a month for a publicist. I only made $6,000 on the movie, I’m in $20,000 worth of credit card debt.’ So I’m like, ‘Eh, I’m just not going to get a publicist,’” Paolo recalled. Cut to Octavia Spencer having the “Ma” cast over for dinner ahead of the premiere.
“She was talking about doing press for the movie. And this was my first real, big thing, so I didn’t know anything. And she basically was like, ‘Yeah, so you guys all, like, we’re going to do press, publicists.’ And I’m like — ‘I don’t have the money to do that.’
“That was on a Friday. On Monday, she had called her publicist, paid for it completely, and then set me up with her whole team, and then said, ‘Now you have a publicist.’”
You can watch the interview clip below.
“Ma,” directed by Tate Taylor and written by Scotty Landes for Blumhouse, follows Spencer as a woman named Sue Ann Ellington. When a group of teenagers asks Sue Ann to buy them alcohol, she begins to befriend the high schoolers, asking them to call her “Ma.” Over time, this relationship takes on a more sinister nature, revenge for an incident involving Ma and some of the teenagers’ parents in their youth.
“Ma” was a success for Blumhouse upon release, generating more than $60 million off of an approximately $5 million budget. Over time, the 2019 horror film began to develop a strong cult following, with several waves of “Ma” memes taking over social media. One such meme recently appeared in Ari Aster’s “Eddington,” a recent-history period piece set in 2020 during the pandemic.
Paolo said Spencer never asked for the money back, but he eventually reimbursed her the $10,000 after booking “Power.”
“Didn’t ask for the money back. Never,” he said. “I got great opportunities from it. When I booked ‘Power,’ I shot my first episode, got my first paycheck for ‘Power,’ and then I wired her the money back.”
“Holy s–t,” “Boyfriend Material” host Harry Jowsey said. “So she never asked for it? She just did it?”
“Never asked for it,” Paolo said.
From 2018 to 2024, Paolo appeared on the Starz crime drama “Power” and its follow-up “Power Book II: Ghost.” In the second series, he was elevated to main cast member status for the show’s four seasons. On Aug. 22, he will appear in the Sophie Turner-starring thriller film “Trust.”
Paolo expressed gratitude for Spencer’s help in securing important representation early on — though he told Jowsey that actors who are just starting out shouldn’t seek a publicist as a first priority.
“I would tell everyone, if you want to be an actor, first thing you’ve got to get is a manager, because your manager, now it’s like the lines are kind of blurred, but your manager can get you auditions, and they’ll get you an agent,” he said. “An agent is strictly, like contract and get you auditions, but, like, the more people you have on your team, the more cooks there are in the kitchen that can get you opportunities.”
