Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Interview by JANE CROWTHER
The British actor has been working ferociously since her Cinderella breakout. Now, as she adds ‘producer’ to her resume, Lily James invites Greg Williams to the premiere of her first produced feature, Swiped, and considers what the experience has taught her as an actor and a person.
For Lily James’ next evolution she’s planning on becoming a sea siren. When Hollywood Authentic catches up with her she’s prepping for her role in submarine thriller Subversion on the Australian Gold Coast, getting ready for upcoming underwater stunts by learning breath- holding techniques. ‘So I can officially become a mermaid!’ she laughs. She may be joking, but the British actor has had a busy couple of years of transformation – from essaying Pamela Anderson in Pam & Tommy to a wrestling wife in The Iron Claw and dangling off mountains for the upcoming gender-flip reboot of Cliffhanger. And not just on screen, either: having established her production company, Parodos Productions, with partner Gala Gordon, James made the leap to producing her first feature film (as well as headlining) with Whitney Wolfe Herd biopic, Swiped. As she told Greg Williams when he captured her on the way to the film’s London premiere in September, the experience had truly changed her. ‘I’ve learnt so much through producing Swiped. I was building my production company at the same time, so from playing Whitney I was learning that entrepreneurial spirit, ambition, hustle and having a real mission.’
James is probably being modest. It’s clear she’s always had ambition and a mission since her days breaking through on Downton Abbey and Cinderella, which catapulted her to a prolific work output. Stepping up to produce seemed like the next logical step. ‘My partner, Gala, and I were so ferocious in our desire to explore every part of [Wolfe Herd’s] story. But one of the things I learned about producing is to accept the compromises. It’s such a collaboration, which is very powerful, and there are so many wins, but there are inevitably losses too, and everything feels so precious to me. There’s no way I could have done this film and not had at least the agency to be in those discussions, and involved in the edit bringing the story to life. It was very profound for me.
I’m going to love continuing to produce and growing in that – and I think I’ll love it even more when I’m not in it!’
Her bursting upcoming slate is full of both experiences. She recently executive-produced Cliffhanger, a remake of the 1993 Stallone actioner in which she plays a mountain climber alongside Pierce Brosnan as her father. For the shoot, she learnt to rock climb in Ibiza before hanging off precipices in the Dolomites during filming. ‘There’s a spiritual, meditative, slowing down of your mind while climbing,’ she enthuses. ‘I’m working in the edit now with [director] Jaume Collet-Serra, and I was very much involved in the script, the forming of my character, and the family dynamic in Cliffhanger. So it has been a big year of producing.’
Also in the pipeline: Angry Birds 3; playing a cult leader in Harmonia; a thriller with Riz Ahmed, Relay; and Takashi Miike’s Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, a sequel to Abel Ferrera’s classic. It was one of James’ favourite experiences on a film set and one that she nearly didn’t take. ‘I’d been in Costa Rica for six weeks – learning to surf and editing Swiped from the jungle. I didn’t want to come home. And then this job came along, and it was so far out, so wild and explicit and dangerous. I didn’t know if I was ready but I just threw myself into it and I loved losing myself. Takashi Miike works a bit like Clint Eastwood, in that you get one take, and then he moves on. I like multiple takes, exploring and trying different things and being sure we’ve got it. And I had to let go of all of that and lean in. It was magic and invigorating. I felt like every nerve ending was on fire. I was so present.’ She pauses and thinks for a moment. ‘When I was at drama school, there’s a beautiful naivety to the work, and you’re taught to fail. Be bold, be brave, be courageous. And if you fail, it’s probably going to be even more interesting. I think I’d lost that. I was reminded of how much better it is if you let go of the reins.’
I have a great clarity in what I believe in, how I show up at work, what I know I can contribute. But I’m still after the same thing, which is to lose yourself to a moment of work, opposite amazing actors, telling a story that triggers something inside you. Now I have such a heightened sense of time passing, and I just want to make sure that I’m showing up for something that is really meaningful
When she looks back at the young woman in Downton Abbey, what changes can she see now in approach and decision-making? ‘I have a great clarity in what I believe in, how I show up at work, what I know I can contribute. But I’m still after the same thing, which is to lose yourself to a moment of work, opposite amazing actors, telling a story that triggers something inside you. Now I have such a heightened sense of time passing, and I just want to make sure that I’m showing up for something that is really meaningful. The production company is a part of trying to find that agency and clarity. But I’m also trying to find a better work-life balance in terms of feeding all the parts of me – not just the actor.’
As an actor, James also understood the special scorn reserved for Wolfe Herd on social media and via the press. ‘I’m very sensitive,’ she admits. ‘Being an actor, being out there, you can’t help but absorb all these different energies and ideas, and what people project onto you. Having a way of disassociating from that is very important.’ To that end, she plans to spend more time singing/focusing on music (she’s been working with musician Ben Abraham), possibly directing and giving herself time away to creatively recharge. ‘At the moment, I’ve been waking up at 5am and watching the sunrise. I feel much more connected to who I am when I’m living in that rhythm. So I plan on exploring, travelling and seeing the world.’
Before she can exhale, though, she needs to master the breath-holding. ‘I love anything that stretches me and pushes me beyond my limits,’ she smiles. ‘But I’ve really begun to acknowledge how important it is to create better boundaries between yourself and the character. You have to let it go, and come back to yourself…’
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Interview by JANE CROWTHER Swiped is available on Disney+ and Hulu now
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Interview by JANE CROWTHER
The prolific actor has two awards-buzz movies out and has just launched a second season of her self-produced TV show. She tells Hollywood Authentic about being a muse to David Lynch, the family she finds at work and learning to say it as it is.
In Jay Kelly, Noah Baumbach’s bittersweet love letter to moviemaking, the titular Hollywood star (George Clooney) attends an Italian film festival – staying in luxurious accommodation with gorgeous views and encountering people with European sensibilities. So it’s fitting that the film premiered in the land of la dolce vita, bowing at the Venice Film Festival with the cast including Emily Mortimer, Adam Sandler, Billy Crudup and Laura Dern bobbing to their red carpet via water taxi from the Cipriani Hotel, where Greg Williams captured their pre-prem prep and post-event wind-down. ‘It was amazing,’ says Dern of the experience when Hollywood Authentic catches up with her back in LA a few weeks later as she prepares to premiere her next movie, Is This Thing On? ‘The embedded Italian film festival storyline made it particularly delicious!’
Equally delicious, she says, was the experience of making a movie with a company she calls her family. ‘You know, as an only child my best friends have come from every movie that I’ve made, and the filmmakers that found me at a very young age were my best friends. They are as much a part of my life, deeply, as my own family that I was given in this life.’ Key to this particular family is Noah Baumbach, who wrote and directed a story Dern knows well as the child of movie stars – of an actor at the top of his game struggling to balance work and life, trying to navigate fame.
