Samira Wiley Talks ‘The Gratitude Project’ and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Season 5

Samira Wiley wants to showcase the true power of practicing gratitude. The Handmaid’s Tale star has partnered with the multivitamin brand One A Day for a new documentary, The Gratitude Project. The short will explore real stories from individuals who have been using gratitude as a tool for self-improvement and why they chose to show appreciation, love, and care to their whole selves.

This week, documentary co-producer Wiley spoke to PopCulture about her decision to work on the initiative and why its message resonated “Almost immediately after I heard it, I knew that I wanted to be involved in some kind of way.” She said  gratitude is something “I’ve been trying to investigate and incorporate into my life in different ways and lots of different trial and error.” The Orange Is the New Black actress said the documentary’s topic was meaningful because she has diabetes and rededicated herself to taking better care of her body ten years ago.

“I was going down a path that was not good for me medically,” Wiley explained. “The things that I was hearing about One A Day about, you know, having gratitude for your body, taking care of your body, making sure that you take up like some time out of your day or week, or your month to just sit and be with yourself and say thank you. Like all of these things are [what] I was simultaneously investigating for myself.” 

She said it felt like “serendipity” that she and One A Day had considered this project idea around the same time. In a press release, One A Day said the documentary’s concept is based on a study that shows internet searches for the term “what is gratitude?” increased sixfold from January 2020 to January 2021, as recent events highlighted the importance of showing gratitude to others and oneself. The company said its goal is to change the narrative about body gratitude by inspiring people to practice it daily because everyone has something to be grateful for.

Wiley said that the short film “specifically shows different examples of people. We’ve got 3 other people other than me in the documentary. And they showcase their own routine. How they’ve come to believe the things and incorporate [them] into their lives. “When I saw it just showed me all of these different connections that we have,” she added. “I feel like life is really about human connection, right? And there’s these things in these people’s stories, and hopefully in my story as well, that can connect to certain parts of people and inspire them to incorporate gratitude in their own life. I think it worked for me, and I think it can work for a lot of people.

Wiley described producing the film as the most vulnerable thing she has ever done since she has never worked on a documentary before. Unlike acting, there was no “protection” for her “actual self.” “This was really vulnerable, she said. “It was scary. It felt like opening myself up to the world and to whoever will be watching this documentary in a way that I haven’t before. I talked about things that I have never talked to anyone about before in this doc, and it was scary.” 

“I’ve never done anything like it, and II’m very pleased with how it came out,” Wiley continued. “All of these subjects are talking about something very personal to us.” A very personal event in Wiley’s life was the birth of her first child with Orange Is the New Black writer Lauren Morelli in April last year. When asked if becoming a mother changed her perspective on gratitude practice, the actor remarked, “I think it just heightened. There is nothing that will let you know that you need to have gratitude for your body and what it can still do than having a problem running around.”

“There are so many things now that I’m hyper-aware of because of having a child,” Wiley said, “and my health is another one of those things on that list. I want to be able to be here for her as long as I can. But I also want to be able to set good examples for her. I want her to see me treating my body and myself in a certain way and take that as a cue as to how she should treat her own body.”

While she’s been working on other projects, such as Breaking News in Yuba County, Wiley has given hints about what to expect from June’s story in the upcoming fifth season of The Handmaid’s Tale. But what is in store for Wiley’s character Moira? “Moira is just trying to figure out where she fits in all of this because the Moira that we know from season one, there is no question on where her head is, Wiley revealed. “She wants to kill everybody and burn it all to the ground. This Moira is a very different Moira. This Moira has been a refugee for a number of years now and has seen pain and suffering and has had a change of heart. So, I think she’s just kind of having a little bit of a struggle to see where she fits.”

The Gratitude Project documentary will premiere during the Tribeca Festival on June 16, 2022. One A Day is asking consumers to share their personal body gratitude stories on social media for a chance to win a trip to New York City to attend the premiere of The Gratitude Project at the Tribeca Festival. Participants can enter the contest here.

All submissions are available to view on the One A Day website. The Gratitude Project documentary will be on the One A Day website and YouTube page following the premiere.