Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis tells Hollywood Authentic about her hands-free life, her baby impression and the magic that surrounds her.
How important is a little bit of nonsense now and then to you? I think I’ve lost my sense of nonsense. As I get closer to the end of my life, the seriousness of all that encompasses every human being’s and living creature’s daily existence and their fight to survive always seems to take precedence. I’d love a little nonsense.
What, if anything, makes you believe in magic? I look at my life daily and see the magic that surrounds me. From the work I get to do and the people I get to do it with, to the people who call me ‘mother’, ‘wife’, ‘sister’, ‘friend’, and the look between me and my little rescue dog, magic is everywhere.
What was your last act of true cowardice? I’m pretty brave.
What single thing do you miss most when you’re away from home? My children are grown and have their own lives and my husband is very self-sufficient, but my little dog, Runi, and I have a very close bond and I really miss him.
Do you have any odd habits or rituals? I’m a fairly routinised person. I have systems. I’m well organised. I’m habitual in both good and bad ways.
What is your party trick? I can make the sound of a newborn baby that can make breastfeeding women lactate!
What is your mantra? Teams Make Dreams.
What is your favourite smell? I have worn Oscar de la Renta’s signature perfume since I was 19 years old. My friends always hug me and tell me that I smell like me.
What do you always carry with you? My bandolier is the game changer that removed the need for me to carry a purse. Second would be my Bottega lanyard that carries my keys. I am a hands-free gal.
What is your guilty pleasure? I am fond of chocolate-covered pretzels.
Who is the silliest person you know? My husband is the funniest person I have ever met.
What would be your least favourite way to die? Asleep or drowning.
What’s your idea of heaven? My life is my heaven.
Award-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis made her film debut as Laurie Strode in Halloween and has revisited the role throughout her career while also impressing in movies such as Trading Places, A Fish Called Wanda, True Lies, Freaky Friday, Knives Out and last year’s Everything Everywhere All At Once – which won her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The daughter of Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, the Californian native has always embraced her standing as a ‘scream queen’ and has written a number of children’s books and a graphic novel. She can currently be seen in The Last Showgirl and has completed filming on Freakier Friday.
Photograph by GREG WILLIAMS The Last Showgirl is out now, Freakier Friday is out 8 August
*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 Interview by GREG WILLIAMS/JANE CROWTHER
Monica Barbaro is looking for resonance in her guitar and career as she goes shopping down Tin Pan Alley with Greg Williams.
It feels inappropriate to be looking at electric guitars,’ Monica Barbaro laughs as she runs her fingers along the contours of an ES-330, ‘given the context of our film’. I’ve brought the San Francisco native to London’s famous Denmark Street (so-called ‘Tin Pan Alley’) for some window shopping during a break in awards-season screenings for A Complete Unknown, James Mangold’s biopic of Bob Dylan, tracing the musician’s transition from 19-year-old folk singer to Fender Stratocaster-playing icon at 24. Dylan’s use of a plugged-in instrument was incendiary to the folk scene in 1965 and his ascent was watched and helped by established acoustic singer-songwriter, Joan Baez. Barbaro plays Joan to Timothée Chalamet’s Bob – and she was not a guitar player when she got the job. Now, she can spot a Martin at twenty paces and carries a fingerpick in her pocket at all times.
It’s mid-December and there’s a chill in the air as we walk the London street famous as the hub of music publishing, where Elton John brought songs to sell, Bowie lived in a van for some time, the Stones recorded at Regent Sound Studios and Dylan visited in the ’60s. As we pause to peer in the windows of a shop selling drum kits, Barbaro recalls that her role on Top Gun: Maverick was the first to require musical training (alongside the G-force flights and aerial combat classes). ‘I was supposed to drum in Top Gun. I was in drumming lessons for two straight weeks. I remember, at one point, I started crying over the drums, because I was learning to fly, I was drumming, I was learning to play pool, working out – it was crazy. And they said, “We’re cutting that.” Thank God. It would have been a very bad idea!’
Her role as the first female pilot in the franchise, Lt. Natasha ‘Phoenix’ Trace, catapulted the actor to the awards circuit and to greater recognition, and gave Barbaro a heavyweight champion in Tom Cruise – he turns up to support her at the screening later that evening. ‘Tom cares so much about making a great quality film,’ she says when considering what she learned from Cruise. ‘There’s less settling in filmmaking. If you’re going to commit all of your time and your life, and sacrifice relationships for it, you want – at the end of the day – for it to be something you’re really proud of, and not just necessarily making something people fold laundry to. To be a working actor, it’s really satisfying to get to be a part of something where the standard level is high, and you’re working with the best in the industry. I’ve gotten to do that, which is crazy.’
If you’re going to commit all of your time and your life, and sacrifice relationships for it, you want – at the end of the day – for it to be something you’re really proud of
Top Gun: Maverick also got her the audition for Baez, a role that Barbaro always knew would test her musically. ‘I played the ukelele for fun, but I wasn’t a guitarist at all. I’d tried, but then my fingers would hurt, and all the songs I liked were really hard to play. So I kept quitting – which is easy to do when you don’t have any deadlines or anything.’ She had a deadline of five months to perfect a number of Baez’s songs when she landed the part. ‘Then the strikes happened, so I had more time to practise. And that was helpful. I almost lost the job in that time because of scheduling stuff, but I just kept practising. And that’s when I learned to play and sing at the same time. I couldn’t train with any coaches, so I was just playing and singing, and I finally learned how to do both at the same time.’
She still plays now but has the bug to learn more. ‘I’m not super-comfortable strumming because I’m still really shy about it; fingerpicking you can do quietly.’ We walk to Hank’s Guitars, a fixture on Tin Pan Alley housed in a Grade II listed 17th-century building and specialising in vintage guitars where artists such as Keith Richards, The Edge and Noel Gallagher have shopped. An Aladdin’s cave of six-strings, Hank’s is wall-to-wall with guitars; upstairs – acoustics, downstairs – electric. We start upstairs where Barbaro makes a beeline for the Martins, Baez’s signature instrument. A vintage poster for a Baez album is on the wall next to them. ‘The sound of these is so beautiful,’ Barbaro says, taking one down and perching on a leather chair, surrounded by instruments. ‘I feel very lucky that I own one now. I’m not sure if production gave it to me, or if I stole it, but I’m not giving it back!’
She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a fingerpick, beginning to noodle on the strings, playing There but for Fortune. It’s the fingerpick she used throughout filming as Joan. ‘I actually carry it around all the time now because it reminds me that I want to keep playing guitar, and also it feels like this totem of proof that it happened, because it’s so surreal to me that I even got to shoot this movie at all. Putting it on feels like a self-belief thing that’s kind of magical.’ As she strums, she shakes her head and claims she’s rusty. ‘The challenge when you finish something like this is: “Can you keep yourself practising once it’s all said and done?” Because we were training hours and hours a day, and we were filming for hours and hours. Your skill level just sky rockets, and then you wrap, and you need to do other things that don’t require a guitar…’
She switches songs; ‘This is a really pretty one, Girl from the North Country.’ It’s an apt tune given she’s a NoCal girl, born in San Francisco, raised in Mill Valley, now living in LA. From a young age she trained as a dancer; ballet predominantly, while also studying Flamenco, Salsa and West African dance. She didn’t know it at the time but Baez’s son, Gabe Harris, drummed for her classes; she only realised when she began researching Baez. Growing up the daughter of divorced parents – a neurosurgeon Dad and a teacher’s assistant Mum – Barbaro was encouraged to embrace the arts. ‘My dad was the first person in his family to even go to college, and grew up very blue collar, Italian-American. I think for me, he’s definitely the person I saw as the textbook American dream. It’s an “anything is possible” kind of belief structure that was given to me by him. And he encouraged me to stay in the arts, because, for him, that felt like something he couldn’t do. But he worked really hard so that I would have the financial stability to be free enough to take the risk of becoming an artist. So I felt very supported by that. My dad is always like, “You’re not lucky. You’ve worked really hard. You’ve prepared.”’