‘I love Noah Baumbach so much. I feel so privileged to have him literally as a family member now. I just feel so safe in our work, in our collaborative discoveries together. I’m like, “Wherever you want me, I’m showing up.” I’ve only had that with a few directors where you feel so blessed to be with them over years. It’s like any relationship – you see so much in each other, and you get to explore and try new things, and you get to know the language of the filmmaker.’
Dern has certainly had her pick of incredible filmmakers in her illustrious, award-winning career, including her long collaborative relationship with David Lynch – more of which later. As the daughter of actors Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern, she has been surrounded by the business from birth and made her film debut in White Lightning and Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (opposite her mother), before going on to work with a who’s who of auteurs. Adrian Lyne, Peter Bogdanovich, Martha Coolidge, Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Alexander Payne, Robert Altman, Paul Thomas Anderson, Jean-Marc Vallée… the list goes on. But while working on Jay Kelly reminded her on all the sublime filmmaking experiences that have brought her to this point, it also marked a reunion of the stars of Grizzly II: Revenge, a 1983 schlock horror that remained unreleased until 2021, featuring Charlie Sheen, Dern and a newbie actor, George Clooney. ‘The ever-famous Grizzly II – we’re giving it so much press!’ she laughs. ‘I’m like, “George, should we be talking about Grizzly II in every interview? The 40-minute, unfinished horror film that we made?” But, you know, what a gorgeous gift that movie was for me, because I got George. And then, on this movie, I got Adam Sandler and his amazing family, who I really call my family now.’
‘Gift’ is a word Dern is fond of using; she projects enthusiasm and gratitude about the opportunities she’s had, and seems invigorated about those that may be on the horizon. The way she talks about her career highlights certainly feel like cherished prizes as she recalls her ‘myriad experiences’. ‘You see a clip of something, or a moment in time – my first movie, I was 11. My whole life is captured from sixth grade on… At 17, I met David Lynch. At 15, I met Peter Bogdanovich on the film Mask. Peter’s way of working was: it’s family. The minute we started, we were in his kitchen cooking or rehearsing. He was introducing me and Eric Stoltz to Renoir and Buñuel movies. He was like, “If I’m going to reference cinema, all of us need to know the language of it.” What an education. It’s a very different way of working. And then meeting David was such an incredible, extraordinary gift that lasted as long as I had him. So I’m very blessed. I’m so grateful that I have those memories, especially as we lose people that we love, that we have all those stories that we experience together. It’s really a great privilege.’
Her experience working with Baumbach on Marriage Story netted her a Best Actress Academy Award after nominations for Rambling Rose and Wild at Heart, as well as BAFTA and Golden Globe wins. She also won an Emmy for her role in Big Little Lies – another ensemble cast where she made friends and learned new tricks, working with Jean-Marc Vallée. So is that feeling of creative fellowship something she actively seeks having experienced it with some of the greatest artists? ‘I think it’s a continual theme for me,’ she considers. ‘I don’t know if it would have had the same value had I not seen it from my parents’ relationships. Yes, my parents were actors who had very close friendships with filmmakers. But more specifically, it was the ’70s. So I got to be privy to ’70s cinema through my parents’ experiences with those filmmakers who made so much impact on film. And the directors that I’m finding now that are becoming my family, have the same language as those people, and the same priorities. So I think that education, if you will, made me long for something very specific.’
You know, as an only child my best friends have come from every movie that I’ve made, and the filmmakers that found me at a very young age were my best friends. They are as much a part of my life, deeply, as my own family
That specificity was perhaps never more in evidence than her long and fruitful relationship with Lynch, with whom she made Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart and Inland Empire. The duo met on a casting call for Blue Velvet and, as she wrote in a tribute in the LA Times on his death, bonded over ‘The Wizard of Oz, Bob’s Big Boy turkey sandwiches on white bread, transcendental meditation… and our shared love of Los Angeles’. Lynch cast her and Dern wrote that she ‘quickly traded college for following you to the ends of the Earth. I never looked back’.
‘After David, I was like, “Oh, am I never going to have that with someone else?” I assumed I wouldn’t,’ she says now. ‘But, you know, I did meet Jean-Marc Vallée, and we did get to work more than once together in such beautiful ways [on Wild and Big Little Lies]. And then the family that is Noah and Greta [Gerwig] – I made films with both of them over the course of a year [Little Women and Marriage Story]. That was such an incredible, rare beginning. And we were dear friends before we started the movies. It’s an incredible gift.’
For Baumbach’s Jay Kelly, Dern plays an exasperated publicist trying to harness an unspooling Jay as his career, family life and public persona come into uncomfortable focus after a run-in with a former friend (Crudup). Constantly surrounded by staff, Kelly is nevertheless lonely, and disconnected from his daughters (Grace Edwards and Riley Keough). Though there’s amusement to be had in poking fun at the pomp of Hollywood (private jets, trailers, lifetime achievement awards), the themes of isolation and self-doubt are something Dern perhaps relates to more. ‘All of the chapters of Jay’s life give us room to consider whichever player we’ve been in any of those moments,’ she says. ‘Longing for having done it differently; not wanting to miss our lives when we’re focused on the big picture of being at an Italian film festival or wherever it is for any of us, for any vocation. I was feeling the gift of the moment, remorse in my own life, question marks; all of it…’
The solitude of Jay in a crowded room isn’t something Dern particularly recognises though. ‘I’ve never felt loneliness because I’m an actor. But I felt loneliness as the child of an actor. I know what that cost feels like by the nature of anyone who’s raised by parents who are taken away to go do their work – you do have a loneliness, because inevitably you’re being left for this other thing, whatever that profession is: travelling salesman or an actor or filmmaker. It’s hard to understand in childhood why your parent is not making you the priority, even if it’s impossible in that profession to do so.’
A mother of two herself, Dern considers how things have changed since her mom and dad were trying to juggle acting and parenthood. How her own experience of motherhood was deliberately, and fortunately, different. ‘You know, when my first child was born, I just didn’t work for almost two years, because I wanted to be there because of what I had been through, I’m sure. But I’m lucky. I have had producers or companies with agents and managers being very protective of [parental needs], figuring out ways to let me take my kids with me or getting me home, and giving me several plane tickets. My parents were in indie cinema. They weren’t being paid enough to fly home, you know? So when my parents went to do a movie, and there was nowhere to put a kid, and they didn’t want a kid on the set – I was blessed to have a grandma to be home with. But my parents left for a movie for three months, and I didn’t see them – we would talk on Sundays on a hotel phone which was very expensive. You had to save up your money for the Sunday call. You didn’t have FaceTime and texting your kids. So the heartbreak that I did sometimes experience was, I believe, matched by my mother’s heartbreak of having to work and leave me. So I am blessed to get to do it differently, and still, I’m sure, mess up all the time! I’m just trying my best.’
