On BBC Breakfast with Sian Williams

This is a fairly old video clip from 21st September 2010 featuring Sally Hawkins on the BBC Breakfast programme being interviewed by Sian Williams, where she talks about Made in Dagenham.

You can click on the picture above to watch the clip (with lots of focus on the lovely Sally in the time of 2:42) but we have also transcribed the interview, which you can find below:

Sally: Most of the men, in principle, supported the women and supported their fight and their plight, until the dinner wasn’t on the table, because the women were at the pickets all week. Umm… and like you see in the film, again with the case of Eddie and Rita, the shirts weren’t being ironed or washed, and until it had an effect on them personally, um… but in principle, the men – most of the men were behind the women, and you see them coming together in the end.

Sian: Rita was’t a real character, but she’s an amalgram really.

Sally: Yes, that’s right.

Sian: You spoke to some of the women behind that strike…

Sally: I did, I did.

Sian: … and what did they say to you?

Sally: They were quite good about it. It was just something I wanted to do for me really. Just thought it was quite important if I was going to be representing these women and speaking with their voice; I wanted to meet a few of them and umm… I met three of them who were gracious enough and most generous enough to have a cup of tea with me in Dagenham.

And they still live in Dagenham and um… still have their lives there, and what struck me about these women, which is what comes off from the transcripts I read, and also from them themselves, and hopefully what we’ve captured in the film was how down to earth they were, very passionate – still incredibly passionate – and so funny, as well. And they’re all friends and they all look out for each other, and they’re all just very normal working women – a lot of them retired now, grandmas and mums.

Sian: Are they aware of the impact they have had on Equal Pay legislation, not just in this country actually, but throughout the world, because then other countries took it up.

Sally: I think they are actually – they’re pretty smart cookies.  *laughs* I think they knew what they were doing, I mean they didn’t…the result-  incredible result  - and what it sort of … was instrumental in setting about.  And god knows where we’d be today without people like this.

What I love about them is you have these incredible women behind the scenes, making history, and there are so many people we’re not aware of actually, doing their bit, and that’s what you hope is inspirational about the film.

It was – when I read the script – it sort of makes you think ‘Well, actually, we’ve all got a responsibility to speak up for what we believe to be right’, and you hope that it inspires a new generation of both men and women alike, really.

One is a brief 30-second interview where she discusses Mrs Reed’s relationship with Jane, and the other a B-Roll (additional footage) where we can see Sally in action:

Interview with Sally Hawkins, who plays Mrs. Reed in Jane Eyre

First b-roll of four for Jane Eyre. B-roll provides a compilation of behind the scenes footage from the film.

Jane Eyre was released in the USA on 11th March 2011,  and was also released around parts of Europe (Estonia, Portugal etc.) and in South Korea thereafter in April and May. For some reason, the UK release date is not until 9th September 2011, but the film has been well received so far, with an average rating of 7.8 out of 10 on IMDb and 82% on the TomatoMeter.

Sally Hawkins (Marie Claire, December 2010)

(Marie Claire, December 2010)

Sally Hawkins, 34, fights for equal pay in this month’s girl flick, Made in Dagenham. Here, she submits to the MC questionnaire.

MC: What’s one thing most people don’t know about you?

SH: I’m allergic to everything. I’m the worst dinner guest you could invite — If I don’t eat gluten-free, my skin breaks out in a rash.

MC: I’m a good friend because…

SH: …I’m incredibly loyal. I have a few core friends who I’ll have forever.

MC: I’m a bad friend because…

SH: …I’m never in the country, and I’m crap at answering emails.

MC: What’s your favorite indulgence?

SH: Puttering around a flea market on a Sunday afternoon. It’s a longtime love of mine — I have memories of picking out costume jewelry and trinkets at them with my mum growing up.

MC: Do you have any scars?