Part of that preparation was moving to New York to study dance at New York University. ‘Dance taught me how much it takes to learn something, and to learn something to the point of absolute believability that you’ve been doing that thing for your lifetime. Dancers can immediately tell when someone is a dancer or not, even just in the way they walk. So to hold a guitar like a guitar player, it takes years and years of carrying that guitar around, and playing it, and knowing how to wield it in situations. So the challenge when it came to playing Joan was immense.’
Immersing herself in Baez’s work, documentary and memoir, learning to play and sing, Barbaro also collaborated with DoPs on her look, creating bespoke teeth and hair, and – with Hollywood Authentic’s resident columnist and the film’s costumer designer, Arianne Phillips – finding the clothes. Though the cast pre-recorded their tracks for the film, when it came to shooting, the decision was made they would all sing ‘live’ on set. That meant Barbaro singing The House of the Rising Sun in a Greenwich club and re-enacting on-stage pairings with Dylan, most notably at the Newport Folk Festival (re-created in a park in New Jersey) and filming at the Chelsea Hotel.
‘All through my pre-teens, all I wanted to do was move to New York and be a New Yorker. And I got to do that in college. Our dance studio was on 2nd Avenue, between 6th and 7th. When I go back there I do reflect on who I was then, and everything I hoped for, and everything I wanted, and wasn’t sure I could ever accomplish. And things I didn’t expect in this lifetime, like this movie.’ Filming A Complete Unknown on location in NY was a full circle moment for the actor. ‘I remember just acknowledging that I was a working actor, and having that feel monumental, walking on those same streets like, “Wow. Remember when you were so cold and broke and tired all the time, and training in dance, and being sweaty, running from one class to another, and trying to keep your head on straight, and barely doing so?” And then to just be like, “OK, now I’m financially stable, doing what I love. That’s huge to me.”’
Barbaro also talked to Baez on the phone, and told her she’d previously worked with her son. ‘She got a kick out of that! It’s got to be so weird to talk to somebody 50 years your junior who’s going to put on some long hair and play you. But she was really generous with her time. We had a great conversation. Folk is a music of authenticity. It’s not over-polished or adorned. I think they are that way about themselves. But anything that she gave me that wasn’t in her memoirs, I feel protective of, and I’ll keep that to the conversation.’
The authenticity of Baez, Dylan and the folk community is something Barbaro likes and hopes to emulate in her own life. ‘They are just very honest. They’re not holding back. They’re not trying to polish an image. Like today, I was given a couple of outfit options by my stylist, and I was like, “This is Hollywood Authentic. I think I want to wear my own clothes, and have my natural hair.”’ The idea of living fully in the present is something that she also subscribes to after the whirlwind of awards season with Top Gun: Maverick that culminated in the Oscars ceremony. ‘When I was there with Top Gun, I felt so lucky to be there, and just tried to be so present in that moment. I just kept thinking: “Embrace it. See it. Feel it.’ The awards are very helpful to films and their future promotion, and they can change an actor’s life. But one of the coolest things about being in that conversation is getting to have that sense of community in a space that can be quite intimidating professionally. It was just so exciting to be there, and to watch people make speeches and honour their fellow nominees, and really truthfully do so. It’s not fake. That was so cool.’
I would love to do theatre. I’ve always wanted to. I know it from a place of dance, but it’s also the thing that made me want to be an actor
We return downstairs to look at eclectic guitars so Barbaro can ask the staff advice on an entry point instrument. As they talk over the counter, she spots a vintage Martin in the window. It’s 124 years old with a short neck and a £13K price tag. She’s given the guitar and she turns it reverentially in her hands, fingerpicking on it while she’s shown electrics. She’s looking for resonance and coos over a vintage 1966 ES-330, similar to the Casino owned by John Lennon. Despite embodying a folk hero and playing all her songs ‘live’ during filming, Barbaro is still shy about her playing; ‘I want to be able to plug into headphones.’ She swaps the acoustic for the electric, sitting comfortably in the shop talking hollow vs semi-hollow body while she plucks the strings.
She considers what she’d like to take on next – along with transferring her skills to eclectic. ‘I would love to do theatre. I’ve always wanted to. I know it from a place of dance, but it’s also the thing that made me want to be an actor – getting to do A Midsummer Night’s Dream when I was 12. Plus, I’d just love to pivot into a totally different genre and get to learn a new skill-set. I just like the newness of it.’ She’ll film Bart Layton’s Crime 101 in London in the new year alongside Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo and Halle Berry. It is, she promises, a pivot. But for now, she needs to work her way to a much-needed Christmas break and make some decisions on what’s next in 2025. One of those decisions might be whether to buy the gleaming ES-330. As we part on the street she tells me: ‘I almost walked out of there having dropped £8,000 on a guitar.’ She laughs. ‘I was like, I’ll think about it. I’ll go away and sleep on it. But I’m still in town, so I guess I could go back and get it…’
Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS Interview by GREG WILLIAMS/JANE CROWTHER A Complete Unknown is in cinemas now
Photographs by CHARLIE CLIFT Words by JANE CROWTHER
BAFTA-winning writer/actor Malachi Kirby is boxing clever and manifesting a purposeful career. He tells Hollywood Authentic about cooking up the perfect balance.
At the beginning of 2022, Malachi Kirby made a wish list for his next project and emailed it to his team. ‘I suddenly had this clarity about what I wanted to do next, and why I wanted to do it,’ the 35-year-old tells Hollywood Authentic during a shoot in the days before Christmas as he prepares to cook a festive feast for 12 family members. Though he’s never cooked for more than two people before, he’s as singleminded and assured that his dinner will come together as he was about his career direction when he appraised it three years ago. ‘There were four things that stood out to me,’ he says of the list. ‘I wanted to play a boxer. I wanted to do a period piece. I wanted to play someone who really existed, because I’d done a few roles like My Murder and Roots and Mangrove. There was something about those jobs that got me more excited than anything else – the research that came with it, and the weight of responsibility of telling someone’s story. And I wanted to do it in London, at home.’ Six months later the role of Hezekiah, a 19th-century Jamaican immigrant arriving in a crime-ridden London and discovering a talent for boxing in A Thousand Blows, came across his desk. Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, production would film in London. ‘This was the thing I was looking for, and it’s been given to me. Pinch yourself! And it was even more special because the character is Jamaican, and I’ve never got to play someone from Jamaica, which is where my family’s from. So this was a very special choice for me.’
Kirby has been making acting choices since he discovered it as a kid at Battersea Arts Centre, round the corner from his home on the Patmore Estate in South London. His father died when he was six and his mum encouraged him to attend the centre. ‘Acting wasn’t something that ever crossed my mind to do. Battersea Art Centre was a space I was terrified of, but it ended up being the safest space that I ever found outside of home. Because it was a space where people were expressing themselves and being silly. And then you clapped for them afterwards. That was my first experience of acting – understanding each other, and understanding yourself more in a space that wasn’t judgemental. It didn’t make me want to be an actor, it just made me want to come back again, come back to this.’