The actor’s mothering instinct has extended to Hollywood Authentic cover star Austin Butler, playing his parent onscreen in an uncredited cameo in Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing, as well as helping him navigate his sudden fame off-screen in the wake of 2022’s Elvis. Butler’s late mother was often likened to Dern and their friendship blossomed after he told her about this. ‘I feel like I’m learning every day. I don’t know if I’m imparting any wisdom. But I did find a beautiful and particular bond with Austin. I appreciate that he’s asking the questions deeply, and I was really happy to be there for that process.’
She’s playing another mom in her next film, Bradley Cooper’s awards-buzzy Is This Thing On? based on the real-life experience of British stand-up comedian John Bishop. She plays Tess, a former Olympic volleyball champ whose marriage to Will Arnett’s Alex disintegrates, sending him to stand-up sessions at New York’s Comedy Cellar, and the couple on a voyage of emotional discovery. It’s messy, brutally honest and gives Dern the juicy opportunity to play a complex, relatable mid-life woman. ‘I was so excited Bradley wanted to explore a real relationship, and then also a real couple in their 50s. And to really question in a deep and true way how we lose our way to who we are – which we all do, because we have to continue to redefine ourselves. We’re not who we were at 20. As we go on that discovery and adventure, then we get to redefine the partnership. And if we aren’t looking at ourselves, everything’s going to be lost. So that idea as a premise was really moving to me.’
Every experience I have is teaching me more, especially with these filmmakers who have invited me into their writing process, prep process, editing process. I want to keep learning. I’m definitely open to all the ways that I can be part of storytelling
Written by Arnett and Mark Chappell, Cooper made space for his cast to investigate and contribute to the honing of the characters. ‘He didn’t say, “Here’s the script. Do you want to play the part?” But: “Here’s the invitation. Who is this woman? Let’s find her together.” The process was beautiful. I would share thoughts and ideas, and he would just be like, “Tell me what she’s feeling, what she’s longing for?” These are not therapy-ised people. These are not affluent people. These are all of us trying to figure our shit out.’
Though Dern doesn’t think Tess is like her, there are elements of the character that she’s cleaved to since playing her. ‘I think this is the first character I’ve played where I would say there are parts of me that Bradley knows that I don’t stay true to, that I hope I become when I grow up,’ she smiles. ‘Having that direct “saying it as it is” energy. This is the most honest thing I can say to you… In the last two days even, I’ve found myself – because I’m tired from life and press and whatever – I’ve been saying stuff like Tess would. I think I’m still caught between growing into these qualities, and feeling comfortable with them.’ At this point Dern’s Husky, Baby, begins howling in the house. ‘Sorry, my Husky is very opinionated about this. She is like, “You are not Tess at all. You haven’t told me the truth yet. You haven’t even fed me!”
One thing Baby can agree on, breakfast or not, is the success of Dern as a producer. Having previously produced shorts and docs, she read the novel Mr & Mrs American Pie by Juliet McDaniel, and along with her producing partner, Jayme Lemons, developed the project, shepherding it to TV in the shape of Apple+’s hit limited series, Palm Royale. Originally she planned to play the lead, Maxine, but scheduling meant she offered it to Kristen Wiig with a new role written for Dern as castmate and exec-producer. The show is now rolling out a second season of period adventures among a fierce female cast including Carol Burnett, Allison Janney, Leslie Bibb and Kaia Gerber.
‘As an actor, and a daughter of actors, to see this incredible cast having fun, and loving each other, and doing stuff that nobody gives them a chance to do…’ she marvels. ‘Kristen called me yesterday, and she said, “Did you actually develop a show where you’re letting me basically have musical numbers and dancing, and we’re working with Carol Burnett, and we’re all together producing this?” It’s just amazing. And seeing that, and the attention to detail, thanks to Abe Sylvia, our showrunner, and making sure in the second season that each character has their own arc, and even acting journey – those things are a blessing. Also creating, hopefully, a really lovely fun environment – it’s beautiful that I can do that. And to have that going, and also be exploring, as I love to do as an actor, with these amazing filmmakers that I get to work with.’
She has numerous projects lined up with Lemons under their shingle, Jaywalker Pictures, but perhaps her next progression is direction – especially given that she’s coming into her ‘saying it like it is’ era? ‘I definitely have thought about it. I made a short when I was in my mid-20s, and I loved the experience of that. I love acting – that’s my happy place. But I loved working with actors, and I also was fascinated by the framing as truth, that was so interesting to me. I just didn’t know enough for me to feel confident. But every experience I have is teaching me more, especially with these filmmakers who have invited me into their writing process, prep process, editing process. I want to keep learning. I’m definitely open to all the ways that I can be part of storytelling.’
For now though, there’s breakfast to get for Baby, the press tour for Is This Thing On? and awards season… ‘Last night I was with Adam Sandler and George Clooney. And I was like, “How did I get here, that everyone around me is one of my favourite people?” It’s not just the luck of timing and getting to do these things that I love. But in all three of these projects, I deeply love these people, and admire them so much. You feel like you’re giving a journalist a line when you’re saying that, but I actually am working with my family members. So I’m really grateful.’
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Interview by JANE CROWTHER Jay Kellyis on Netflix now Palm Royale S2 is on Apple+ TV Is This Thing On? is in cinemas 30 January Laura wears Saint Laurent, Armani Privé and jewellery by Pasquale Bruni
Down Cemetery Road star Adeel Akhtar tells Hollywood Authentic about his evening chocolate fix, clapping with one hand and being buried alive in a coffin.
How important is a little bit of nonsense now and then to you? Very important. It allows you to not take things, yourself or other people too seriously. It’s important to take things a little bit seriously, though.
What, if anything, makes you believe in magic? The goodness in people. Especially from people who have gone through a lot and you wouldn’t expect them to be able to have the breadth of emotion to afford to be kind to people, and they are… that makes me believe in magic.
What was your last act of true cowardice? I’m filming at the moment in Greece, and I had to go to the edge of this mountain. I was harnessed and I was clipped in and I did it – but I was terrified.
What single thing do you miss most when you’re away from home? My family and my children. I’m in a beautiful place right now, but it would be even more beautiful with my wife and my kids.
Do you have any odd habits or rituals? It’s not an odd habit, but it is a bit of a ritual. On the first day of filming, I have to pack my bag and leave it all by the door the night before. Everything has to be ready by the door for me to go. And the times I haven’t done that, it hasn’t been a very good day.
What is your party trick? You know that Zen quote? What’s the sound of one hand clapping? You’re supposed to say it doesn’t sound like anything, because how can you clap with one hand? I can clap with one hand because I’ve got a really floppy wrist, and that’s my party trick.
What is your mantra? I don’t have one, but if I were to make one up it would be ‘keep going’.
What is your favourite smell? I suppose the distinct smell of home when I get back after being away for a long time. You know your house always has a particular type of smell? That’s the smell of home.