SH: I got quite a big one where I broke my collarbone on a film set. I suppose I shouldn’t be doing my own stunts! During that time, I won the Golden Globe for Happy-Go-Lucky. For all the red-carpet shots, I took off my sling. I was on a lot of painkillers.

MC: What’s been your best vacation?

SH: My family went to Universal Studios and did a Star Trek video spoof. My mum and dad were Klingons. I was Mr. Spock with the ears, and my brother was Captain Kirk. It’s one of my most treasured possessions.

MC:  Signature drink?
SH:  I’m a huge lightweight. I can have a thimble of something and I’m anyone’s for the taking.

Mrs. Warren's Profession - Official Poster

Other members of the cast include: Mark Herilik as Sir George Crofts, Edward Hibbert as Mr. Praed, Australian actor Michael Siberry as Reverend Samuel Gardner, and newcomer Adam Driver – a recent Julliard graduate – as Frank Gardner.

The play, set in 1894, “tells the story of Kitty Warren, a mother who makes a terrible sacrifice for her daughter Vivie’s independence” (official website) and was considered controversial at the time it was written in 1893-1894, due to its subject matter of prostitution; a full script is available courtesy of EServer Drama.

This new Broadway production will open officially on 3rd October 2010 at the American Airlines Theatre and is produced by the Roundabout Theatre Company. It will be directed by Tony Award-winning director Doug Hughes.

Tickets went on sale last week – I wish I lived in the US now.

p/s:  You can find the official blurb for Sally below:

SALLY HAWKINS
(Vivie Warren) received critical acclaim as well as a Golden Globe Award, Silver Bear (Berlin) Award, Evening Standard Award, Hollywood Film Festival (Breakthrough Award), NY, LA, Mill Valley, San Francisco and Santa Barbara Film Critic’s Awards; as well as a host of nominations for her performance as ‘Poppy’ in Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky.

The RADA trained Hawkins made her film debut as Samantha in All or Nothing, and was then seen as Susan in Vera Drake, both Mike Leigh films. Other film roles include Lone Scherfig’s An Education, Matthew Vaughan’s Layer Cake, Tom Shankland’s Waz, Woody Allen’s Cassandra’s Dream, Sherry Hormann’s Desert Flower, Stephen Burke’s Happy Ever Afters and most recently Gurinder Chadha’s It’s A Wonderful Afterlife. Upcoming films Love Birds directed by Paul Murphy, Richard Ayoade’s Submarine, Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go, Cary Fukunaga’s Jane Eyre and a starring turn in Nigel Cole’s new film Made In Dagenham to be released Autumn 2010. Her performance as Anne Elliott in the ITV production of Jane Austen’s “Persuasion” won her the Golden Nymph Award for Best Actress at the Monte Carlo Television Festival 2007 and the Royal Television Society Best Actress Award. Other television credits include leading roles in Simon Curtis’s adaptation of Patrick Hamilton’s “20,000 Streets Under the Sky,” “Tipping the Velvet,” “Byron,” in which she played Mary Shelley, “The Young Visiters,” directed by David Yates, in which she starred opposite Jim Broadbent, “Fingersmith,” two series of “Little Britain,” as the recurring character Cathy, and she played the leading role in “Shiny, Shiny Bright New Hole In My Heart” for the BBC, directed by Marc Munden.

Sally’s extensive theatre credits include playing the role of Adelea in the recent Howard Davis production of House of Bernarda Alba at The National Theatre opposite Penelope Wilton, to which she won rave reviews. She has appeared at The Royal Court Theatre in The Winterling directed by Ian Rickson and Country Music directed by Gordon Anderson. Her credits also include The Way Of The World (Wilton Music Hall), Misconceptions (Octagon), A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Much Ado About Nothing (both at Regents Park Theatre), Perpalas (National Theatre Studio), The Cherry Orchard and Romeo & Juliet (both for Theatre Royal York), The Dybbuk and Accidental Death Of An Anarchist (both for BAC), Svejk (The Gate Theatre), The Whore Of Babylon (Globe Ed. Centre) and As You Like It for The Buckingham Palace Gala.

