Gabourey Sidibe is fearless: Actress Gabourey Sidibe, 36, stars alongside Janelle Monae in the political horror film Antebellum, in which Monae's character is trapped in the pre-Civil War South. Here Sidibe talks about flipping horror movie scripts, not sleeping at night, and cat butts (yes, you read that right).

Marie Claire This film is top secret. Tell us about this film.

Gabourey Sidibe: Yes, there is a veil of secrecy around this film. It is super dark. It is a psycho thriller. There is a point where you are walking around in the dark with your hands outstretched, trying to find the walls. It keeps you on the edge of your seat, not just on your toes. It's a really fun, incredibly dark and scary ride.

I was drawn to Dawn, who I played, because I felt like I knew someone like her. Some of my friends are a bit flamboyant and pretentious, so I drew from that. I enjoyed the opportunity to pretend to be them. Because I'm not that boogie.

MC: We are seeing more and more social horror films like "Get Out," "Us," and now "Antebellum." Why does horror serve as a metaphor for social and racial experience?

GS: The people who are making horror films now were watching horror films when they were young. Back then it was Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. Now as adults, no one is afraid of monsters. I am afraid of the political climate in this country. Interacting with people who don't believe I have human rights is scarier than any vampire or werewolf. If you want to scare people, talk about what we are surviving every day and what we may not survive tomorrow.

MC: Besides the political climate, what keeps you awake at night?

GS: I recently had dinner with my cousin, who reminded me of a terrible ex-boyfriend. When I went to sleep that night, I went back to that relationship. A very nasty one. But, you know, mistakes were made. I was in my early twenties; you don't know anything in your early twenties; you don't know anything in your late twenties; you don't know anything until you're forty-five.

MC: What do you want viewers to feel after watching Antebellum?

GS: What I got out of it is the idea that if we don't pay attention to history, we can't predict what the future will be like. The future is much closer than we think, and so is the past. Time has no meaning unless we try to change things.

MC: How has the role of black women in horror films changed?

GS: I remember as a kid watching horror movies and black people were the first to be killed. We seem to have gotten to the end of more of them. The important thing is that we don't just go to the end of the movie; we write our own story, we tell it, we act it out. Not just as a black man, but especially as a black woman. I cannot separate being a woman from being black. I am a black woman. But I think that is changing. I can see that it is changing. I hope it will change faster.

MC: Where do you see your role in that change?

GS: The great thing is that I am now the writer and director (of an episode of Empire and a short film). Not only do I have the option of being on one camera, but I also have the option of being on both. That's how I intend to help make a difference, by creating my own story and being in it. The world is like my oyster.

MC: You've been busy. What are your hobbies?

GS: This may sound super lame, but I love spending time with my cat. He is the most handsome cat in the world. I also do all sorts of other lame and normal things: travel as much as I can, go to my parents' house on the weekends, and see my therapist once a week.

MC: That's quite a good look.

GS: I feel like I'm the opposite of what actors and celebrities are supposed to do, but I know I hang out with my cats, see my therapist, and bitch about it.

MC: Anything else people don't know about you?

GS: It's a really, really weird secret, but I color a lot more than most adults. I have a bunch of coloring books, I always buy colored pencils and colored pencil sharpeners, and I'm only into glitter markers because I'm three. Someone gave me a cat's butt coloring book. It's a Christmas edition. There's a cat hanging near the Christmas tree and Santa Claus, but it's a cat butt. Also, I'm Senegalese and I really like African prints. My therapist gave me a coloring book of beautiful women in African prints.

MC: So you go back and forth between beautiful African women and cat butts.

GS: Exactly, that's me in 2020.

This interview originally appeared in the April 2020 issue of Marie Claire.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article listed the release date for Antebellum as April 24. Due to the worldwide outbreak of the coronavirus, the film's release has been postponed.

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