Sally Hawkins “Made for Acting” interview by Xaque Gruber, Venice

Sally Hawkins: Made for Acting (February 2011)

In the eight short years since her feature debut in Mike Leigh’s All or Nothing, Sally Hawkins has made a vivid impression in a remarkable string of films including Vera Drake, An Education, andHappy-Go-Lucky, for which she collected the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical.

Venice Magazine spoke to the U.K. native as she wrapped a whirlwind year that included her Broadway debut as Vivie, the daughter of Cherry Jones’ Kitty Warren, in George Bernard Shaw’s “Mrs. Warren’s Profession.”

In late 2010, audiences and critics alike fell for Hawkins’ portrayal of Rita O’Grady, a factory worker who ignites a revolution in Nigel Cole’s Made In Dagenham. Based on a true story, Dagenham (in East London) was a hotbed of national activity in 1960s England when a group of female laborers demanded equivalent pay and respect as their male counterparts, resulting in England’s Equal Pay Act of 1972. Featuring some of her finest screen work yet, Hawkins’ performance has just earned her a Best Actress nomination at the British Independent Film Awards.

Venice: First of all, I love your work. I cheered at the television when you won the Golden Globe Award for Happy-Go- Lucky.

Sally Hawkins: Thank you so much.

I read that you’re quite an optimist and a happy person generally.

Yes, I mean, I think so. I think it goes in waves. I definitely have my bad days, but I suppose I’m a naturally smiley person, but Poppy is on another level.

Do you think that your joyfulness is what caught the casting person’s eye for Happy-Go-Lucky?

Well, it’s different with Happy-Go-Lucky. You’re creating the character together with Mike Leigh, so you’re not cast as such. Before Happy-Go-Lucky he worked with me on All or Nothing and Vera Drake.

I love those movies.

He’s a phenomenal filmmaker, and I think he’s not interested in the actor, per se. He’s interested in creating characters. I’ve worked on doing different roles with him on the other end of the scale to Poppy. So I think it’s not really from the actors themselves. I think it’s something that happens during the organic process of rehearsing. He makes sure that there’s a discipline instilled in his actors, that there is a line between you and the character. I’m not Poppy, and I go back to me at the end of the day.

I’m fascinated by his process, and I think you’re a great team. You brought out the best in him and he brought out the best in you.

Oh, what a lovely thing to say. Yeah, he’s a special man. I do hope to work with him again. I just admire and respect him and love him so much. He’s a brilliant man. And he’s a very good friend of mine now, which I never thought I’d be able to say.

And do you continue to learn as you act in films?

Yes, you do. What drives me is that learning, and you discover something new each time you work on a different project. Whether it’s in the character you’re playing, or the character makes you aware of something you weren’t particularly aware of before, or it’s also different ways of working with different directors.

What did you learn from Rita O’Grady in Made In Dagenham?

Well, I think she inspired me. These women inspired me. The more I learned about them, the more I discovered about them, the more fired up by their fight and what they had to say — I was so moved. And I realized about the responsibility of speaking your truth, speaking with your own integrity, and not losing faith in that. I mean, there’s so much to be learned from these women and the fact that I didn’t know about their story— not a lot of people do.

I heard the actual Dagenham women were given a standing ovation when they attended the Rome film festival.

Isn’t that incredible? And rightly so. I mean, I don’t think they’re aware of what they actually did or the impact it had. You know, and without them, there would have been no Equal Pay Act of 1972. And God knows where we’d be today without these kind of women doing what they did, and I love the fact that they’re so incredibly modest. When I met them, they were very gracious and lovely and generous enough to give me some of their time. Just very down-to-earth, normal working women.

Are most of them are retired now?

Yes, but they still live in Dagenham, and… just interested in going back to their own lives at the end of the day. Their focus was getting the equivalent, equal pay and getting skilled grade. Because they weren’t men, they were initially graded as unskilled workers and getting paid the same amount as the boys who swept the factory floors, but I think there’s endless amounts to learn from women like that, and it just gives you a strength.

And did you get to meet Rita?

Rita didn’t—Rita wasn’t… She’s an amalgamation. There wasn’t a Rita O’Grady, as such. I think the reason for that is because there wasn’t one particular woman who was the leader in Dagenham.

It was a team.

It was a team. And their strength was in their numbers, and that was it. There was incredible strength in that, and in their friendship, ultimately. And there were several women at different points in their fight that led the way or acted as a spokesperson. There was one in 1968 called Rosie Bowland  — I read a lovely interview with her. A brilliant, savvy, and to-the-point magazine interview just telling it how it was to be a worker at the time, and from the tone and voice in the interview, I got a lot from that.

I went out to the movies the other night with a friend who’s a veteran acting teacher who had no idea I was going to be talking to you, and out of the blue she said, “ Of all the movies I’ve seen this year, Sally Hawkins in Made in Dagenham is my favorite performance.”

She didn’t!

She did, and then she said, “This woman has such presence.”