Over time, that impetus evolved. ‘Acting is still a safe space most of the time. But my experience has changed. I’ve travelled with work. I get to dive into character’s minds, and these different periods of history and time; and learn about the world and learn about humanity. There’s all these other reasons that I love doing it now that I wouldn’t have known to think about before.’ Fame, he says, certainly isn’t the lure, despite a growing reputation and recognition as a BAFTA-winner (for Steve McQueen’s Mangrove) and an artist who’s appeared in Roots, Boiling Point and written, directed and headlined his play Level Up at the Bush Theatre. ‘I can’t get my head around why anybody would want to be famous. It doesn’t make sense to me,’ he says, shaking his head. ‘That’s the sacrifice for me. That’s the part that I don’t want but that I know can come with it. And I’ve had to have a discussion with myself about whether it’s worth it or not, in terms of what you can end up giving up, in terms of your personal life and the way that you want to live. Essentially, for me, this career and this craft is about service. I’ve had to understand that this is not something that is about me. It’s letting go of myself to tell this other person’s story. And then on the other side of that, so much of my career has been about service to other people – whether that’s having a chat with someone who’s an aspiring actor or people who watch the shows and how they’ve responded to it and the conversations that come out. And I think that’s something beautiful about it, it’s what keeps me grounded with it as well, and it makes it more of a humane thing.’ Fortune is also an aspect of his career that he keeps separate from the work. ‘I have a rule: I don’t speak about money until I’ve said “yes” or “no” to a project. That’s a boundary that’s helped to protect me to make sure I’m making the decisions from the right place. Because money can be destructive. I’m human just like everyone else. Instead I just go, “Let me focus on the script, the character. If it’s something I’m interested in from that space, then it’s a yes to that.” And then we can talk about the business side of things.’
Writing was my first-ever passion. I was very much a loner when I was a kid. Even when I was around people, I was very much within my own little bubble. Writing was the space where I first discovered new worlds, and I got excited about the idea of what else is possible out there
Kirby is used to writing his own narrative, having started with novels and poetry as a kid, through to putting on his own play in 2019; he’s now moved into screenplays. ‘Writing was my first-ever passion. I was very much a loner when I was a kid. Even when I was around people, I was very much within my own little bubble. Writing was the space where I first discovered new worlds, and I got excited about the idea of what else is possible out there.’ Acting became an extension of that exploration, and his role as Hezekiah in A Thousand Blows sent him on a true journey as he trained in boxing (‘The first part of it was getting in shape, because there was still a bit of leftover lockdown belly going on!’ he laughs) and researched his character’s origins. Though he’d been to Jamaica due to his family connections, Kirby booked a spontaneous trip, inviting Francis Lovehall, who plays Hezekiah’s best friend Alec, so the two could bond off-screen. When they got there, they discovered their director Tinge Krishnan was also on the island researching the show, involving both actors in that process before returning for filming in London. ‘It was incredible. What was just going to be a holiday, and us soaking up the energy of Jamaica and the rhythm and the culture, turned into a research trip with our director. Both Hezekiah and Alec arrive in London at the start of this show, and we’ve got to do the same thing, which was beautiful.’
The show reunited Kirby with Stephen Graham (playing dangerous East End boxer, Sugar) after the two had appeared in the acclaimed Boiling Point. ‘He made a safe space feel even safer from the get-go. And I was learning so much from him, both as an artist and as a creator behind the scenes, because his production company is also producing this. He was very protective over me, in terms of just guiding me through the conversations that needed to be had to ensure the integrity of these characters, and how to navigate this world. He was everything that I needed that I didn’t know how to ask for.’ He pauses and laughs. ‘And then we got into the ring, it was like: we’re throwing this out of the door – he’s terrifying.’ Graham is both emotionally and physically intimidating in the show. ‘I got the brief to lean up, and not eat anything,’ Kirby says of his period-appropriate physique. ‘He clearly had been given the opposite brief: “Eat all of the pies and all of the chicken, and then go to the gym!”’
A Thousand Blows debuts in early 2025 and Kirby feels that it’s going to be a good year for him. And no, he hasn’t made a wish list this year. ‘I’m going into next year very excited, which is an emotion that I’m not used to feeling. It’s not because I know what’s going to happen. I’m just really hopeful about what will happen. I am excited to delve more into my writing, and into producing, and getting more behind the scenes, and finally getting this work developed and out there.’ For his immediate future though, he’s more concerned with how he keeps all his food hot on Christmas Day and ensuring his portions are right. ‘I have three plates, and there’s 12 people coming,’ he sighs. ‘I’ve told my mum she’s not allowed in the kitchen. She’s coming to enjoy herself and put her feet up, and have some good food that’s hopefully not going to be burnt.’ He pauses for a moment and closes his eyes to think of his mother. When he opens them, he smiles. ‘It’ll be perfectly cooked,’ he says with the same certainty he seems to apply to his work. ‘I’ll be fine.’
Photographs by CHARLIE CLIFT Words by JANE CROWTHER Malachi Kirby stars in A Thousand Blows on Hulu and Disney+ from 21 February Grooming by Nadia Altinbas using @lancome @sisley @patternbeauty
The star of TV show Dune: Prophecy talks psychedelic bluebells, photographing rubbish and the impact of a cancer diagnosis when we catch up with her in London.
How important is a little bit of nonsense now and then to you? My favourite pedlar of nonsense was Spike Milligan, who had ‘I told you I was ill’ written on his gravestone. I quoted him to my oncologist when I was diagnosed with cancer. It was a little bit of nonsense then that is important to me now.
What, if anything, makes you believe in magic? I find things magical, but I don’t believe in magic. I love close-up magic. I think The Prestige is one of my favourite all-time movies. If we’re talking magical, a misty morning in the woods when the bluebells give off a psychedelic haze. The jacaranda in LA does it too. That’s magical. The teeterboard in Cirque du Soleil. That’s magical.
What was your last act of true cowardice? Since being ill I’ve become rather disinhibited – I‘ve stopped being afraid of the situations that used to make me cowardly. I have undoubtedly been cowardly, but one advantage of being forgetful is you forget things.
What single thing do you miss most when you’re away from home? Hugging my family.
Do you have any odd habits or rituals? I like to photograph dumped rubbish and report it to the council.
What is your party trick? Reciting ‘Matilda’ by Hilaire Belloc.
What is your mantra? Read the question.
What is your favourite smell? Penhaligon’s Bluebell.
What do you always carry with you? My place card from the 1999 Oscars with a little hand-drawn picture by David Hockney.
What is your guilty pleasure? Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Who is the silliest person you know? Doug Judy.
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and Royal Shakespeare Company alumni Olivia Williams made her film debut in The Postman before becoming an indelible screen presence in Rushmore and The Sixth Sense. Flashbacks of a Fool, An Education, The Ghost, Anna Karenina, Maps to the Stars and The Father are just some of the movies on her varied CV, and she’s also appeared on the small screen in Emma, Friends, Spaced and The Crown. Her latest role as Tula Harkonnen sees her explore the world of Dune 10,000 years before the events depicted in Denis Villeneuve’s recent movies. Premiering in the autumn on HBO, Dune: Prophecy explores the founding of the fabled matriarchal order, the Bene Gesserit, with Williams playing a Reverend Mother who is integral to its genesis – alongside fellow RSC grad Emily Watson.
Photographs by CHARLIE CLIFT Hair and make-up by Ciona Johnson King/Aartlondon Dune: Prophecyis on HBO and Sky Atlantic now
*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 & interview by GREG WILLIAMS As told to JANE CROWTHER
In her downtime between Blink Twice and Mickey 17, the British actor paints with Greg Williams in London as she contemplates her artistic journey and the beauty of an imperfect canvas.
Naomi Ackie admits she’s a ‘big old perfectionist’ in her work, but when it comes to painting – the messier, the more ‘aimless’, the more imperfect, the better. ‘When you’re acting, there’s this feeling of having to be productive constantly,’ she explains as she sits on the floor of an artist studio off Brick Lane in London, getting her hands dirty with her oil paints. She has arrived in overalls, her hair tied back, ready to get stuck in. ‘Painting feels like a way for me to not be productive but feel creative, even when I’m not actually creating…’ She smears colour across her canvas and stops to admire the way two paints bleed together, discovering the work as she goes. It’s a relatively new hobby for her, born from Covid lockdown after she stole her boyfriend’s painting kit that she’d bought him at Christmas. ‘I don’t really take up a lot of hobbies because I think, ‘If I’m not the best at it, I don’t want to do it,’ she laughs. ‘So then I gave myself a mission, which was to do something that didn’t have to be beautiful. I didn’t have to be perfect. And thus started my ugly painting collection. It felt like therapy. I would have a glass of wine, listen to really good music. And I would just spend hours redoing, scraping… the texture of it makes me feel really good. I love the feeling it gives me.’
It’s possibly a hobby that’s always been waiting for her, given she studied fashion and textiles in college and had been obsessed with Jackson Pollock as a teen. ‘I grew up in Walthamstow [East London] and as a teenager, I would jump on a train and go to the Tate Modern. There was a Jackson Pollock painting called Summertime there. That was my favourite. And then obviously when the acting thing happened I decided that my focus was just going to be on that.’
Inspired by the Harry Potter films at the age of 11, Ackie took up drama out of school and progressed to being a student at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. After graduation, she appeared in Doctor Who and miniseries The Five before she made her name in Lady Macbeth alongside Florence Pugh and Cosmo Jarvis. ‘It has stood the test of time as our career starter,’ she says of the film. ‘We did not know it at the time. We were just bumming around in Newcastle for 20 days. I lived with Florence, Cosmo lived two minutes’ walk away in a different house. We’d just drink and chat every evening, and then go in and do some acting.’ That bumming around won numerous BIFAs, including Most Promising Newcomer for Ackie. But while she saw Pugh’s career detonate, her ascent was more of slow burn thanks to a lack of diverse roles. ‘There were no parts available for me to audition for. The path is a bit harder when you’re a person of colour. It’s getting better. But around that time, there was nothing really coming through.’
Things changed after she’d completed TV series The End of the F***ing World and landed a part in one of the biggest movie franchises possible, playing resistance rebel Jannah in Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker. ‘It was a big deal,’ she says of the role as well as the importance of representation. ‘I remember going to the office, and J.J. [Abrams, director] was just like, “This is the first time we’re going to see someone, a Black girl… There’s going to be a lot of people looking up to that; a lot of kids looking up to that.” And it was like, “Whoa, that’s really cool.”’
The exposure led to roles in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe, in Netflix series Master of None and being offered the opportunity to play an iconic real-life Black figure in Whitney Houston. The experience of making the biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody was a learning one for Ackie – emotionally and professionally. ‘With Whitney, there was a technical side that had to be practised over and over again, which is something I’m decent at – but I didn’t anticipate the emotional stuff that I would feel outside of the set.’ I ask what that feeling was. ‘Judgement, mate. Judgement that was sometimes imagined. I wasn’t on Instagram. I didn’t know what was being said, or what people’s expectations were. I purposefully took myself out of it, so I wouldn’t have to deal with that. But I imagined it. We’re in a time where everyone’s like, “You can dance like nobody’s watching” but that’s just not realistic! People are watching. I know they’re watching. Sometimes I feel a quite contrived feeling in this work and in my body – those two opposing forces of knowing people are watching you, but also trying to be yourself. My head goes into a spin.’
Playing Whitney also taught her negotiation skills. ‘I had to really advocate for myself on that job. It’s the first lead role I’d ever done, and I had to learn very quickly how to say no, and how to respectfully put my foot down. For so long, I was just so grateful to be here. But when it comes to the work and the opportunities I get, I’m not grateful to have a job, because I know I’m good. But if you’re performing at a high level, and you are suffering underneath that – that can cost you money and energy in the long run. After Whitney, I was spent. I couldn’t work for six months. I was on antidepressants. I’d never put my body through that before. And neither will I again, because it’s not necessary. There’s an immersive way that audiences view actors now, which I think is about partially not just about the story that they’re telling, but what they have to go through to get there. It adds to the mythology of that actor, right? Dedicated. It sends an interesting message that I know I received, and that’s why I went through what I went through on Whitney. I ain’t doing that again. I’ve got a whole life that I’m trying to live. I’m now protective of my time and my energy. I’m not a robot. I have a service. You’re paying me for that service. I want to do it to the best of my ability. So how do we figure out a way for you to get what you want, and for me to get what I want?’
As she admires the canvas, she considers that painting might have helped her through that difficult time. ‘This feels instinctive,’ she says of the piece as she leans in to create a swirl across the canvas. ‘A “who gives a shit” and “dance like nobody’s watching” kind of vibe. And it’s joyful. I think sometimes I’ve lost – and do lose – the joy in my job. It becomes really complicated and hurtful sometimes, and businesslike and hard. I guess I’m speaking about work so much because it takes up so much of my life and also my brain space. I’m trying to rebalance what I have given so much of my life’s energy towards. Also trying to take this job, the idea of what an artist is, and take it off the pedestal. I’m so aware that I’m in an extremely lucky position. But also, on a daily basis, when I wake up in the morning, I’m not like, “I made a film the other day.” You wake up, and your belly’s hurting because you ate too much bread the night before and you’re like, “I should get up and go to the gym, but I can’t be arsed.” And you go on bloody Instagram, and look at other people who are saying that they’re living their lives in a way that you deem is better than yours, or their waistline is slimmer, or their skin looks clearer… I feel guilt for feeling so normal in an industry that is so weird. I complain a lot!’
I ask what she complains about. ‘I complain because I’m a perfectionist. Because I fear that I will never be satisfied. Because sometimes I feel like I can see the cogs of the industry that I belong to turning, and I can see that something in it is broken. What are we saying to people? We’re setting impossible expectations when I know, inside of it, that I am not reaching any of those expectations. The guilt I have when I post on Instagram. The guilt I have when I borrow someone else’s clothes that aren’t mine but in the moment it makes it seem like it’s mine… Most days, I’m questioning what the fuck I’m doing, how I’m doing it, who’s judging me, how I’m judging myself, where I’m not meeting my expectations or someone else’s expectations or my age. When am I meant to have fucking kids? Fucking hell, I don’t own a house yet. I need to buy a house…’ She explodes into contagious laughter again and holds up her multi-coloured palms. ‘I just paint and breathe.’
I gave myself a mission, which was to do something that didn’t have to be beautiful. I didn’t have to be perfect. And thus started my ugly painting collection. It felt like therapy. I would have a glass of wine, listen to really good music. And I would just spend hours redoing, scraping… the texture of it makes me feel really good. I love the feeling it gives me
I tell her there’s a Leonard Cohen song with lyrics that seem to speak to all of our obsession with the pursuit of perfection. ‘Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything. And that’s where the light gets in.’ She nods. ‘My mum always used to say, “You can lie to everyone else, but never lie to yourself.” And I took that to heart. No feelings are invalid. It’s what you do with them. Be honest with yourself. I feel like that’s actually kinder to yourself.’ Her mum’s advice is even more bittersweet now – she died of cancer 10 years ago and was a fierce champion of Ackie’s career, despite having no background in it. ‘They’re children of immigrants,’ she says of her parents with Grenada parentage, ‘where you get through, you work hard, you make sure that your kids can set themselves up in a really secure way. Coming from that to me saying, “I want to be an artist in this field we have no connection to!” I think it freaked my mum out. But she was such a good, strategic person. She was like, “If you want to get there in 10 years, you have to do this…” And especially as a working-class Black girl.’ A former seamstress who worked for the NHS, she and Ackie’s Transport for London-employee father moved the family to Walthamstow from Camden where the shy little girl grew to be a ‘theatre kid’. ‘I hid behind being an actor, and the pursuit of being an actor,’ Ackie recalls of overcoming her shyness. ‘The acting part was like sheer freedom. It was the voice. It was the process. It was meaty. It’s tangible, and you could dig your hands into it. You make something. All of that is still really cool to me. It’s just got a little more complicated the more I’ve worked.’
Those complications include negotiating the public figure side of bigger, more high-profile jobs. ‘The acting part, I don’t have to think about. I’ve practised enough. I’ve studied enough. That arrives. The public figure shit? I’m like: huh? I thought I was just acting, and now it’s a whole, “What’s your brand? What’s your message? What’s your thing? What do you stand for? Who are your followers?” And then you start to feel a little bit like a product or like a billboard. And it pulls you further and further away from the thing that you did it for. Even artists have to eat. You have to make money. We live in a capitalist society so we have to explore our art in the parameters of those with money. And this is an industry that still exists within a system of Eurocentric beauty standards, of a very clear-cut way of what makes money and what has value, that lies outside of talent sometimes.’
Despite her recognition of a standard-ised ideal of beauty, Ackie admits to feeling intimidated by the template. ‘I go to any event and I’m around what is deemed the most beautiful of beautiful people everywhere. Most of them are lovely and I know they’re feeling exactly the same as me. And yet I go into those spaces, and I leave feeling like, “Oh, I’ve got some work to do. I’ve got to properly gym more. Maybe I should shrink my chin?”’
Her face filled the screen in recent feminist thriller Blink Twice, playing the rageful, vengeful lead in an abusive patriarchal scenario. Embraced by audiences and critics, it set Ackie up for her next water-cooler movie, Bong Joon-ho’s subversive sci-fi Mickey 17. ‘I never thought I would be in a Bong Joon-ho film! It’s a really fun, quite cheeky piece of work. And I don’t think it’s what people anticipate it to be. It’s a thing all on its own. It makes me really hope for cinema. We’re in a space where there’s money that needs to be recouped. There are shareholders now. There are owners of these platforms that are not about creating work. It’s about how many streaming people can we get? So this felt like a real breakout of that. And it’s where my heart is at.’
She recently filmed for three days on Asif Kapadia’s docu-drama 2073, exploring the end of the world as we know it thanks to geo-politics, financial inequality, AI and social media manipulation. ‘I’m always thinking that the world is going to end,’ Ackie admits of her attraction to the project. ‘I’m used to thinking about death. I had a little sister who died when I was two and Mum died. So endings are always present in my head.’ After that comes The Thursday Murder Club, an all-star ensemble based on Richard Osman’s bestseller, Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters and Justin Kurzel’s Morning. And Ackie is not only creating oil paintings for herself – she’s written a TV show and a film and aspires to direct. For now though, on the brick floor of the studio, she is focusing entirely on her canvas, in the moment. It’s imperfectly finished. She considers signing it but decides to be more hands-on, leave a mark more unique to her. ‘I’ll put a fingerprint on it…’
Photographs & interview by GREG WILLIAMS As told to JANE CROWTHER Naomi Ackie stars inMickey 17, which releases in cinemas on 7 March Hair by James Catalano, The Wall Group Make up by Kenneth Soh, The Wall Group
Photographs and interview by GREG WILLIAMS As told to JANE CROWTHER
Clara Rugaard tells Hollywood Authentic how she no longer wants to ‘fit in’ and about the music that has run through her career from her first role.
The corridors of Ealing Studios are echoing with the sound of ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ being sung as actor Clara Rugaard recalls her first role as a kid in Copenhagen. She can still remember the tongue-twisting lyrics she belted out as a 10-year-old on the national theatre stage, a game changing moment when she realised what her true vocation was. ‘It was the first time that I’d been given a platform to do what I innately felt like I was good at,’ she laughs. ‘At the time, I was already singing loads, and wanted to be, you know, a pop star! My dad saw in the newspaper that they were looking for kids to come and audition for the lead children’s role in Mary Poppins at the New Theatre in Copenhagen. It was one of those things where I queued up with hundreds of children, and it was all very overwhelming, but really exciting. There was loads of waiting around that day. But the moment they invite you onto the stage, and you’re standing there, and you’re singing the song, and you’re playing with all these other kids in a safe space where it’s encouraged, was something I had never experienced. I remember having that sense of belonging and being like, “I need to be doing this. This is for me.” I didn’t really stop to breathe. I felt the need to do it all, and keep going. It felt so good.’
Rugaard has been chasing the feeling ever since, across theatre, TV and film – before moving with her Danish dad and Irish mum to London as a teen, when her father’s work required a relocation. In her native country she had voiced the lead character in Disney’s Moana in the Danish version of the blockbuster. ‘Your imagination and your creativity is so potent when you’re that age,’ she says of being a child actor. ‘We don’t run around with as many defence mechanisms as we do the more we grow up. When you’re a child, you just take it all in. You’re just feeling it all.’ Then, at the age of 16, she found herself in a new city and life, trying to fit in. ‘Because my mum is Irish, I was like, “It’ll be a piece of cake. I’ll just rock up, have a scone, and I’ll feel right at home,” she laughs as she remembers the move. ‘But you’re quite often reminded that you’re other, or that you’re different. I guess I used to see that as being a bad thing. When I first came to London, I remember I had a teacher at drama school who said that I needed to get rid of my accent, otherwise I’d never work. I then started to feel like I needed to change or fit in in order to be successful or have a career. Which is funny because the older I’m getting, the more aware I am of how brilliant it is, bringing something that’s unique and different and having a different perception of life.’
I remember having that sense of belonging and being like, ‘I need to be doing this. This is for me.’ I didn’t really stop to breathe. I felt the need to do it all, and keep going. It felt so good
Rugaard now celebrates her European background. ‘I want to lean into that, I’m super-proud of that now. I definitely feel Denmark is my home, and I do still spend quite a lot of time there. My brothers and grandmother are out there… loads of my family. My parents are in Belgium, but we all congregate and meet in Denmark. However, I’ve been in London for 10 years now, so this city obviously has a very special place in my heart as well. I’ve got my group of friends here and I’ve got a life here.’