What do you always carry with you? Headphones. If I’m going on set they’ll be small ones, and if I’m walking around, big ones. But I have to have my headphones because I listen to music all the time.
What is your guilty pleasure? Chocolate with milk in an evening. Or a chocolate chip cookie with milk. But a big glass of cold milk. At the end of the day, that makes me quite happy.
Who is the silliest person you know? My two boys. Both of them are equally as silly as each other. Some of the silly chats that we get into start in English and then end in gibberish.
What would be your least favourite way to die? In a coffin, buried alive.
What’s your idea of heaven? I had it a little bit this summer. Me, my wife and the kids went to the south of France and we hired a little house there with a swimming pool. The weather was lovely, and we drank loads of rosé and ate really well. That was heaven to me.
BAFTA-winning actor Adeel Akhtar studied law at university but found his calling in drama, training at the Actors Studio Drama School and The New School, New York. He made his name in Four Lions and has appeared in diverse projects ranging from Clio Barnard’s Ali & Ava, Sherwood and The Night Manager to Back to Life, Capital, River and Murdered by My Father (for which he won the BAFTA) as well as numerous theatre productions. He is currently starring in thriller series Down Cemetery Road, based on the novel by Mick Herron.
*Arguably one of the most memorable (and quotable) scenes in 1971’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is when Mr Salt mumbles, ‘It’s a lot of nonsense,’ to which Wonka replies, in a sing-song voice, ‘A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.’
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Words by Jane Crowther
Greg Williams joins Rami Malek as he premieres Nuremberg in London, and considers the all-star acting relationships that create on-screen drama.
When Greg Williams’ meets Rami Malek as he prepares for the premiere of his latest film Nuremberg at Claridges in London, he tinkles the keys of the piano sitting in his suite. In his Valentino tux, he matches the keyboard. In his latest film the Oscar-winner plays US army psychiatrist Dr Douglas Kelley, a real-life shrink who assessed the Nazi leaders on trial in the titular city in 1945. Among his patients was Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe) and the conversations the two men have helped unravel Hitler’s high command and revealed the horrors of the Holocaust. It’s a film that shows in unblinking detail the footage of the liberation of the concentration camps and asks questions about how men can commit such diabolic acts. In a world currently in turmoil, Malek sees the modern-day echoes in the chain of events depicted on screen, and the themes the film explores.
‘What it reminds you is, this could happen at any time in history – history does repeat itself, and it will repeat itself. I think the lesson that hopefully people get is what we do when things like this happen in our world? Are we complicit? Are we silent? Is it a call to action? Do we speak up? For me, this film is a way of speaking up. It’s a reminder. Every time we’re screening the film, I’m getting notes from people who are saying, ‘I’m sorry, I couldn’t make it after. I had to wrestle with some things in my mind.’ I think that’s very meaningful. I love when things are entertaining, but I’m very proud of the message that this film tells. I’m really proud of it.’
Key to the film is the cat-and-mouse gameplay between Kelley and Göring. Malek had quite the scene partner in Crowe. ‘I absolutely loved working with Russell, because he’s a titan,’ he says as he walks through the hotel to a waiting car, ready to take him to Leicester Square for the premiere. ‘One would think that he could have a massive ego but he was very generous with me. After our first take, he came up to me, and he said, ‘You’re bringing more to this character than I had seen on the page’. He didn’t have to do that. And I couldn’t tell if that was him just, you know, playing into the character, of wanting to be a bit charming and intoxicating. Or if that was actually just Russell being Russell, and putting his guard down, and saying, ‘Hey, let’s jump into this together, because it’s a powerful story, and we want to bring our A-game’. And we did. There were moments where it was incredibly tense between the two of us. Each take was different. That’s what you expect from someone at his level. I think we just raised our game. We all knew we had to.’
I absolutely loved working with Russell, because he’s a titan, one would think that he could have a massive ego but he was very generous with me. After our first take, he came up to me, and he said, “You’re bringing more to this character than I had seen on the page.” He didn’t have to do that
Malek takes a spin in the hotel’s revolving door for fun before making it to the car. Once settled in the back seat he recalls working with Leo Woodall, co-starring as a German interpreter with hidden secrets. ‘James Vanderbilt, our director, wanted us to meet because we were going to spend so much time together. It started with a lot of banter. I was able to take the piss with him – back and forth, you know, as a Brit. But I quickly realised that we were going to get along very well, and we did. We had each other’s backs through every moment. He has this effortless charm.’ Also on-board, Michael Shannon, playing supreme court justice, Robert Jackson. ‘Shannon and I have known each other for years, so that was an easy relationship to spring back into. He works so damn hard. He loves what he does to a degree that I wonder if there’s another actor who appreciates acting as much as he does. But he is one of the funniest people I’ve also come across. No one expects it, but he’s got this dry wit and charm. And I think he should have his own stand-up routine.’ Despite personal admiration and friendships, each working relationship with each actor was different.
‘Russell could easily, in between takes, jump into a story about him visiting the Sistine Chapel, and them treating him as if he was Maximus, and we’d all be laughing. You’d get those great moments of charm, and that would, in a way, affect how we all related to him as Hermann Göring. You could see how someone could be so charming, even sitting across from him in that uniform. And it would remind you that evil doesn’t just get disguised as a certain uniform or a certain belief system. And then, in contrast, as funny as Shannon is, I know to leave him alone between takes. I have a sense that he wants to be in his personal space. You give that actor their space. And then you come in and bring something new to each take, which he did every time we were together. With Leo, we were able to joke around quite a bit because of the nature of our relationship. But then he ended up showing up to a surprise birthday party of mine, and you realise that relationship is going to continue for quite some time.’
With its subject matter, stellar cast and handsome production values, Nuremberg has something of an old-fashioned quality about it that recalls Kelly’s Heroes or A Bridge Too Far. Malek agrees that it’s the sort of film, in an established-IP landscape, that doesn’t get made very often these days. ‘Oppenheimer, on paper, is a film that shouldn’t be made, but was. That’s the same casting director we had – John Papsidera – who has assembled all of these great actors together. I think when you have people who gravitate to it from the acting perspective we had on board, but also designers – Eve Stewart, who’s an Academy award-winning production designer, cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, who has done all of Ridley Scott’s movies and the Pirates of the Caribbean films…. you get a sense that the film is timely, urgent.
These people could go and be doing anything at this point. The reason that they chose this is because it had something special behind it. We’ve heard of the Nuremberg trials, but we didn’t know that this relationship existed between a psychiatrist, who was charged with discovering if these 22 Nazis were fit for trial. And that’s fascinating in and of itself.’
Malek was moved by the history of the project himself. ‘There are moments when we’re watching the footage of the atrocity in that courtroom. It was played for us for the first time. It’s gut-wrenching. James Vanderbilt built the film like a thriller, and then he gives you this gut-punch as well. I find it odd to use the word, with Nuremberg, “entertaining”. That might sound like a very strange juxtaposition, but it exists, and I think that’s what makes this film especially powerful.’
As the car approached the red carpet on Leicester Square, Malek admits he still gets excited stepping out into the glare of the spotlight, amid crowds of shouting fans and media, despite having debuted numerous films in the city. ‘I used to get nervous. I’ve now found a way to just chill out. Have a nice bath, a cup of tea. But it’s exciting. I’ll find this moment – as we’re about to step out of this vehicle into all of the madness – I will find the joy in it.’ He looks at the crowds waving pictures to sign and chanting his name. ‘There’s a lot of love…’
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Words by JANE CROWTHER
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Interview by HASSAN AKKAD
Emma Watson invites Greg Williams to a game of pickleball in Cannes as she revels in being the happiest and healthiest she has ever been. She tells her friend and filmmaker Hassan Akkad about shedding her public persona, holding space for change and how walking away from things is much harder than walking towards them…
Emma Watson is currently living in the present, practicing being in the world without the pressure of producing. This past May, that meant travelling to the Cannes Film Festival to immerse herself in movies with her friend and filmmaker Hassan Akkad after a self-imposed break from the public eye. It’s there that Greg Williams captured pictures of the actor playing her new obsession: pickleball. ‘It’s the sound the ball makes when you smack it; it’s the best therapy I never paid for,’ she says as she plays. Having had a hectic film career since she was just 10 years old and cast as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter franchise (going on to The Bling Ring, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Beauty and the Beast and Little Women), Watson has since taken a calculated step back from acting to continue her education and challenge herself. After they return from the French Riviera, Watson and Akkad catch up to discuss the exploration of creativity and having the courage to leave something behind.
HA: How are you? What’s been going on?
EW: I’m good. Just been working really hard. I’m working on – actually, I’m not going to say what, because then people are like, ‘Well, when is it happening? What’s going on with this thing?’ So I’m just going to say that I’m working on something that I’ve never done before. So I feel a bit like a person who’s in the dark, stumbling around, looking for the edges of something, and hoping [laughs]. It sounds like I’m trying to find a light switch. But it’s good. That’s the process. That’s the process of making things, isn’t it?
HA: It is. Can you give us a hint of what it is?
EW: You know, it’s so funny – I think this is probably why I’ve been avoiding interviews in general. You’re the only person I would agree to speak to. It’s because I’m just not on a linear timeline at the moment for anything. I’m really going on: ‘Does this feel right? Do the stars align?’ I’ve gone super, super extraterrestrial, touchy-feely.
Oddly, somehow, the less I try to do, the more I get done. I don’t know how I would shape the distinction between effort and trying. Or maybe what I would say is: I’m caring, and I’m present
HA: I’ve always hated the question of ‘What are you up to?’. No one needs to be up to anything, I believe.
EW: I agree. And I’m up to lots of things. But I’m feeling this big resistance. Because even once you’ve done whatever the thing is that they’ve managed to get out of you that you’re up to – then the minute you’ve told them that, it’s like, ‘Well, what about next? What are you going to do next?’ It’s very difficult to be a person who’s living in the present moment in this kind of context. I guess that is, as pretentious as it sounds, what I’m striving for at the moment. I want to speak more to a way that I’m being in the world, as opposed to what I’m producing.
HA: You don’t have to justify your existence.
EW: That’s the other thing I feel pressure around. That I don’t have a right to exist if I’m not being productive in a very specific way, or contributing in a very specific way. Oddly, somehow, the less I try to do, the more I get done. I don’t know how I would shape the distinction between effort and trying. Or maybe what I would say is: I’m caring, and I’m present.
HA: I testify to you being caring and present. I think all of your friends also testify to you being a phenomenal friend. Are you happy and healthy? That’s a question that I would like to ask you.
EW: What a question. The only question that really actually matters. I am maybe the happiest and healthiest I’ve ever been. I think what’s interesting about being an actor is, there’s a tendency to sort of fracture yourself into multiple personalities. I’m not just talking about the roles you play, but having the weight of a public persona, that sort of needs constant feeding and sprucing and glamorising. It’s very energy-intensive stuff. And shedding the multiple identities has freed up so much space, I think, for me to be a better sister, daughter, friend, granddaughter, and then artist. And someone who’s trying to do some critical thinking of her own.
HA: Speaking of acting – Greg took those stunning shots of you in Cannes. What were you doing there?
EW: Everyone’s like, ‘What’s the mission here?’ I was like, ‘I just wanted to go and watch films.’ I just wanted to go and be in the room again with people who absolutely are completely, madly obsessed with film. I just wanted to be part of the atmosphere, and also a part of the community. Because while I might not be making work right now, I still do feel that I’m part of a community, and I want to stay connected to that community, and be part of it. Getting to go and to actually just have the time – not to be trying to promote or sell something, but just to be able to have a conversation with someone, and to look at other people’s work is the goal.
HA: I have to mention that moment when we were together watching Jeunes Mères when the cast saw you watching their film with them. It meant the world to them. I don’t know how you felt. I saw it through their eyes how much they appreciated that you were there watching the film with them.
EW: That was very touching for me. There was one specific actress, Janaina Halloy, whose performance was magnificent. I saw her. She clocked eyes with me, and just immediately broke down. I think that has been a theme of my life, and something I’ve talked about before. Which is, we really value this very active, masculine ‘do, create, go’. But it sometimes undervalues receptivity, and listening, and being there. I just felt the immense power of just giving this person a sense that I was listening to her, and that I thought that what she was doing mattered – enough to be there and show up. And I saw it really move her. That meant something to me too, because I realised I was contributing just by being.
While I might not be making work right now, I still do feel that I’m part of a community, and I want to stay connected to that community, and be part of it
HA: Do you miss acting?
EW: In some ways I really won the lottery [with acting], and what happened to me is so unusual. But a bigger component than the actual job itself is the promotion and selling of that piece of work, this piece of art. The balance of that can get quite thrown off. I think I’ll be honest and straight-forward, and say: I do not miss selling things. I found that to be quite soul-destroying. But I do very much miss using my skill-set, and I very much miss the art. I just found I got to do so little of the bit that I actually enjoyed. The moment you get on a film set, you don’t get very long for rehearsal. But the moment you get to talk through a scene – or I got to prepare and think about how I wanted to do something – and then the minute the camera rolls, and getting to just completely forget about everything else in the world other than that one moment – it’s such an intense form of meditation. Because you just cannot be anywhere else. It’s so freeing. I miss that profoundly. But I don’t miss the pressure. I forgot it was a lot of pressure. I did a small thing for a play, just with my friends. I was like, ‘Bloody hell, this is stressful!’ And that wasn’t even for a real public audience or anything. I don’t miss that.
HA: Will you consider doing something behind the camera? Not on screen but behind the screen?
EW: Yes, I think I’d consider everything. The most important thing, really – or the foundation of your life – is your home and friends and family. I think I worked so hard for so long that my life sort of bottomed out. The bottom fell out of the piece, which was actually me and my life. So I needed to go and do some construction work. Some good foundations for anything else to grow from. Because if you don’t have that, there’s a kind of mania that ensues; a kind of panic where you move from one project to the next, kind of terrified of the void in between them. You realise you don’t have a rhythm to your life. I read this thing recently: each day, our daily lives have to have satisfaction and completion and meaning, in and of themselves. I needed to go and rebuild that. And I’m very happy and proud I did. Because walking away from things is much harder than walking towards things. Leaving things, and not knowing, is much harder, I think, than having a goal, and being able to tell everyone exactly what you’re up to. So it felt very courageous at the time. And, if I’m being honest, I was mostly just really afraid and quite scared. But I’m very pleased that it was the right thing. Sometimes the hard thing is the right thing, not the easy thing.
HA: True, true. You have a habit of listening to songs on repeat. Which songs are you currently listening to on repeat?
EW: I’m so glad that you know this about me. It’s lovable or absolutely abhorrent. I’m not sure which one. I’m listening to Brandi Carlile, who wrote this freaking unbelievable song called ‘You Without Me’ that she wrote for her daughter. It gives me chills every time I listen to it. So that’s the song today that I’ve been playing while I’ve been working on my essay. I’m coming on to the eleventh or twelfth listen [laughs].
HA: Why did you pick up a sport that is named after a pickle? What happened there?
EW: A friend of mine’s parents taught me how to play. They’re retired tennis pros. Over time, it’s just grown into kind of an obsession – an obsession I feel good about. If I can do anything meaningful with my life, perhaps it’ll be of being in service to the great game that is pickleball!
HA: Final question is, what’s giving you hope these days?
EW: Aw, that’s a great question. Honestly, it’s being around young people that still see the world as malleable and changeable, and who care deeply about it. I also just love this idea that, yes, I agree change takes a long time, and the hammer will come down a thousand times on the same piece of stone, and nothing will happen. And then all of a sudden, one day, the stone will crack. I think to say, ‘Oh, you know, nothing ever really changes’ – I’m not sure I believe that.
HA: I can testify to that.
EW: I was about to say: where you are, and what you’re up to, is so relevant.
HA: I’d completely given up on ever going back home to Damascus, and then suddenly one day, you know, after 13 years of being away, I was able to go back. I’m here. It’s a bit stressful because ballistic missiles are flying over my head every day. Change can happen with the blink of an eye. Everything could change. Will you visit Damascus one day?
EW: As your invitee, Hassan? Yes. You are truly my family. So, absolutely. But, to your point… Yes, I’m profoundly disappointed that we still live in a world where so much pain and injustice is possible. But, on the other hand, if you look back through time, we have managed to overcome unbelievable, insurmountable terrible things. There are case studies for the impossible being possible. So, you know, I think it’s a case of knowing everything is not OK, but holding space for the fact that, actually, sometimes in the blink of an eye, things can be different.
Photographs and video by GREG WILLIAMS Interview by HASSAN AKKAD
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Words by JANE CROWTHER
Amanda Seyfried let loose while making her unconventional biopic of Ann Lee, the 18th century leader of religious group, the Shakers – famous for their convulsions, dancing and vocalisation during their worship. Born in Manchester, Ann experienced visions, believed herself to be the second incarnation of Christ and was radical in her teachings. In Mona Fastvold’s film, The Testament Of Ann Lee (which was co-created with The Brutalist writer-director Brady Corbet), Lee is portrayed by Seyfried as a force of nature, inspiring followers and challenging societal norms. When she prays she and the cast dance and move while singing original Shaker hymns, grunting, keening and screaming in a kind of orgiastic ritual.
‘This did feel like an opportunity where there were just no tethers to anything,’ Seyfried told the press in Venice as the film debuted there. ‘Basically, I follow Mona into the light and anything goes because there’s so much freedom, and the only threat is to not use that freedom to your advantage as an artist to go as far deep as you can go to make the craziest sounds. I’ve never been let loose in this way.’
‘The reason I was able to face these challenges as an artist, was because I felt completely protected, held up and surrounded by loving artists, and in a place where everybody knew the value of making this, and understood Mona’s vision. I have to say it, this was incredibly rare and might never happen again.”
Unlike Ann, Seyfried admits she wasn’t always sure of herself. ‘I kept saying [to Mona], ‘go with somebody English,’ because the accent seemed so hard. But she believed in me, and so I believed in me, and here we are.’ Fastvold told journalists that her star possessed the necessary wildness to inhabit the role. ‘Amanda has a lot of power. She’s very strong, a wonderful mother, and she’s a little mad. I knew she could access those things. I saw Amanda was ready to go full force.’
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Words by JANE CROWTHER
The Testament of Ann Lee premiered at the 82nd Venice Film Festival Released in cinemas at a later date Amanda Seyfried wears Prada and Tiffany & Co. jewels
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Words by JANE CROWTHER
Though Benny Safdie’s Venice hit The Smashing Machine centres on the experience of real-life UFC champ Mark Kerr, the key to the story – according to the actor portraying him, Dwayne Johnson – is the relationship between Mark and his girlfriend, Dawn Staples, played with a perma-tan and acrylic nails by Emily Blunt. The bond between Johnson and Blunt is also integral to the project. It was clear to see as Greg Williams joined the duo and Safdie for a pre-premiere toast at the St. Regis before riding across the Venice lagoon to debut their work at the festival. In the Grande Salle, the film was received with a fifteen-minute standing ovation and praise for both leads’ performances.
Having become ‘best friends’ while making the action-adventure Jungle Cruise, the two actors discussed next projects, with Blunt encouraging Johnson to follow his heart and ambition in breaking out of blockbusters. When they began to work on Kerr’s biopic, Blunt admits she found Johnson’s physical and emotional transformation ‘spooky’. ‘It was one of the most extraordinary things watching him disappear completely,’ she told the press on the Lido earlier in the day. Blunt’s metamorphosis was equally impressive as she spent time with her real-life counterpart. ‘I got to know Dawn well and she was very generous with her story with me,’ Blunt said. ‘There was a deep profound love and devotion they had for each other amidst an impossible environment.’
Safdie explained the process he went through with both actors to achieve the level of authenticity he was looking for. ‘Dwayne, Emily and I kept thoughts like, ‘What is it like to really be Mark Kerr? What is it like to really be Dawn Staples?’ We wanted to empathise with these characters in a way that felt like our own feelings. I ended up calling this a kind of Radical Empathy. First, because empathy should be cool, and second, because I wanted this movie to exist as a memory for everyone who watches it.’
The film will surely live in the memory of voting bodies come awards season – with Blunt entering the conversation again for another perfectly essayed performance.
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Words by JANE CROWTHER
The Smashing Machine premiered at the Venice Film Festival Released in cinemas 3 October Read our review here Emily wears Tamara Ralph gown with Tiffany & Co. jewellery
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Interview by JANE CROWTHER
When Noomi Rapace arrives at the Hotel Cipriani pool in Venice it seems she’s channeling her most recent role as nun and modern-day saint, Mother Teresa, in monochrome menswear. In Macedonian writer-director Teona Strugar Mitevska’s biopic, Mother, which looks as the Albanian-born nun’s pre-celebrity life in 1948 as she attempts to start a new order in Calcutta and wrestles with self-doubt and the issue of abortion, Rapace is seen wearing a black-and-white habit throughout, emoting through a wimple that she describes as ‘acting through a little hole. It’s just my face, and my body is covered’. It’s a role that required her to look at herself as well as the life of a world-famous woman. ‘I didn’t know anything about the person, just saw her with different political leaders, and Lady Di,’ she tells Hollywood Authentic. ‘And then when I got asked to play her, I started doing research. I started reading her letters. Her own words were really kind of the route into understanding her. You know what really surprised me? The eternal pain that she was carrying, and how much she was struggling with her faith, with her beliefs, with her own feeling that she was not doing enough; feeling that she was not worthy. All this self-doubt and pain. She said once, ‘If I ever become a saint, it will surely be one of darkness.’ And that’s fascinating. Also, we need to put into consideration that she’s a woman in a man’s world. She was writing letters, and calling the Vatican for years, insisting, and getting them to allow her – to give her permission – to start this vision, this mission that she had, this calling that had been given from God.’
The film explores Teresa’s inflexibility and her ambition – her single-mindedness in getting her calling accomplished. As an artist, does Rapace relate on some level to that drive and ambition that’s required to succeed in acting? ‘Yeah, the ambition and how determined she was. Coming from this small, isolated, quiet small farm in Sweden – I had no access. I had no connections. I didn’t know anyone in the world outside of the farm. I left when I was 15, and went on a journey on my own; Teresa left when she was 16, and went to join the Loreto Sisters in Ireland. I can find a connecting tissue between us in this very stubborn, determined fight for something. But also a lot of self-doubt. I’m very, very hard on myself. I grew up carrying a lot of pain, and a lot of my journey is very much to find peace, and to be accepting myself, and to forgive and be grateful, and to not be too hard. Teresa was very much ‘no exceptions – rules are for all’ – this was very much me when I was younger. You might sleep two hours, but you still go to the gym. I couldn’t understand people being like, ‘But I’m tired.’’ The actor smiles and admits to being kinder to herself these days. ‘That comes with success and aging. I love ageing. It’s been so good to me,’ she says. ‘I feel so much more at peace, and open. I think I was running away from things for many, many years, or running towards something. And now I’m really practising being in the now, and being in the moment.’
Success with films such as The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Sherlock Holmes and Prometheus have also allowed her to take on films such as Mother, lending her name as well as her skills to smaller indie films and working with female directors. ‘I’ve been an actress since I was 16. I worked with so many men; amazing male directors, amazing male stars. But it’s always one woman in a group of men, and the imbalance has been shocking. How do you pave the way? How do you create a field – a stage – for women to practise their skills? I think it’s so important to make conscious choices. Because it’s so easy to take what’s in front of you, a more safe route. And when you work with a first-time director, for example, you do take a risk. So you need to step in, and be like, ‘OK, I commit to this. I’ll stand there with you. I’ll be frontline with you, and we’ll carry this together.’’
Rapace describes the robust relationship of questioning she had with her director on Mother – a freedom she says she might have labelled her a ‘difficult’ with other collaborators. ‘I’ve seen male stars coming in and being really difficult, not showing up, being late, and coming in and being really negative. And then I come in and be like, ‘I actually feel like we should look at this line, because it doesn’t really resonate with what we did yesterday’, it’s like, ‘OK, we really don’t have time for this, Noomi’,’ she laughs. ‘I mean, look at our history, women are witches. We are complicated. We are troublemakers if we come in and cause problems. But I feel a lot of hope. I feel a shift. There are such incredible female directors and producers and production companies. Look at Margot Robbie. Look at Emma Stone’s company. Female actors creating a space, and giving opportunities for other females. I get really moved by it, to be honest.’
Mother is providing space for more female stories she says; ‘It’s a feminist movie because we’re shining a light on a complex human who happens to be a woman’. It’s also an account of a pro-life woman that is pertinent to today’s erosion of female reproductive rights. ‘I was questioning Teona. I was like, ‘Why do you want to have this in it?’ She’s like, ‘Because this conversation is needed’. The fact that still today there are countries where women cannot drive, women cannot vote, women belong to the men, women cannot divorce – I mean, what the Fuck?’
For Rapace, living with the complex Teresa while filming on location in India was a draining experience. ‘We shot in the actual footsteps of Mother Teresa. We shot in the slums, the schools, in the spaces she created. I have a hard time finding words that match the feelings of what I experienced being there. But I felt like I was sort of peeling off layers and layers of myself. Towards the end, I was crying every day. It was just so beautiful to experience it – In the end, I wasn’t even entirely sure what was me, and what was Teresa. I came back to London after filming. I had two weeks, and I was so lost, walking around in my house, just in a circle like a caged animal. And then slowly I started finding my footing, and finding ground again. And then this great sensation of feeling grateful for what I’ve learned from doing this movie, and allowing this person to live in me. Even though I don’t really like or agree with her, it was a really challenging and powerful experience.’
As an actor she admits to being ‘obsessed with the human psyche’ and an advocate of therapy. ‘I’m fascinated with how we become who we are, and what tools we are given from an early age. How big is our emotional, psychological toolbox, you know? I’m a firm believer that you can go pretty fucking far in your own healing. I’m working on myself, you know? I do think that it’s important to protect yourself, but also to keep reminding yourself of “What is my journey? What am I interested in? And not what they want me to do, and not what pays me the best.’ So the moments when I close my eyes, and I listen to myself, and I can’t hear my own voice – that’s been moments that it’s like, ‘t’s time to change. I need to change something here, and redirect my life route, to start hearing my own voice again. Because it’s the only one I have’.
That voice wants to work with Andrea Arnold, Kathyn Bigalow, Tilda Swinton, Molly Manning Walker and Chloe Zhao and has taken her on projects such as Maria Martinez Bayona’s This Is The End with Rebecca Hall, which she just wrapped on. ‘I came off set every day just filled with joy,’ she enthuses. ‘It questions ‘what is life for?’ and holding onto youth.’ And she’s completed Hot Spot with Agnieszka Smoczynska. ‘She describes the movie as a poem,’ Rapace says of her director. ‘She works with sound, images, symbols. She’s a very, very special human being. We did one scene – I think maybe 20 takes – and she just kept pushing me. I felt at the end I was a sort of jellyfish. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I was completely allowing her to guide me. She’s an extraordinary human. I loved it!’
