Eternity Is The Best Rom-Com Of The Year & Da’Vine Joy Randolph (And Her Wigs) Steal Every Scene

What’s Good? Da’Vine Joy Randolph is so good in everything she’s in, you just know if she shows up, the movie or TV show is going to be really good just by virtue of her presence. And there’s a moment in Eternity — like in every movie where Randolph plays a supporting character — where you start to miss her when she’s not around. It comes after Larry (Miles Teller) has died and gone to the Junction, the place where you have a week to pick where you want to spend eternity with the help of your Afterlife Coordinator (AC). Larry’s AC is Anna (played by Randolph) and from the moment they are thrust together in this delightfully bizarre and hilariously morbid setup, they are magic together.

Anna immediately clocks that Larry, a curmudgeonly old man transported back to his younger self, is in for a tough ride. His wife, Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) is also dead and has to choose who to spend her eternity with: Larry or her first husband, Luke (Callum Turner). Luke died a war hero and has waited 60 years for Joan to come back to him. He’s also incredibly handsome (see Callum Turner). It’s hard to root for Larry in this scenario — Joan and Luke are long lost lovers reunited after he died tragically! And he’s so hot! — and Anna knows this. She tows the line between gently ribbing Larry about his competition and being the support he needs while he tries to win his wife back. Anna, the character, could easily fall into the magical negro trope, a one-note sidekick there in service of the white lead, but in Randolph’s hands (and thanks to her hysterical dynamic with Joan’s AC Ryan played by John Early), she’s more than that. Anna is the film’s constant comedic relief, and she’s also its moral center, a grounding force that’s there to remind Larry of the life he built with Joan for decades, while making us laugh repeatedly. That’s the power of Da’Vine Joy Randolph. 

Who It’s Good For: One of my biggest pet peeves is when people mislabel a movie a “romantic comedy” when it is not, in fact, a comedy at all. I’m looking at you, anyone who calls Love & Basketball a rom-com. It’s a beautiful romantic drama, and that’s OK! Not everything that includes a love story is a rom-com, especially if it’s not even remotely funny (cough, Materialists, cough). Eternity is exactly as billed, a true romantic comedy that is very funny, thanks in large part to Randolph and Early. If you love rom-com classics like It Happened One Night, The Philadelphia Story, and Notting Hill, you’ll love Eternity. 

How Good Is It? There are a lot of things to love about Eternity. Teller and Olsen are operating at their highest, being charming and adorably clueless as old folks in young, beautiful bodies. They do their best work playing off of one another, and the familiarity that comes with building a lifetime with someone feels real. Turner is also great, playing the dashingly handsome hero with emotional depth. A romantic love triangle is as good as the difficulty of the choice, and in this case, the choice is hard. Ultimately, Eternity is about the nostalgia of young love vs. the coziness of a long marriage. Which one would you choose? And if you could choose when, where and with whom you are happiest, do you know yourself enough to answer honestly? 

The film is full of those big, lofty questions and when I talk to Randolph about it, you can tell she’s had some time to think of the answers. Along with talking about where she’d spend eternity, her chemistry with Teller, and what life is like after winning an Academy Award, Randolph shared the details on Anna’s magnificent wigs and her newfound status as a red carpet style icon. 

Da’Vine Joy Randolph: Now, to be really honest. I think it just keeps getting better the more that I work on myself and be true to myself and the things I want to do and doing that work, the work of being in alignment and true to myself. I then bring other people and attract other things — job opportunities, people —  that are also in alignment, and there's that inner glow-up that comes the more that we are true to ourselves, everything else around you just starts to fall into place, and abundance comes your way. It doesn't mean that things don't become difficult or not everything goes your way, but how you handle it, how you navigate it, and bounce back, it hits different. I would say now, and I hope that if somebody asks me again [in the future], it'll be then that I’ll be my happiest.

DJR: I've been telling everybody that mine would be a luxury yacht, Mediterranean cruise with all the spa amenities. I just think of idyllic summers that I've had where I've been fortunate enough to be in Spain or Italy or South of France, Greece, that whole Mediterranean. It would be phenomenal.

DJR: I’ve never done a cruise in my life! But I like the idea of getting to hit [different spots] because I'm a Gemini. I can't pick one. So I like the idea of we’re doing the Mediterranean, we make stops along the way. I get to get out, get to do things. Because otherwise, if I picked one eternity, I would not be a good candidate for that. I would be spazzing out because I don't think I could do one thing for the rest of my life or eternity.

DJR: Hmm, see, I've always dated people who are the polar opposite of me. It just happened that way. I'm a Taurus Gemini because I'm the 21st so I'm a cuss baby, and I genuinely have both strongly in me. I would say maybe for what I wouldn't do… I don't know, because the Gemini in me can get along with everybody. But to be with, I think long term, a Leo or Cancer would get a bit much. Like you're talking about eternity, but maybe like a Libra or Virgo would be a good one to be with, because it'd be like the ying to the yang. If I'm in my Gemini mode of being all over the place, they can be the checks and balances and organize and keep it all together.

DJR: They ‘gon make sure the house is good!