The key to making the transition and feeling safe in a new country was surrounding herself with ‘good eggs’. ‘My parents really were my good eggs. They provided a really great safety blanket for me. Even though I was exposed to this big, scary world through my work, they protected me, and kept me grounded, and made sure I never got too excited about myself,’ she nods. She played Juliet in Romeo and Juliet TV reimagining Still Star-Crossed in 2017 and then starred in Max Minghella’s Teen Spirit as a singing teen the following year. Throughout, music was her constant companion – as she played an aspiring pop star on screen she was also composing her own songs. And it’s something she still does now with an EP out soon. ‘It’s all just an outlet for expression. But I have found a lot of comfort in being able to rely on writing and creating my own things from home. Sometimes, as an actor, you feel like you don’t really have the platform unless you’re on set, and you’ve booked a job. And, as we know, actors have quite a bit of downtime. Music is so tangible. It’s within my control, and it’s always there for the taking. So I really love having the musical side of it alongside acting.’
Since moving to the UK, Rugaard has worked in a wide range of genres and countries; playing opposite Hilary Swank in sci-fi I Am Mother in 2019 (‘I can’t really believe that I was in a bunker for that many months with Hilary Swank. She’s incredibly empowering to be around, and to watch, and to learn from’) starring in the Mazey Day episode of Black Mirror, and associate producing as well as acting in period drama Love Gets a Room. That experience has given her a taste for more producing roles: ‘It’s another channel to create – finding things, and then making them, and putting them together. I’d definitely love to explore that more.’
Her upcoming slate is varied; Desperate Journey – a WW2 thriller based on the true story of Freddie Knoller who fled Vienna under Nazi occupation via the world of Parisian burlesque clubs. Rugaard plays a cabaret performer he meets along the way. ‘She’s an empowered woman, very confident. I haven’t played anything like that before. For that reason, it was brilliant and super challenging.’ Then she’ll be essaying Juliet Capulet again and using her pipes in Verona’s Romeo & Juliet, a pop musical with songs by Grammy winner Evan Bogart retelling Shakespeare’s tale. Rupert Everett and Rebel Wilson play her Capulet parents with Jamie Ward as Romeo. ‘She’s more of a modern Juliet, she’s got quite a lot of moxie. I’m very honoured to take on a role like that, and to play something as iconic as Juliet again. We filmed in Verona, Palma and this tiny, little Italian village called Salsomaggiore, where we all lived in a hotel, pretty much the entire crew, in the middle of nowhere. We got some good bonding time in there, that’s for sure!’ She’s also filming murder mystery The Crow Girl for Paramount+ alongside Dougray Scott – and is attached to play Mary Shelley in period drama Mary’s Monster, which looks at the inspiration for and creation of Frankenstein. ‘I’ve been quite lucky to have dipped into different genres and different characters. It feels very explorative for me. I love diving into very different characters’ shoes, and learn from their experience.’
The projects she’s now looking for are those that leave an indelible emotional mark, like the films that moved her as a child. ‘The movies I’ve always loved are the ones that leave you gut-punched. That’s ultimately what I look for when I go and watch a film. I want to be punched in the stomach, and feel something so deeply. I remember watching West Side Story when I was about 10 and it completely shattered me. I think it was the first time that I started to understand this grand concept and idea of love and devastating heartbreak. I couldn’t believe how sad it was. I still talk about it now because I remember that moment so well.’ She smiles as she considers the kid who loved Maria and Tony, who grew to a young actor playing Shakespeare’s doomed lover in Still Star-Crossed and is now headlining that classic role in Verona’s Romeo & Juliet. That 10-year-old standing on the national theatre stage would no doubt approve. ‘It does feel like a full-circle moment to be playing Juliet again, and also with music once again.’
Photographs and interview by GREG WILLIAMS As told to JANE CROWTHER Clara Rugaard stars in Verona’s Romeo & Juliet and Desperate Journey, both set for release in 2025 Clara wears the Hollywood Authentic × N.Peal cashmere collection
Photographs and interview by GREG WILLIAMS As told to JANE CROWTHER
Slave Play alumnus James Cusati-Moyer tells Hollywood Authentic about the art of ‘holding on tightly, letting go lightly’ and the seminal nature of a Rodgers & Hammerstein score.
When Hollywood Authentic meets one of the leads of hit controversial West End show, Slave Play, in his dressing room at the Noël Coward in the heart of theatreland, he’s near to tears thinking about the imminent end of the production’s run. It’s hardly surprising – the 35-year-old has had a long journey with the show. After playwright Jeremy O. Harris wrote the part of Dustin with him in mind, he originated the role off-Broadway in 2018 then on-Broadway in 2019 before Covid, returned to it after shutdown and was nominated for a Tony before transferring to London in July 2024. A challenging, polarising play that explores the intersection between race and sexuality via couples therapy, James has been wrestling with the emotional and physical demands of essaying the character of gay actor Dustin for six years. After 13 weeks of living a London life, he’s preparing to fly back to his adopted New York and finally let go of Dustin.
‘I think any stage actor will say this – when you finish the completion of a play, it feels like a death in the family. It feels like someone died. There’s an emptying out, internally,’ he says. ‘This one is even more significant because this is probably the last time I’ll do this play. When I close it’s also letting go of something that’s been in my DNA for six years; I think it’ll be a similar death. But there’s something beautiful in that. And the play will live on, and be done around the world by many other beautiful, fantastic actors and directors and theatres and spaces. That relationship with the audience is what I’ll miss the most, because I’ve never felt so connected – as if I was breathing the same oxygen as them – as I have on this play.’
Certainly the play asked audiences into an uncomfortable conversation in terms of subject matter, and to reflect on their own relationship with race during the performance – not least via the mirrored set. The production also provided ‘blackout performances’ during its runs on Broadway and the West End, creating an exclusive space for Black-identifying audiences. During the potent two-hour show James is stripped to his underwear, physically grappled and emotionally flayed – quite the endurance when undertaken for eight shows a week. He smiles wryly when asked how he does it.
I wouldn’t want to do anything in my day that robs the audience of any bit of energy from my performance. It’s really about conserving the energy and the stamina . And that’s by sleeping, eating well, and exercise – and then saving it all for [the stage]
‘Well, to quote Elaine Stritch via Ethel Merman, you have to live like a fucking nun! The rigour and demand of the play is sometimes so intense that there’s not much life outside of it. But it’s a happy sacrifice. I wouldn’t want to do anything in my day that robs the audience of any bit of energy from my performance. It’s really about conserving the energy and the stamina. And that’s by sleeping, eating well, and exercise – and then saving it all for [the stage]. Then right after curtain, it’s straight home. It’s probably the most difficult job I’ve had in my life.’
The Pennsylvania native’s life is something he doesn’t take for granted. Growing up in working class Allentown in a Syrian/Italian blue-collar family, he reckoned with death at an early age; the literal scar of which can be seen on his chest and in his approach to life. ‘I had open-heart surgery when I was 14 years old. They found four holes in my heart. They said if this would have gone on undiscovered or unnoticed, that I wouldn’t have made it past puberty. Being that close to death, that close to not being actually supposed to be alive, that second chance that I got – that’s what stays with me.’
A kid who grew up singing along to the Rodgers & Hammerstein records his grandma loved and played (The King And I was a favourite and he sometimes still plays the music before going on stage), James can’t recall a time when he wanted to do anything other than act. ‘I think it was just one of the first thoughts I had as a child. My grandmother had the VHSs. I would watch. I just knew I had to memorise it all and perform it all in the living room. I knew that this was going to be my profession and my life.’ His mom’s was across the street from a community theatre and the budding thespian started hanging out and performing as a youngster – grasping at opportunity with both hands. ‘When I wasn’t in school, that was where I was. I wasn’t playing in the streets with the kids. I wasn’t doing any sports. I wasn’t getting into trouble. I was in the back of the theatre. I went to an arts high school that was formed right when I was a freshman. That saved my life. I moved to New York. I went to college, then went to Yale School of Drama for grad school.’ If that sounds like an effortless trajectory – the theatre kid who transitioned to Yale, Broadway and on to TV and film – it wasn’t, he says.
