Zazie Beetz’s Career is Humming Along in Perfect ‘Harmony’ With Her Role in FULL CIRCLE

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede Good intentions and personal ambition don’t have to be mutually exclusive, according to Zazie Beetz. The EMMY®-nominated actress made that point during a conversation about her character in the six-part HBO Max series FULL CIRCLE, which wraps up on Thursday, July 27 with the final two episodes dropping on Crave. In the first few minutes of FULL CIRCLE – a Steven Soderbergh-directed crime and family drama that also stars Claire Danes, Timothy Olyphant, Jharrel Jerome, Dennis Quaid, Jim Gaffigan, and CCH Pounder – Beetz’s character, Mel Harmony, is faced with a choice. She’s a U.S. Postal fraud inspector who learns that a dangerous situation could be developing, and she opts to insert herself, rather than simply passing the information along and leaving it there. So, have Harmony’s actions caused Beetz – who is best known for her roles in ATLANTA, EASY, BLACK MIRROR, INVINCIBLE, Deadpool 2, Joker, Nine Days, Bullet Train, and The Harder They Fall – to ponder the types of individuals who run toward danger, rather than away from it? “Yeah, I do think about that a lot, just in terms of any kind of skill set,” Beetz said. “Like, I could never dream of being a president of anything. That is not my interest. That is not what I run toward. I don’t want to lead millions of people. But we need those people. And it’s such a cool thing, that we all have different gifts, and different things that we’re drawn to.” This is where the consideration of intent came into it. “I think for Harmony, one of her big drivers is ambition, but also acceptance, and trying to prove herself,” Beetz said. “How much of it is a lack of fear of going into this thing, or a desire to help? And how much of it is her own self-serving motivations, around wanting people to take her seriously, wanting to prove her boss wrong, wanting to get something right for herself? I think some of her motivations sometimes get muddled, just due to the layers of emotional things that she has going on. So yeah, she might run into the fray … but for what reasons, I guess.” The narrative in FULL CIRCLE is set in motion by a botched kidnapping, which then exposes the roots of a dark dispute that goes back decades, and spans different cultures and countries. But as Beetz sees it, Harmony’s instinct to push herself is a relatable one, even if the tendency for many human beings is not to realize they were being brave until they look back in hindsight. “I think in general, you need to stretch and push outside of your comfort zone – I don’t know, I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts on wellness and stuff recently, and it’s centred around the idea that if you just stay in your comfort zone, your world actually shrinks versus expands,” she said. “I don’t want to get into specifics, but I recently did a big audition for something that I felt very uncomfortable and nervous about doing. I really pondered whether or not I should do this audition. Am I just going to have egg on my face at the end? Am I just wasting people’s time? I almost decided not to do it. But then I thought, listen, the worst is I’ll just kind of feel embarrassed, you know? But I had to make that decision.” So Beetz did the audition, but unfortunately didn’t get the role. “And that’s totally fine, because now I feel more validated in some of the abilities that I had to perform,” Beetz said. “Even though it didn’t work out, I think I’m stronger than I realized. So yes, I do believe that we all experience that, I’m certain. And it can come from a self-serving place, or from a place of wanting to be considered a good person. But yeah, we do have to make ourselves uncomfortable, certainly, for growth.” Beetz’s positive attitude is resulting in a stellar career on the rise. But will Harmony be rewarded? Viewers of FULL CIRCLE are about to find out. billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv