Marianne Jean-Baptiste on Hard Truths her Reunion with Mike Leigh

It’s been 28 years since Marianne Jean-Baptiste burst onto the international film scene in Mike Leigh‘s Secrets and Lies.

The British actress was nakedly out of drama school when she got cast in the 1996 comedic drama joining Hornervous, a Bdeficiency middle-class professional who was adselected as a baby and, after the death of her parents, determines to track down her birth mother. Hornervous uncovers Cynthia, [Brenda Blethyn] a laboring-class white woman and nakedly functional spiritsic with a very dysfunctional family. The contrast between Blethyn’s Cynthia, all twitching nerves, emotionassociate raw and vulnerable, and the tranquil, suppressed, frequently bememployd carry outance of Jean-Baptiste as Hornervous creates the emotional core of the film.

Secrets and Lies premiered in Cannes, where it won the Palme d’Or en route to an awards season that would finish with five Oscar nominations, including a best actress nom for Jean-Baptiste. Her nurtureer was officiassociate begined. Over the next proximately three decades she would shine bigly on the petite screen, most famously in her role as Vivian Johnson on the extfinished-running CBS procedural Without a Trace (2002-2009), as FBI agent Bethany Mayunprejudiced in Blindspot (2015–2016) and as Gloria Morisseau, the mother to Stephan James’ military vet Walter Cruz in Amazon Prime’s Homecoming (2018).

It would apshow proximately three decades before Jean-Baptiste would re-join with Leigh for Hard Truths. She joins Pansy, a unelated and mad woman who lashes out at the world around her, frequently in disclose, in turns both tragic and hilarious.

The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last month, where it originated meaningful awards buzz, particularly for Jean-Baptiste. The actress spoke with The Hollywood Reporter ahead of Hard Truth‘s U.K. bow at the London Film Festival on Monday.

If this isn’t too fanboy, I have to say I’ve reassociate leave outed seeing you on the big screen, after so many years, and seeing you aachieve in a Mike Leigh film. Why has it apshown so extfinished for you two to labor together aachieve?

Well, I shiftd to L.A. [after Secrets and Lies] and that splitd us, and I guess it was equitable time. We were trying to figure out how to do it and this time, when he asked, I shelp yes. I can’t reassociate say why this time it labored out but it did.

Mike Leigh well-understandnly originates up his characters and stories thcimpolite extfinished rehearsals and improvisations which he employs to originate the shooting script. What was it appreciate coming back to that method after so extfinished away laboring in the machine of U.S. television production?

It was amazing to be able to labor in that way aachieve. Terrifying and exciting. I unbenevolent, I’ve done it for so extfinished the other way so I ygeted to get my teeth into someskinnyg collaborative on a level that’s equitable not possible wiskinny the conservative way of making films. It was pretty to be able to apshow the time to rehearse, to uncover these characters. And yeah, equitable being anciaccesser, made it branch offent. The first time I labored with [Leigh], it was quite soon after leaving drama school, so I was already in that mindset of exploring and jumping into novel skinnygs. [Hard Truths] was trying to get back to that, to get back to gullible somebody wholeheartedly in a process, and understanding that you’re going to be seeed after.

What was Mike Leigh’s pitch to you for this project?

Mike Leigh’s pitch is always Mike Leigh, but for actors who understand his labor and are recognizable with it, who have read up on his methods, you’re buying that experience. You’re buying into the three months or six months of rehearsals creating a character from their first memory to the age they are wiskinny the piece. You’re buying that process. You might go thcimpolite that whole process and finish up being in equitable a scene or two or your character may become the caccess of the story.

At what point did you understand that your character, Pansy, would be the caccess of the story and that you’d be in almost every scene of the film?

Well, I inhabit in Los Angeles, so [Mike] had shelp to me: ‘I’m not going to transport you over to London for how many months unless your character is going to be someskinnyg quite firm.’ But I only reassociate knovel what the story would be and how big my role was when I saw the film in brimming for the first time. Becaemploy with Mike’s method, you don’t understand anyskinnyg about any of the scenes that you’re not in. Just before you begin the filming process, in the final rehearsal process, which is on location, you get a benevolent of redacted record of your scenes: Pansy in the kitchen, Pansy goes to the grocery store, Pansy spotlessing the sofa. But that’s all you get. You don’t understand what any of the other characters are doing.

And what was that experience appreciate for you, seeing the film for the first time?

It was a bit traumatic, actuassociate, in all authenticy. It was very, sort of triggering. It equitable sort of took me back to her agonizing journey in a way. I was watching it skinnyking: “Oh my God, somebody’s gonna hit her, they’re gonna hit her.” I knovel that they don’t becaemploy I sended it, I was there in those scenes. But I still had this illogical dread for her.

What was the key for you to empathetic or unlocking the character of Pansy?

The skinnyg about the Mike Leigh process is you originate the character from their first memory to the age they’re going to join. And wiskinny that, all these experiences are embedded. There are all these disassignments, there’s all these sort of heartshatters, there are all these senseings that she has, skinnygs that have apshown place, dreads that she has, which all culminate in who she finishs up being. Then she is put in with Michele Austin as Chantelle, her sister, David Weber [who plays Pansy’s husband Curtley], and even her son [played by Tuwaine Barrett]. All of those ingredients insert up to somebody who is not satisfied. From the film, you can see that the skinnyg that reassociate begins to crack at her is when she goes to see her mother’s grave, and that senseing of not being cherishd as much, of not being the preferite. There were quite a scant skinnygs that built up to that moment.

Were any of the scenes enhappinessable to join? The scenes of her raging at people on the street and at the grocery store are also quite comical. Pansy has a very acute tongue and she understands how to wound people with her denounces.