Sally was born in Lewisham, South East London.

Sally Hawkins - Evening Standard (July 29th 2010)

I’m very glad that a major London newspaper has given this much space (it’s the middle spread!) for the interview as Sally really deserves as much air-time as possible, particularly for a film that narrates such a poignant tale, which – as I found out from the article – actually led to the Equal Pay Act of 1970.

Titled ‘From SE3 to USA‘, factually the interview didn’t really add much more to what we fans may have gleaned from previous interviews, but I think it was very thorough in introducing her again to the general public after her success as Poppy in Happy-Go-Lucky with plenty of quotes by Sally including:

“It taps into something quite profound…You don’t realise how much you keep suppressed, because you’d be fighting every single day.“

You can read the interview online at The Evening Standard, or below:

The actress Sally Hawkins is talking about her new film, Made in Dagenham, which tells the story of the 1968 women’s strike at the Ford car works. “It was very woman-led production with a bunch of lovely, funny girls on set, just brilliant and bright. Sometimes it was difficult to calm them all down, to shout action over the hubbub and the laughter. It was like being in a big dorm.”

Although it’s not released until October, American critics are already hailing the film as the next Full Monty or Calendar Girls. According to US Elle film critic Karen Durbin: “Nigel Cole [the director] has pulled off something we seldom do well in the States, a political movie that’s touching and a lot of fun but doesn’t sugar-coat the facts.”

A strong female ensemble (Cole also directed 2003′s Calendar Girls), it features Andrea Riseborough, Jaime Winstone, Rosamund Pike, and Miranda Richardson in a terrific cameo as Barbara Castle.

But it’s Hawkins, 34, as machinist Rita O’Grady, the impromptu leader of the walk-out, who is being Oscar-tipped. A shy, dyslexic woman from Blackheath, she might seem an unlikely contender for the Hollywood A-list. But the studios have been watching her since her effervescent performance as Poppy the primary teacher in Mike Leigh‘s Happy-Go-Lucky won her a Golden Globe last year.

And now she gets to play Rita, a housewife and mother who is plucked from the shopfloor to front a huge campaign. “Sally is perfect casting,” says Christine Langan, creative director of BBC Films and Made in Dagenham’s executive producer. “She connects you to the experience of the ordinary woman in a really compelling way due to her natural intelligence and empathy.”

Shy girl: Sally Hawkins is not a fan of the limelight

When I meet Hawkins, she looks about 14, dressed in a dark embroidered skirt and fitted jacket. With her beautiful, translucent skin and deep-set hazel eyes, she’s dream casting for period drama. Only the very on-trend purple nail varnish adds colour.

She is renowned for avoiding the spotlight. Her role model is Judi Dench, who is passionate about the work but “disappears” in between roles. Previous interviewers have found her intensely nervous. But today she’s pouring all her energies into promoting the film because it’s such an important London story. “I’m so lucky, it’s a gift.”

In 1968, 187 women machine workers walked out of the Dagenham car plant when they were downgraded as “unskilled” and their demand for the same pay grading as the men in the factory was refused. Their fight captured the public imagination. Castle, who had just started as Secretary as State for Employment and Productivity, horrified her male-dominated Cabinet by agreeing to meet them.

The film came about when producer Stephen Woolley heard the R4 programme The Reunion, which brought the machinists back together after 40 years. He was struck by how innocent and unpoliticised they were. “All they wanted was a fair deal. It was common sense rather than any kind of axe to grind,” he says.

Made in Dagenham is full of warmth and humour. The fashion and music is spot on. “It just gives you the right amount of history without preaching,” says Hawkins.

True it’s a little broadbrush in places and the Americans will lap up this plucky image of the British working class. But it’s a humbling story — like many, I had no idea it was the strike that paved the way for the Equal Pay Act of 1970, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. You come out knowing we owe a huge debt to these women.

Rita is an amalgam of many of the original machinists, who Hawkins went to meet. “They’re incredible women, all still friends, and a lot of them still live in Dagenham. They weren’t looking to enter into a political world on a global scale, which they ended up doing. They were just normal average housewives catapulted into this world — saying what they needed to say, taking it so far and then going back home again.”

Hawkins had a more middle-class background. The daughter of the children’s book illustrators and writers Jacqui and Colin Hawkins, she grew up in Blackheath in an elegant “gingerbread house”, designed by 1950s architect Patrick Gwynne, and protected by the National Trust. Her parents’ studio was full of puppets, pirates ships and spooky monsters — to inspire their books. She went to James Allen’s Girls’ School in Dulwich.

But she understands vulnerability. As a child, she stammered and found it hard to look people in the eye. Later it was found she was dyslexic. Discovering acting changed everything. “Something clicked. English was always an academic subject, there was a barrier I found so hard to break. But as soon as I spoke the words I understood what they meant. This whole world of literature unlocked, which I’d been scared of. And I’m in love with it now. You can go anywhere, be anything for a couple of hours. Sorry, I’m spouting clichés at you…”, she tails off.

She was accepted by Rada, and when she graduated in 1998, Mike Leigh immediately saw her potential. She admits it would never have happened without the help of her “brilliantly organised” friend, the actress Maxine Peake, who sent out their joint CVs.

They met Leigh’s casting director Nina Gold, who took Hawkins to meet Leigh at his Soho office, where he spent an hour chatting about her hobbies, inspirations and dreams. “Memories of that first meeting will stay with me for the rest of my life.”

Later Leigh cast her against type as a fabulously sexy bitch in his film All or Nothing. “It was so liberating. Normally I’m the sweet little thing.” Then followed the role of a gangster’s moll in Layer Cake but it was her portrayal of Sue in Fingersmith, based on the Sarah Waters‘s novel, that had the critics raving. The sex scenes were exquisitely done — just a flash of stomach, but many people still swear both actresses were topless. Sex is to do with the mind, she argues.
Leigh built the whole role of Poppy around her “energy, humour and profundity”. “Mike is great,” she says fondly, “because he’ll see you, but he’s not interested in who you are, he’s interested in what you can do.”

She’s worked with David Hare (on his version of The House of Bernarda Alba at the National) and Jez Butterworth (The Winterling). But you also sense an endearing silliness: she played Kenny Craig’s girlfriend in Little Britain (in one famous episode David Walliams vomited on her). She’s written sketches for R4′s Concrete Cow.

She protects her private life but volunteers that she and her good friend James Corden once made a pact to get married and have babies if they were still single at 35. At home she loves gardening and plants. “Being in nature is very important to me.”

Next we’ll see her in Never Let Me Go, an adaptation of the Kazuo Ishiguro novel, and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. Most interesting of all, she is playing the Irish republican activist Bernadette Devlin in the lead role of The Roaring Girl.

A higher profile means everything she wears on the red carpet will be scrutinised. “I don’t really follow fashion. I like to be comfortable. I’m not a glamour puss.” For the Golden Globes, she wore New York designer Angel Sanchez. “I’d broken my collar bone at the time,” she laughs. “I was probably drugged up to my… no, don’t put that, it was all legal. But then I discovered this beautiful, highly gothic black dress.”

Does she despair of the obsession with looks? “I’m lucky that I’m not going to be viewed as that type. I’ve had interesting intelligent films to make and people haven’t undermined me in that way… yet. For myself I’d probably wear a bin liner, but dressing up is part of the job.”

Like Rita, Hawkins is finding her voice in public. “You think: why would anyone want to listen to me? But I have a responsibility to this film — to these women. My granny was a machinist. I want as many people to see it as possible. It’s history we can touch still, so I’ve just got to get on with it.” She praises Woolley and his co-producer wife Elizabeth Karlsen. “It’s a passion project, which is rare in a producer.”