‘I had two figures in my life – my mother and my grandmother – who kept saying, “yes”. And I’m really grateful for them. But I’m also grateful for the people in my life who told me “no”, and there were many of those in my family. Many teachers that didn’t encourage me to continue. That contrast flooded into my experience. Whenever those things happen, it just gives you room to spread your wings and fly. It shows you what you don’t want, and it shows you what you do want. I’m just always grateful for both. I got kicked out of school, I got dropped by agents… it’s all informing me. Everything is a lesson and a gift.’
It was while at Yale that he met Slave Play writer Harris and after Cusati-Moyer debuted on Broadway in Six Degrees Of Separation, the duo worked together on bringing Slave Play to stages. At the same time he also juggled TV and film work, in 2022 starring in both Netflix hit Inventing Anna and DC blockbuster Black Adam. Last year he appeared in Maestro and this year, Tyler Perry’s Sistas. ‘Those opportunities were very different from anything I’ve ever done in my career, since I got out of drama school. I never thought that I would be on the set of a superhero film! It’s what you dream of as a kid. You’ve got to remain open to the jobs that come. My acting teacher used to say it specifically about the craft of acting, but I think it applies to the spiritual practice of the industry: “Hold on tightly, let go lightly.” When you have that job, hold on, but also let go. Have some fun. Enjoy it. It’s play.’
Now that he’s finished with Slave Play and is flying back to NY with ‘British biscuits and tea’ in his bag, James has more world-building to create. Firstly, his immediate surroundings. ‘Listen, like any true New Yorker, I’ve got to find an apartment when I’m back,’ he laughs. ‘That’s almost as difficult a job as this one. So that’s actually the first task.’ Then he needs to find the next project to pour himself into. ‘I have so many dreams and things that I want to do. If I could orchestrate my life and the next job that comes in, I’d say, “Oh, I want to do this hit TV. I want to do this hit movie. I want to go to the Venice Film Festival next year. I have a list of filmmakers I want to work with.” But sometimes you’ve just got to flow where it’s warm. I just want to keep on working. That’s the goal of it all.’
Work is, he says, important to him transactionally as well as artistically. ‘I don’t come from money. I grew up very, very poor. So the ability to be able to pay my bills, pay for my food, pay my rent, and do what I love – that’s happiness. The rest of any glitz and glamour that comes along with this profession sometimes? Fantastic. But if I can keep doing this and pay my bills, I’ll be good.’
His grandmother passed away in the last couple of years but must be very proud that the little boy who stomped around the living room to The King And I is still marching to the beat of his own drum. ‘What a gift she gave me,’ he smiles. ‘And now she’s gone. But she’s not gone. She’s here, and she’s on the stage with me.’ He pauses for a moment. ‘This play has shifted my DNA – I’m forever changed because of it. I’m stronger. I’m wiser. I’m more naïve. At the same time, I have more humility… You know that innocence of a child in a playground where the world is a wonder to them and it’s scary? I think that’s the place that any good work or any play or any good acting performance rests in. It’s that fine line between fear of the unknown and yet simultaneous ecstasy of discovering everything all at once. If I can maintain that feeling that I’ve achieved in this play, with any other job, then I’ll be really happy.’
Photographs and interview by GREG WILLIAMS As told to JANE CROWTHER James wears the Hollywood Authentic × N.Peal cashmere collection
Photographs by CHARLIE CLIFT Words by JANE CROWTHER
Siblings John David and Malcolm Washington tell Hollywood Authentic how their parents Denzel and Pauletta raised them surrounded by art and why their new film, The Piano Lesson, became a family affair.
Director Malcolm Washington insists that he and his older brother, actor John David, didn’t fight as children. In fact, the opposite was true growing up with acting parents and as a pair of brothers with two sisters, Katia and Olivia. ‘I just feel like we did so much as kids. Any time I needed anything, I feel like my family are the people that I would go to. If I was moving, or needed help to take apart and rebuild my furniture, I would call them.’ Which is why when he decided to make his feature debut directing and co-writing an adaptation of Pulitzer prize-winning playwright August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, he called on the Washington clan. Father, Denzel, has long protected Wilson’s work as designated custodian of his output – a series of 10 plays known as the ‘Pittsburgh Cycle’, including recent movie adaptations Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – and has made it his mission is to see all the plays adapted for film with reverence. Washington Sr directed and starred in Fences on the big screen in 2016 and John David played The Piano Lesson’s Boy Willie (originated by Samuel L. Jackson in 1987 at the Yale Repertory Theatre) in a Broadway revival in 2022. The story of a brother and sister, Boy Willie and Berniece (Daniel Deadwyler), in 1936 Pittsburgh, The Piano Lesson explores systematic racism, the legacy of slavery, identity and generational trauma as the siblings argue over the fate of a piano once owned by their family’s slaver owner. Sharecropper Boy Willie wants to sell it to buy Mississippi land; Berniece wants it to remain in the family as a testament to their ancestors. It’s an intense, thought-provoking play that Malcolm has described as ‘sacred’. No pressure then…
‘The fact that it was high pressure made it even more reason to go to the people that you know,’ he smiles as the two brothers attend the London Film Festival. ‘And working with him,’ he points to John David sitting next to him, ‘I was such a fan of him that I wanted to do that anyway. He’s a great actor, you know?’ The brothers also had their dad onboard as exec producer (‘He’s an expert’), sister Katia as producer, plus sister Olivia (who has just finished an acclaimed run in the West End’s Slave Play) and mum Pauletta as cameos. Longtime family friend, Samuel L. Jackson, also joined the cast. To have that level of expertise in the material and trust in family was invaluable, he says. ‘It instils confidence in everybody. It’s like: we have the opportunity to make a film of great performances. Let’s live out that promise.’
The performances have been attracting awards attention as the film has played at festivals throughout the year and John David admits that getting a chance to interpret the role a second time after his Broadway stint was something of a gift. ‘That was the most intriguing part – the new lens that this story is going to be told through, which is Malcolm’s, to serve as a nexus between the OGs, the Wilsonians, and what the new generation of artists and storytellers have to say about unfortunately antiquated issues in the underbelly of America – which this story revolves around. But it’s also obviously the family dynamic and heirloom. What side are you on in the brother/sister argument? But all of those prospects and those opportunities to tell the story in a new way, to open up the play.’
The experience of digging into the themes of the play was enlightening and personal, Malcolm recalls. ‘It inspired a lot of conversation. When I met with Samuel L. Jackson for the first time to talk about doing the story, we talked very briefly about the story, and then it quickly turned into him showing me family photos of his grandparents, and where he’s from, and his people. We were always tied into that larger thing.’ And the idea of legacy is something that both brothers are aware of as children of feted actors, and part of a family of artists. ‘To me, I had this idea of like: this is what was passed down – it’s the ability to tell stories, and being able to do it professionally,’ John David nods. ‘The fact that we’re doing it together is something that is significant.’