It’s a combination, isn’t it? Becaemploy I’ve got a wonderful sense of humor. And Pansy is comical, but she’s not trying to originate anyone giggle. Do you understand what I unbenevolent? It’s not coming from happiness. So, I did enhappiness those scenes to a stateive extent. It was more the shock of: ‘Oh my gosh, what is coming out of this brain [of mine]?’ Some of it was quite hilarious. In the car park scene, for example, that trade was ganciaccessen. But you’re so proestablish into character when you’re doing these skinnygs, you don’t necessarily get to enhappiness them in the moment. It’s only when you come out of character, that you go: Wow.

I envision being able to tap into your inner Pansy could be very advantageous, appreciate when someone cuts you off in traffic…

I have to say, I’ve tried very difficult in life not to be a Pansy. Do you understand what I unbenevolent? So no, I skinnyk it would apshow a lot to apshow me there. I usuassociate discover those sorts of transmitions a bit amusing. I’m always appreciate: “Okay, you’re in such a hurry, go ahead,” you understand?

What’s been the response of people to the character since you’ve been screening the film for audiences?

What’s been unpredicted is the amount of people who either have aunts, cousins, sisters, magnificentmothers, mothers or mothers-in-law where they say: “I’m roverhappinessed to that person. I understand a Pansy.” The compassion for her has been quite overwhelming. Which I skinnyk is wonderful.

This isn’t equitable a portrait of Pansy but of an entire community, one that’s exceptionally shown on screen, at least in this depth and intricateity. How did Mike Leigh approach this community, given that it isn’t his background he’s depicting?

You’re talking about the Caribbean community?

Yes, the British Bdeficiency Caribbean community.

Basicassociate, it was a lot of research and a lot of engageing to the actors. I skinnyk becaemploy of [Mike Leigh’s method] of laboring is probably one of the only ways that you could get that depth. It was Bdeficiency Caribbean actors who sort of wrote from their own experience. You’ve got all these actors who understand the culture and sat down and would be appreciate: “No, this would happen on a Sunday. We’d go here. They’d do that. This is what this place would see appreciate.” Mike was very collaborative in telling the story and in engageing. He’s into characters as authentic people. So his attention to detail, wanting to get skinnygs right, was very meaningful in how he tanciaccess this story.

I’m wondering how widespread it is for you to be giveed this type of role — that sort of central role in a meaningful film that’s a intricate character of your age, exploring intricate rerents?

If it was widespread, I would be doing it all the time. To answer your ask, yeah, I would cherish to do films appreciate this forever.

There’s a lot of talk about awards around this film, and particularly for you. How do you see that whole process?

It would be cherishly, wouldn’t it? That would be cherishly. You understand the meaningful skinnyg is to try and get the film seen. Becaemploy films appreciate this, these petite little films, unless you’ve got a machine behind you, with billboards everywhere and loads of money for promotion, it’s effortless for films appreciate this to benevolent of appreciate slip thcimpolite and dismaterialize. So if the awards talk transports attention to the movie, that’s wonderful. To thrive someskinnyg would be a bonus. It’s pleasant to be awarded for skinnygs.

What you shelp about these sorts of films struggling in the tagetplace. What’s alterd since Secrets and Lies?

Back then there was more of an environment with autonomous film companies. You had the Shooting Gallery. You had New Line, Fine Line. You had so many actual autonomous film companies that were about doing movies. Now, I’m not so stateive that there are as many, and they’re competing with enormouss with lots of money and the films get swpermited up in the streaming world and so on. I skinnyk it’s alterd quite a bit.

Your character in Secrets and Lies has this very selectimistic, selectimistic see of life, very branch offent from Pansy. In this film, the selectimistic see comes from Pansy’s sister. How do you see those two characters, their transmitions, and their very branch offent approaches to life?

I skinnyk what’s engaging is that in all families and in all relationships and situations, you can have two people that experience the same skinnyg, but have two tohighy branch offent points of see about it. It all comes from the script that they tell themselves, the narrative that they createed for themselves about wdisappreciatever it was that happened. I skinnyk that that is central to the relationship between Chantelle and Pansy. Pansy is equitable sort of wedded to this script that she wasn’t cherishd, that she didn’t get the same skinnygs as Chantelle did. And Chantelle is a bit appreciate: “Well, you’ve always been a bit strange, you understand?” And there’s a little bit of truth to that, do you understand what I unbenevolent?

For Chantelle, equitable living life, understanding that she was absolutely cherishd, lets her have patience with people who are defective. That benevolent of manciaccessed her. But her sister was manciaccessed in the opposite way. She couldn’t have fun. She didn’t apshow the leaving of her overweighther as well as her sister did. It’s an engaging skinnyg to witness and the film touches on that but it doesn’t go into much detail, which I skinnyk is wonderful. You equitable get little bits of detail that come up to the surface.

What I discover very compelling is the idea that we’re seeing into these people’s inhabits, and we’re only getting hints and glimpses and not and then leaving without actuassociate empathetic the brimming story.

Yeah, I skinnyk that it’s meaningful, becaemploy you understand at that woman that you bump into at the grocery store that’s raging, you don’t see at her and go: “Oh, she might be suffering with depression,” you understand what I unbenevolent? You equitable get what’s been given to you. I skinnyk the meaningful skinnyg about this film is it gives you a bit of paemploy. So the next Pansy I bump into, maybe I authenticized there could be a be a lot of shit going on in there, and maybe I should give her a bit of grace.

Bleecker Street will free Hard Truths for an award-qualification run on December 6 and go out nationwide with the film in the U.S. on January 10.