Throughout “Greed,” Monique Coleman’s character, Zuri, goes through many changes. After meeting Miss Viv and Godfrey, she participates in more and more deceitful — and at times, illegal — behavior to satisfy her ambitions. For Coleman, the complexity of the character was one of the driving factors in joining the project.
“The idea of greed and playing this role of someone who kind of teetered on the line of morality was really enticing to me,” Coleman said. “I have some personal experience as well being on the receiving end of fraud, embezzlement, and that sort of thing. As an actor, we get this really neat opportunity to wear someone else’s skin and to wear someone else’s story and to understand their mentality.”
For Coleman, it was important not to portray Zuri as a victim. While she acknowledged that Zuri was taken advantage of, Coleman maintained that she still understood what she was doing. “She was not a victim to her circumstances. At some point, she made a choice, and that was very interesting for me to really reconcile, because I don’t like for there to be like, ‘Oh, she was just dumb and didn’t know.’ No, you knew full well, or at least you felt it. So often, we don’t listen to our instincts … we allow ourselves to be blinded and to make these small micro-decisions that ultimately end up having huge consequences,” Coleman said.