We discuss how the most poignant moment in Made in Dagenham is when the men at the factory start to lose their jobs. Rita’s husband (Daniel Mays) begs her to call off the strike, reminding her he’s a loyal husband who has never hit her. “It’s about rights not privileges,” she tells him firmly. A shiver goes down your spine.

“It taps into something quite profound,” Hawkins agrees. Women’s equality is very much still a live issue, especially in the film industry where men still call the shots “You don’t realise how much you keep suppressed, because you’d be fighting every single day.”

And none of us want to be labelled the difficult girl? “Yes, that’s what’s so terrifying. You read about these cases in the City with claims getting to tribunals over equal pay, and you think: Oh, it’s taken so long’, because there’s this secrecy about pay in all industries. The glass ceiling is most definitely opaque. We may find it embarrassing to talk about money but until we do, things will stay the same.”

Made in Dagenham is released on October 1

The film, based on the sci-fi novel “Never Let Me Go” by Japanese-British author Kazuo Ishiguro, does not have a set release date at present, but will feature Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield in the title roles, with the lovely Charlotte Rampling as ‘Miss Emily’.

Sadly, the IMDb entry for the film does not yet list a character name for Sally Hawkins, but going by the rather intriguing trailer, it seems she may be one of the newer(?) teachers at Hailsham school (see 0:22 – 1:06).

Given that the Man Booker Prize shortlisted novel has been adapted by Alex Garland (some may recall his name from the screenplay of The Beach) and also the discussion surrounding the critically acclaimed novel itself, there’s no doubt that this film will give food for thought as well, especially with such a promising trailer.

Will you read the book before the film?  I’m not sure yet, but here are some links to reviews of the novel to help you make up your mind:

• Review by Peter Kemp (Times Online)
• Aggregated list of Reviews on Metacritic.com
• Reviews on Amazon.co.uk

Poster courtesy of Empire Online

Set in 1960s Britain and based on a true story, Sally becomes the figurehead in the fight for equal pay by a group of women working in the Ford production factory in Dagenham.

The film is directed by Nigel Cole (of Calendar Girls fame) and features a very fine cast list alongside Sally, including the likes of Miranda Richardson, Rosamund Pike,  and Bob Hoskins amongst others;  I can hardly wait for the release date of October 1st 2010!

So with thanks to David Sztypuljak of HeyUGuys, you can see a selection of the first available photos from the film:

And of course, don’t forget to watch the trailer (courtesy of Blockbuster UK) which features some lovely quirky music, great hairstyles and a dash of naughty words!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0LF-F1QNAw

Greed All About It

Set in 1986, the play – written by the wonderful Ian Hislop and Nick Newman – is ‘a sharp, satirical look at the Wapping dispute‘. The official BBC press release has this introductory blurb:

In the hard drinking, straight talking, misogynistic inner workings of a daily newspaper office on Fleet Street, it is the inkies in their overmanned, union protected print room who hold all the power.

Written by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman, this satirical look at the lead up to the Wapping dispute in the Eighties sees journalists with their copy as just an interruption to the inkies’ daily routine of smoking endless cigarettes, playing cards and throwing the occasional sandwich into the machine – after all they are only there in case it breaks down.

Alice longs to be taken seriously as a proper journalist, and when Greg “from management” takes a shine to her and mentions that he is involved in setting up a new newspaper in a high tech office in Wapping, she senses an opportunity.

But Alice soon finds out that Greg has bent the truth a bit and this high-fangled Wapping office with its computer-powered printers and journalist-driven printworks is not for a new newspaper at all, but for the existing one. For her it is an opportunity, but for her father Ted, a senior inkie on the paper and a very active and vocal member of the printer’s union, it means something quite different.

Ted will not take this lying down. He hits on a direct plan of action – a strike, although it is soon clear that nothing, not even the force of a strong union, can stop the progress of technology.

