Q. How are you feeling about the Emmys? Your category is a tough one.

A. It really is. I think I feel about the Emmys the same that I feel about any awards — they definitely make me very nervous. And even as I’m speaking to you, I can’t really explain why they make me so nervous. Maybe the scrutiny of your work. The comparisons to other actresses’ work, it all makes me nervous. Everyone deserves the award. We’ll see who gets it, and I’ll be happy. And then I have to go to work the next day.

Q. What do you think about the kind of roles Shonda gives women the opportunity to play?

A. She doesn’t put any limitations on the narrative based on your skin tone, your sex or your age. She doesn’t put any limitations on it at all. And neither does Pete Nowalk, who created “How to Get Away With Murder.” Where else would you see a show where Marcia Gay Harden is my sister-in-law, or me as a dark-skinned 50-year-old black woman with a sex life that’s messy? As much as people have critiqued Shondaland, they miss the fact that it’s progressive. That no one else is doing it.

Q. In addition to “Suicide Squad,” what else are you working on?

A. They are making “Fences,” August Wilson’s play, into a feature that Denzel Washington is directing and I’m going to be in. My husband and I started a production company, and we are doing Harriet Tubman’s story for HBO that Kirk Ellis is writing. And Tony Kushner is writing a project that we got greenlit at Fox Searchlight about the great congresswoman out of Texas, Barbara Jordan. I’m always moving.

Q. Are you drawn to the writing first?

A. I’m always drawn to the writing because it starts there first. That is why people can read scripts online and know a year in advance who is going to be nominated for an Oscar based on what’s on the page. Because if it’s not on the page, how can you play it?

Q. What was the impetus for starting your production company?

A. I knew that that was the only way I could get the material that really could make me shine. I had to be in control of it. I couldn’t just sit and wait for Hollywood to bring it to me. And this was after “The Help,” after I was nominated in the best actress Oscar category. Even on top of me starting my production company, the success of “Murder,” the Oscars, I still have a hard time getting movies done. It’s still always a fight.