DJR: We have the same agent. We had had conversations from afar, like Miles was talking to her and I was talking to her separately saying we should work together. He went to NYU, I went to Yale. We kind of had the same educational upbringing in regards to acting. We're both from Philadelphia. There were those things in place, but we lucked out. I always say the casting is integral, but it's a gamble, because I don't think people realize that most of the time, we don't know each other. We're all in our own little worlds, and a lot of the time what people see [onscreen] is these friendships that blossom — nine times out of 10, it's because they did a project together. Otherwise they're not in our sphere of awareness. So we got really lucky that we immediately hit it off. 

We respect each other's talents. What you saw [onscreen] was us both supporting each other and encouraging each other to raise the bar when we were filming. Sometimes miles would be like, “Well, what if we tried this? And I was thinking about this, Are you cool with that?” And I'm like, “Yeah, let's figure it out.” But it's weird, because sometimes an actor will be like, “No. Let's just do what?” So it was a very welcoming, artistic, creative environment. I think we both just felt comfy with one another, and I think that's why it translated on the screen.

DJR: Yes! I'm so excited you're asking. 

DJR: So during award season for The Holdovers, that was my blonde era and I still wanted to rock it a little bit. We knew we were going to go to ginger soon, but I was like, I want to rock [the blonde] a little bit longer. So my amazing hairstylist, her name is Tai Simon, had been on the press tour with me and she ended up doing this movie. I fought hard to get her on the project, and thankfully, we were able to make that work.

When we were talking about the character, I asked the director, “How long has she been around?” He was like, “I think she's been around and in this job for a long time. Like, let's say at least 100 years.” And so my brain then started to think of all of the spans of time as the people come into the Junction. Like when you're in New York and walking down the street, you're seeing the latest trends and they're coming in and she's clocking it. And so when they showed us the set, at first we were like, we're going to show a different hairstyle per decade. We really wanted to have fun with it. And then when they were like, well, we kind of want the junction to have kind of a timeless, ‘60s kind of vibe. We were like, “okay, great, we're gonna go in.”

I knew that I wanted to have a new hairstyle every single scene, every time you see her. I wanted a new look, which is an insane thing for me to ask for, but I knew if anyone could do it, it would be my hairstylist. So Tai and I pulled tons and tons of images and inspo, and we really just planned and prepared. And we used like, five or six wigs, different wigs, and it just took a lot of planning and prepping, and she just worked so hard to make it seamlessly happen. But I knew behind the scenes she was working her butt off to make this work, and she just cranked out. It is the most beautiful hair I've ever had in a movie, and now I'm addicted, and I have to have [Tai] for every movie, because it was, it makes a difference. It’s a part of storytelling and she really knocked it out of the park.

DJR: No, I didn't really know specifically what to expect, but I imagined that my life would just become bigger and more, a sense of more on all levels and that is exactly what it has been. I'm from Philadelphia. I'm a very grounded person. And so I just have to work more at maintaining that humility and groundedness, because it affects my work. I don't think I would do well if I got caught up in all of this, in the smoke and mirrors of it all. I love a good glam and I love getting dressed up. That's my favorite part. I love seeing other artists and their work. I love the creative mindset. That is what I'm 100% down for. All the other stuff I'm very mindful of what I interact with, because I want to stay in this [industry] as long as possible, and I don't want to burn out. So it's a lot more of everything times 10, but I try to really be mindful of what I engage in, so that I can go the distance. 

DJR: I think it's a love letter to women and women of color, specifically, because of just what you said. I'm very mindful of how I put things together, how I do my makeup, my hair, the clothes. Because, you know, Charlize Theron could wear this haircut, and it looks a certain way. We do this all the time with hair that we're like, “Okay, now, if Charlize wore this, what would the vibe be? And if I wear this, what would it be? Different things can get projected onto [your looks]. In no way do I deny who I am and where I come from. I'm very, very proud of it. But there's also a level of elevating [beauty and fashion] and presenting it in a way that's not neglectful of who I am, but something that people can digest and get into. There is nothing wrong with you authentically showing up as yourself as well, Read the room, you know what I mean? What I would wear to the Golden Globes is different from what I would wear to the Oscars or what I would wear to a premiere. 

I'm very intentional, and at the same time, I love to have fun. And there's something that my stylist said the other day that made me so excited. I was like, “I really like this one outfit and we go on to do London press after this. Maybe we should save it for London.” He was like, “we don't save clothes, wear them. We'll never run out of clothes.” And so it's just about being yourself. Have fun! Don't be scared and don't be worried about what you think people are going to think. What I love is that I'm in control of my brand and what I'm putting out there, right? And so that's really exciting and fun. I just want to encourage all women, but especially women of color, especially Black women, and especially curvy women to wear [whatever you want] and have fun with it, because you're not going to know unless you experiment. You know how you have some girlfriends where they've locked into, like, “purple is my color,” and that's all they do. Or, like, power suits, and they look amazing in it, but  also just want to encourage women to try other things too, because you might be surprised that other things look great on you too. I really love to encourage a sense of play and going out of your comfort zone because you're just conquering more territory.