The hour long drama is both funny and poignant, and is interspersed with classic Eighties music, such as “You Spin Me Around” playing in the background, and even iconic Eighties techie terms, notably the Sinclair C5.

Sally Hawkins plays her role of Alice to perfection, and is supported by a (mostly) delightful family: Eileen (Marion Bailey) as her Eastenders-loving ‘mum’; Ted (Ron Cook) as her straight talking union-man ‘dad’; Harry (Clive Russell) as her geeky Amstrad-loving brother who shows her how to use the new computers.

The Eighties was a time of massive change with the advent of new technology and the shift of power away from the unions, and Alice is somewhat caught between the old and the new. There is a wonderful moment in the middle of the play, where Alice immerses herself in her utopian world: where she can be a true journalist and have the liberty to write articles that matter to her that will be printed. The reality, however, is the broom cupboard and as we find out later, editorial management.

By the end of the play, it’s really quite difficult to like Alice’s slimy beau Greg (Richard Dillane) anymore, yet as the play fast-forwards to modern day Britain, Alice is surprisingly insightful as she recounts the events that followed the Wapping dispute.

I think it was definitely an hour well spent and as Greed All About It is sadly no longer available on the BBC iPlayer (it was originally broadcast on 14th May 2010), with thanks to Douglas103 for the source file, we have decided to make the mp3 available as a download below:

Download ‘Greed All About It’ (53 MB zip file)

p/s: Other credits include: Charles (Nigel Hastings), Andy (Freddie White), Graham (John Biggins), and the Reporter (Keely Beresford). The producer was Gary Brown.

Let us know if you enjoy listening to it too!

It was an excellent read, and as Sandra said to us in the email: the interview really does offer some “interesting ‘insights’ about Sally herself”, who comes across as very human, approachable and at times really quite adorable during the interview.

She values her privacy, and admires the way Judi Dench approaches the business of acting:  “passionate about what she does but just disappears when she’s finished doing it.”  and while Sally concedes that interviews are something that comes with her profession, she is – by her own admission – not very comfortable with them; a fact somewhat reinforced by John Preston’s faithful portrayal of even her minute movements.

These little gestures make her more endearing – if you were to ask us – and the style of the interview was a refreshing change to the usual staccato Q&A, because John Preston manages to discover more about Sally, the person, rather than her professional or actress persona.

For instance, we find out that she loves nature and lives in Richmond;  has dyslexia – although she is very matter of fact about it; has conscious baby memories from as early as 8 months – “I can remember being in my cot and getting a stocking for Christmas. And I remember looking at this duck and thinking, “They’re only giving me this because I’m a baby.”; she still writes comedy sketches with her old school friend, and there is even a hint of a relationship.

There are plenty more tidbits in the article, which is certainly one of our most favourite interviews to date, and you can read it by clicking on the link above. Alternatively, we have also posted it in our Articles archive under the title ‘Sally Hawkins interview‘.

Many thanks to Sandra for recommending the article, and hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did. Do let us know!

p/s: A wonderful surprise was that Sally-Hawkins.com actually got a mention!

Rhys Darby

According to Flicks.co.nz, this ‘charming, bitter-sweet romcom’  is about Doug (Darby), whose life falls apart when his long term girlfriend (Faye Smythe) decides to call it a day. He ends up having to look after an injured Shelduck, which leads him to meet Holly (Sally) the ‘sassy animal specialist’ who teaches Doug how to nurse ‘Pierre’ back to health.

Love Birds will be directed by Paul Murphy and the international cast includes ‘Bryan Brown (Dean Spanley, Australia) as the vet Dr Buster; Emily Barclay (In My Father’s Den) as Holly’s best friend Brenda, Craig Hall (World’s Fastest India, Outrageous Fortune) and David Fane (Sione’s Wedding, Eagle vs Shark) as Doug’s work-mates.’

Sadly there is no IMDb entry yet for the film, but 3 News mentions that the film will be released by Icon Film Distribution (the company behind the Oscar-winning Precious) in 2011.