Mother premiered at the 82nd Venice Film Festival and will be released at a later date Noomi wears Ami and Messika jewels. Styling by Jonathan Huguet
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Words by JANE CROWTHER
The transformation of Dwayne Johnson into UFC champ Mark Kerr isn’t just in performance – though that’s revelatory with Johnson’s best dramatic work to date. It’s also about evolving as an actor and public figure. As he arrived at the Venice Film Festival to premiere The Smashing Machine, which he also produced, he told journalists that he’d wanted to take on a role like this for some time and that he and his director, Benny Safdie, and co-star, Emily Blunt had discussed the process for a while. Blunt, he said, had encouraged him to make the leap to such a challenging role.
“The three of us have talked for a very long time about, when you’re in Hollywood — as we all know, it had become about box office,’ the star of Fast & Furious, Jumanji and Moana said. ‘And you chase the box office, and the box office can be very loud and it can become very resounding and it can push you into a category and into a corner. This is your lane and this is what you do and this is what Hollywood wants you to do.”
‘I looked around a few years ago and I started to think, you know, am I living my dream or am I living other people’s dreams? You come to that recognition and I think you can either fall in line — ‘Well, it’s status quo, things are good, I don’t want to rock the boat’ — or go, I want to live my dreams now and do what I wanna do and tap into the stuff that I want to tap into, and have a place finally to put all this stuff that I’ve experienced in the past that I’ve shied away from.’
In the A24 film Johnson charts a three year period in Kerr’s career when he was fighting an addiction to painkillers, defining the now-huge UFC world and riding a rocky road with his girlfriend, Dawn (played by his Jungle Cruise co-star and friend, Blunt). He shows a vulnerability audiences haven’t seen from the actor before in a performance that already has awards heat. Johson brought the real Kerr to the festival with him and told the press that the process of playing the fighter had changed his life. And he thinks that the film will offer something to audiences too – not just athletes and sportspeople. ‘It’s not about the wins or the losses … it’s also a film about what happens when winning becomes the enemy. And I think we can all relate to that pressure.’
Winning might be something Johnson has to get comfortable with as we head into awards season given the glowing reviews he’s received out of the festival. The star was greeted rapturiously by crowds on the premiere red carpet after he travelled there with Greg Williams – and the film received a 15 minute ovation, reducing the actor to tears. ‘I’ve been scared to go deep and go intense and go raw until now, until I’ve had this opportunity,’ Johnson admitted. Facing the fear looks like it was worth it – it’s a knockout turn.
The Smashing Machine premiered at the Venice Film Festival and is in cinemas 3 October Dwayne Johnson wears Prada and Chopard
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Interview by JANE CROWTHER
MIU MIU’S WOMEN’S TALES: FRAGMENTS FOR VENUS The last time director Alice Diop presented a film in Venice with Saint Omer in 2022 she won the Grand Jury Prize and with the Luigi De Laurentiis Lion of the Future award. She was also overwhelmed. ‘It actually took years to revisit that experience, and to digest it,’ she admits over tea and biscuits in the Baglioni Hotel, perched on the Grand Canal. She returned to the Venice Film Festival to serve on the First Film jury, but this year she presents her short film, Fragments for Venus as part of Miu Miu’s twice a year Women’s Tales strand. ‘This film is as important as SaintOmer. I don’t see a difference between short films, feature films, etcetera. But the stakes are lower in that this is a film that is going to live its life. It doesn’t have to make a big splash coming into the industry. So the only stress is really whether what I’ve put into the film will be heard. The moment you let your work go, there is a lot of anxiety and fear around that. I’m certainly not in the same state that I was in with Saint Omer, which I think I was actually in a state of disassociation going into that premiere. This time, I’m welcoming the pleasure and joy of presenting a film.’
Her film explores the way the Black female form has been portrayed in worlds of art throughout history, set to the powerful poem ‘Voyage of the Sable Venus’ by Robin Coste Lewis. As the stanzas list the titles of different works of art an actress (Saint Omer’s Kayije Kagame) wanders a gallery looking at the pieces. Later, the film tracks a young poet (Sephora Pondi) as she finds inspiration in the streets of Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn. Both actors wear garments from Miu Miu, but that’s the only involvement the fashion house had in creating the project, says Diop, noting she’d been asked to participate numerous times but only found the time was right recently. ‘The only reason that I agreed to do this project is because there was absolutely no directive other than using some clothing from the latest Miu Miu collection. So it was an absolutely free commission. I had total freedom to create and think. It’s not enough for me to simply respond to a commission. To make a film, I need to be driven by an imperious necessity – a really strong desire. Eventually they came at a perfect moment where this film provided the ideal occasion to go further with things that I was reflecting on already.’
Diop worked with a translator, Nicholas Elliott, while on a residency in New York and it was he who found and translated Coste Lewis’ work for the writer/director. It was the title poem from her collection Voyage of the Sable Venus that particularly struck a chord. ‘It revisits the entire history of art and the construction of the gaze, and shows how the Black female body has been objectified and fetishised throughout that history. It’s a highly political poem and very experimental, but also very simple. And it truly was instrumental in inspiring this film which questions the representation of the Black female body, and of trying to use cinema as a way to repair the deformation of these images. Kayije’s beauty, her way of moving – in contrast to this great, classical, European art – creates meaning. And I hope it allows the viewer to see the way that we have been forced to accept a certain type of beauty, and exclude others. So to see her beauty in contrast with this art, interrogates the absence of certain beauties. As for Sephora Pondi, the power of her body, her beauty, her presence – it allows us to open up, and free the idea of the Venus, and to offer Sephora and all these women that we encounter in the streets of Brooklyn the opportunity to be Venuses.’
Diop has been instrumental in changing perceptions of Black women in cinema through Saint Omer – so does she feel more hopeful about the representation she is seeing in today’s art? ‘My expectation and my hope is that there will be more of us who have the means and the audience to revisit these deforming, secular visions. There aren’t many of us now. I would like for there to be more. For instance, at a major festival like the Venice Biennale, I’m not sure if there’s even one racialised filmmaker this year. There’s maybe more in the fine arts happening. Cinema still has a lot of work to do. So I’m not sure I would say that I’m confident. But, in any case, I’m hard at work, and I expect to be supported in my work by more colleagues – all of us driven by this collective effort.’ She’s currently working on a new secret project but she smiles enegmatically when asked what we might expect from it. ‘I am certainly at work, but it’s still too fragile to really talk about…’ she says as she disappears to get ready for her premiere.
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Interview by JANE CROWTHER
Women’s Tales: Fragments for Venus premiered at the 82nd Venice Film Festival Alice Diop wears Miu Miu