Malcolm Washington
I definitely wouldn’t call working together an inevitability. But along the way, it became more and more important to tie all of our stories into it, so that we all had stakes in the game. We all had skin in the game
Making this a Washington family project wasn’t initially the intention, explains Malcolm, who co-wrote the screenplay with Virgil Williams. ‘This whole project is just a snowball of something that started really small, really intimate and really personal. And then along the way you collect these other moments, and it all comes into focus. I definitely wouldn’t call working together an inevitability. But along the way, it became more and more important to tie all of our stories into it, so that we all had stakes in the game. We all had skin in the game.’ A former student of the American Film Institute who graduated at the top of his class, he dug into his academic approach in prepping for the film – visiting the Pittsburgh neighbourhood, the historic Hill District, where Wilson lived and was inspired. Malcolm ultimately planted an Easter egg in the film of Bella’s Market, where Wilson grew up, and discovered the playwright’s close relationship with his mother. That bond is something he also recognises: ‘The more I learned about August, the more I saw myself in his story and in his work.’
Denzel and both of his sons have talked about the importance of Pauletta Washington at the heart of their family and The Piano Lesson is dedicated to her; ‘for Mama’ appears on the end title card, nodding both to her role as Mama Ola and her impact on the director. She only discovered his tribute when she saw the film for the first time with the family. ‘It was wonderful. She wept,’ Malcolm remembers. ‘My mum used to take me to the theatre, and we watched so many movies together. She took me to see The Tree of Life when it came out. It was a movie that affected both of us so deeply. I remember sitting in the theatre when it ended, and we were both holding hands, and just crying together. It was the first time I remember doing that – you know, crying and being so deeply affected by a movie like that. So when I showed her my film – we saw it in a theatre, and we cried together. I just immediately thought of that moment of like, ‘Wow, now I’ve made this thing that affected you in the way that we were both affected.’ It made me even more empowered, and fall in love with the art of filmmaking even more.’
Denzel is an equally artistic force in the family, though he hasn’t ever sat down and given John David acting advice. ‘I guess it’s like Mr Miyagi-style, you know what I mean?’ he laughs. ‘You wash the car, and paint the fence, and then you apply it to the work later. Like, years later. I think he might have been preparing me my whole life for something. I put God into everything – every project. I feel like every character I take on, there’s something I’m learning about myself as well. He’s so protective of the [August Wilson] works. Also, Samuel L. Jackson. So getting the co-sign, and getting the encouragement from them, emboldened me to be my better self, and to be my best self.’
John David Washington
Both my parents had a strong consciousness to them, and were constantly putting us into spaces that we got to engage in – in art, in Black entertainment, the legacy of Black artists, and the legacy of Black greatness outside of art as well
For the Tenet, BlacKkKlansman and The Creator lead, that acting truth is hard won, having fought against following in his dad’s footsteps by becoming a professional football player before injury made him reconsider the lure of telling stories. ‘I chose something else first. A lot like Boy Willie, I was conflicted. I had an internal warfare. I chose football, I chose pain, I chose broken ribs and hernias in the name of independence. I had this rebellious quest to be my own man. But, really, I was just working out a character, I think, because I wanted to do this my whole life. Inevitability – it’s a spectrum. But I am so thankful that I am doing it because it’s what I wanted to do the whole time. This project definitely helps me with this. I’m seeing the kind of actor and the kind of performer that I’m striving to be. And I needed this rite-of-passage text to do that.’
Malcolm’s artistic route wasn’t quite such warfare. ‘I think the conditions in which I grew up definitely inspired my path. I’m the youngest in my family. My siblings were always really into art and music and film. We just watched so many things growing up, and just got to engage in it. Both my parents had a strong consciousness to them, and were constantly putting us into spaces that we got to engage in – in art, in Black entertainment, the legacy of Black artists, and the legacy of Black greatness outside of art as well. Those things were always instilled in me, and I always had a strong feeling and confidence that if I set my mind to something, if I studied hard and worked hard, I could achieve whatever. As I got older, I looked in the mirror one day and I was like, ‘Oh, wait, I think I’m into telling stories’.’
For both brothers, making The Piano Lesson has been a way of proving something to themselves as well as their dad, who ‘there’s no question’ would not have let them take on this adaptation simply because they were his offspring. There are still seven more plays to be adapted, so the Washingtons may yet be brought artistically together again. That’s if Hollywood Authentic hasn’t instigated their first fight. When we ask who took the beautifully carved piano at the centre of the film home with them, Malcolm admits to on-set purloining. ‘We had an amazing team working on the piano. The panels from the piano actually are in my house right now. They’re in LA.’ John David looks at him surprised. ‘I didn’t even know! Didn’t get a choice!’ he exclaims. He shakes his head in mock outrage. ‘Wow…’
Photographs by CHARLIE CLIFT Words by JANE CROWTHER The Piano Lessonis streaming on Netflix now
DISPATCH: RUMOURS Words by JANE CROWTHER Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Surreal political satire Rumours premiered at the Cannes Film Festival before travelling to TIFF and various festivals before landing in the UK’s capital this month at the BFI London Film Festival for a party hosted at Lasdun by Universal Pictures. Written and co-directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson, it follows the seven leaders of the world’s wealthiest democracies at the annual G7 summit, where they attempt to draft a provisional statement regarding a global crisis. But as night falls and their staff disappear the leaders discover their own fallibility and lack of agency – unless it’s a quick romp in the woods. The cast is as international as the characters: Cate Blanchett plays the German Chancellor, Charles Dance is POTUS (with an English accent, because – why not?), Nikki Amuka-Bird essays the UK PM and Alicia Vikander is the President of the European Commission who finds something mindbending in the mist…
Blanchett, Dance, Amula-Bird and their directors celebrated the UK bow of the film at a party attended by friends and colleagues. Greg Williams captured the fun…
DISPATCH: GEORGE CLOONEY & BRAD PITT WOLFS Words by JANE CROWTHER Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
George Clooney and Brad Pitt have been working together since they first made Ocean’s Eleven in 2001 – sharing credits in the 23 years since on Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, Ocean’s Twelve and Thirteen and Burn After Reading. And the off-screen friends were looking for another opportunity to re-team when they were pitched Jon Watts’ original script, Wolfs. The story of two ‘lone wolf’ fixers who are assigned to the same clean-up job when a DA’s dalliance with a young man ends in accidental death, the comedy-actioner premiered at the Venice Film Festival to a standing ovation. Greg Williams traveled with the duo by boat as they attended a press conference and the premiere on Venice’s Lido.
‘We kind of figured there’s gotta be a good reason to get back in a film together, something we feel like we could build upon what we’ve done before,’ Pitt told journalists when he and Clooney discussed the project without their director who had caught Covid on the journey to the floating city. ‘But also, I gotta say, as I get older, working with the people that I just really enjoy spending time with has really become important to me.’
Pitt recalled that both he and Clooney immediately liked the first draft that Watts wrote and pitched to them, and was pleased that the verve of it was retained throughout production to filming in New York. ‘It’s never happened where someone presents you with an idea and you get a first draft of the script and that’s what you end up shooting.’
As grouchy hitmen, Clooney and Pitt banter and squabble throughout a long night where they try to unravel a conspiracy – and their teasing affection was on display when they sat down for their press conference and, later, boogied to Sade’s ‘Smooth Operator’ (a key track in the film) as the credits rolled in the Sala Grande. ‘There’s nothing good about it… It’s all a disaster,’ Clooney joked when asked about working with his 60-year-old friend. ‘He’s 74 and he’s lucky at this age to be still working!’
Wolfs is in select cinemas and available to stream on Apple TV+ now Read our review of Wolfshere