Give her my love!

I will! I wondered if you have something— because a lot of actors do read this magazine—something that really works for you as an actress that you hold onto that helps you in your craft.

Well, I mean, it’s always different each time you approach a different character, because it sort of calls for a different thing, and it’s a new set of circumstances and perhaps you might not have so much time compared to another project. But I suppose it’s remembering to try not to “third eye” yourself, and trust in yourself, and trusting the character and I suppose you’re only as good as the other actors you’re with. We all have that questioning, critical voice that pops up, and you just have to keep batting it away.

It can be incredibly distracting and difficult for an actor — or anyone, to quietly put the negative in a box somewhere and not listen to it.

Exactly. Just listen to the voice of the character. Just being and breathing with that character. And I think it’s always about the other person in the scene. And also about the subtext that’s going on beyond the language of the script. The technique of making sure that you know what that language is and what that dialogue is, which is probably more important than the actual words. There’s a language, whether it’s the body language, there’s the energy of what’s happening outside — sort of the gaps in between the script.

It’s as if there’s another script there.

Yes, there is another script within the script. I look at films I’ve done or work I’ve done. Oh God, it’s full of mistakes and it’s awful to think it’s out there and the whole world can see it. It happens on a daily basis with me. I recently did ADR voice work for film. And it’s, “Oh no, God knows what I’m doing here.” And you’re vulnerable and you’re out there and you’re open, and then, yes, you make mistakes. It’s a leap of faith and sometimes you don’t know whether it’s going to work. And sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes it does. Oh I don’t know if that answer is helpful.

It’s very helpful. I mean, I’m listening to you and I’m thinking, “Gosh, she might actually be a great acting teacher at some point.

Oh, what a lovely thing to say.

You were my very favorite moment in the movie An Education. It’s so heartbreaking, your character in that movie. I think you were only in one scene.

Yeah, one scene.

But it was beautifully done.

Oh, well, thank you so much. That just really means the world. It really, really does. It’s always difficult for actors to come in for the one scene, and it’s sort of a critical scene when she learns the truth.

And so does the audience.

Yes. With Made In Dagenham I sort of felt sorry for the actors that came in with the tiny roles, it’s just as difficult. Joseph Mawle is an example — he played one scene and he’s phenomenal in it. You do as much preparation. Well, I do, and I know Joseph is the same, and there’s some other actors in Made in Dagenham who are very passionate and phenomenal actors that came in for tiny cameo parts, and you feel so honored when you’re leading a film, to have those kinds of actors to work with on tiny parts or in just one scene or a couple of scenes. On the other hand, playing the lead has this other sort of pressure and responsibility, but you have time to be with this character. You don’t have that when you’re just coming in for a couple scenes.

Do you go to the movies? Are there other films that are really touching you or moving you that are playing now?

It’s weird, because it’s always inevitable in this situation that when you’re doing this kind of thing, doing all this publicity, I just miss a lot. And I don’t like watching things on TV. I love watching them on the big screen, the magic and the whole full impact.

I can’t watch a movie on my phone.

I know! Exactly! Or on iPads. I can’t. I’m hopefully seeing Blue Valentine next week, which I hear is phenomenal, with Michelle Williams. I’m a huge fan of her work. But there are so many I can’t wait to see. I’ve seen recently The Social Network and Jesse Eisenberg, he’s a phenomenal actor. The script is brilliant, and I, yeah, I’m really glad I got to see that. It was opening weekend, and the whole packed-out cinema loved it. It just rightly got a lot of buzz behind it. A very intelligent film.

Is London still your home?

It is. I’ve recently been living in New York, just because I’ve been working there on Broadway, which was phenomenally exciting and I never thought I’d get that opportunity to do that. I made some wonderful and special friends I’ll have for the rest of my life. So that was a magical time for me, and it was only last week that I left New York, so it feels quite surreal now to be in LA doing these few days of publicity, and then I go home. I haven’t been home since summer, but it’s fitting that I go home for Christmas. We all need to be home for Christmas. So I’m really excited about seeing my brother and family.

Yes, of course. They must be very proud of you. I read your parents are authors and illustrators.

That’s right. They actually started writing and drawing children’s books to get me to read because they sort of realized that I was learning words in a different way than my brother, and I was responding to the rhythm in words, and I think responding especially to Dr. Seuss books, which were genius, and magical, and brilliantly written, and I still love now.

It sounds like you were raised in an atmosphere that supported your creativity.

In my family, creativity was highly prized and valued, and for that I owe my parents everything. And they’re immensely proud. I knew from quite early on that I wanted to follow a path of a more creative route like my parents and perhaps university wasn’t the place that I was going to go. But I knew that drama school was probably where I’d end up. And I was very lucky that I did. And yeah, it was either that or art school for me.

That’s a gift to have parents like that.

It’s a real gift. ?

~ Interview by Xaque Gruber for Venice (February 2011) and with thanks to hisakot for the news link.

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