Sally Hawkins interview

24 | September 19, 2013 | cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News

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Cambridge News | cambridge-news.co.uk | September 19, 2013 | 25

DIANA (12A, 113 MINS) Naomi Watts, Naveen Andrews, Douglas Hodge, Geraldine James, Charles Edwards, Cas Anvar, Juliet Stevenson, Art Malik. Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel.

Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine prepares to help launch the 33rd Cambridge Film val, ELLA WALKER talks to one of its stars, the rather lovely Sally Hawkins

LY Hawkins is almost too lovely.

Famously nervous in interviews, e Made in Dagenham actress is spoken, her words occasionally g, stumbling as she tries to herself. But she’s also quick to her high, clear giggle unspooling he phone line. at the end of a very long ng grilled by the press, she diculously kind and keen to ologising for the rushed call, sed I liked the film (“Thank d you? Oh wonderful!”), and bly gracious: “I’ve heard a lot Cambridge Film Festival, I really does well, I’m sorry I can’t be

there are not enough people – e A-list actresses – like her. She across as the petite, hazel-eyed of the film world. Yet, at 37 the h-born actress has carved out for herself in some seriously roles. Her Golden Globe g performance in Happy-Goed to quirky roles in the likes of et Me Go, Submarine and Jayne hen, of course, along came the feisty, determined machinist Grady in Made in Dagenham. wonder she’s suddenly opposite anchett in Woody Allen’s latest masterpiece, the whip-smart arply wrought Blue Jasmine.

Xanax-fuelled plot tumbles t the pace the increasingly ed Jasmine French (Blanchett) back martinis. A socialite uck has collapsed dramatically e incarceration of her ering fraudster of a husband ec Baldwin), she flies first San Francisco to stay with opted sister Ginger (Hawkins). e proceeds to shiver, sweat and ut every fibre of angst and possible as she deigns to work ntist’s receptionist and tears r sister’s choice in men with determination. e Blanchett absolutely nails Allen’s mentally fragile, c protagonist – the Oscars s rightly a-buzz – Hawkins ers just as brightly as Ginger, ed in colourful junk jewellery tling between oafish partners: atile boyfriend Chili (Bobby vale), the Stanley Kowalski chett’s Blanche DuBois, and ex-husband, Augie (Andrew ay), plus an ill-judged fling. t attracted her to the part of ? “Ah well, Woody Allen,” ns says, laughing giddily. “I don’t d turn down sneaking up in the ound really.”

ᔡ Cambridge Film Festival, Thursday, September 19, 10.15pm (Arts Picturehouse), 7.30pm (Cineworld)

It’s not the first time she’s worked with Allen. She had a small part in his 2007 tale, Cassandra’s Dream, but admits the second time was no less terrifying than the first. “It’s always daunting,” she murmurs, explaining how her audition took place in his editing suite “which is quite aweinspiring itself and intimidating, he’s edited Annie Hall and Manhattan there, it feels like something from the 1970s.” Then there was the American accent she had to perfect, adding to the pressure: “To do that on film – in a Woody Allen film – was quite overwhelming. I’m so glad that if I was going to do it, it was going to be in a Woody Allen film though.”

Allen obviously had faith in her, and, for a man notoriously guarded when it comes to sharing out scripts, let Hawkins and Blanchett get a first peek.

“Woody’s very to the point and direct and economical with his words,” Hawkins buzzes. “I really love that about him actually he doesn’t really sit around and do chit-chat.

“He is one of the greatest filmmakers there is, and he is that for a reason, and he’s an incredible director, he’s a wordsmith, it just felt like an honour.”

For the fourth time in fewer minutes, she says: “I’m just incredibly lucky,” as if she honestly can’t believe she ever even got a part in the film, let alone worked alongside Blanchett: “Ah well, another goddess really, she’s on the top of her game, it doesn’t really get better. Woody Allen, Cate Blanchett: to have two in one, you know? I hit the jackpot.”

Does she wish she was her sister in reality? “Well, probably not the sisters that we are on screen! But she’s definitely a person you want to hang out with,” she laughs. “You learn a lot being around someone like that, the way she holds herself, despite being one of the most beautiful creatures on the planet she has none of that vanity about her in terms of the roles she takes on. She has an intelligence, she’s funny and just yeah, I love her.”

Fortunately the pair work in a similar way, and delved into their character histories together and to build up a back story for the troubled, estranged sisters they play. “She was so generous with her time,” Hawkins enthuses.

“She’s a theatre actress, and you can see that in everything she does, you just see the intelligence behind it and

the thought and the care. She’s the perfect balance of heart and brain: she’s one of the best.

“It was devastating as Ginger to watch her crumble because I didn’t see Cate, I just saw the cracking of Jasmine.”

For a film that tracks someone mentally disintegrating, Blue Jasmine is disarmingly funny. The verbal sparring between Blanchett and Cannavale in particular will have you squawking, as will a deadpan tirade Jasmine levels at her nephews, noting: “There’s only so much a person can take before they take to the streets screaming.”

Was it fun to film in the moment?

“Everyone is working at such an intense level and speed and focus, but there’s little time for play,” Hawkins explains diplomatically. “I love working and when you’re doing good work, it’s really satisfying.”

Were there any major challenges on set? “Each [scene] had its own issues, or difficulties, or delights, the unexpected things that happen,” she muses. “I loved doing the fight scene in the kitchen, it was like doing a theatre piece. Phones were being thrown across the room and hitting the camera, and hitting the sound guy!

That was all good fun, you felt like you were in it. It takes such a lot to develop a film so when you’re there you’re like, we’re so lucky let’s not muck it up!”

You’ll be pleased to know there is no mucking up to be found in the final edit.

“I had an amazing time with all these different dynamics and personalities,” Hawkins adds happily as our time runs out. “You just have to be flexible to where the wind blows and be ready to jump.” n Read our review of Blue Jasmine at cambridge-news.co.uk/whatson

IN life, Diana, Princess Of Wales divided opinion, so it’s fitting that Oliver Hirschbiegel’s drama, based on Kate Snell’s contentious book Diana: Her Last Love, should have stirred controversy before a single frame has unspooled on the big screen. Dr Hasnat Khan, the subject of the picture, publicly denounced Diana as a fiction, while a pre-recorded radio interview with star Naomi Watts ended abruptly with the suggestion that she walked out on DJ Simon Mayo.

Tittle tattle aside, Diana is a trashy made-for-TV movie, blessed with an award-winning German director and an Oscar nominated lead actress, whose talents are well and truly squandered.

Both are undone by Stephen Jeffrey’s clumsy script while Watts also lacks sexual chemistry with co-star Naveen Andrews, making a mockery of the tears and tantrums when the central relationship ultimately breaks down.

“I’ll never be happy again, I just know it,” whimpers Diana (Watts) to gal pal Sonia (Juliet Stevenson).

If the public image of the princess was elegance and poise, behind the scenes in Hirschbiegel’s film she is emotionally cold and calculating, tipping off a tabloid photographer to her whereabouts so he can splash pictures of her on a yacht with Dodi Fayed (Can Anvar) and pique the jealousy of Dr Khan (Andrews).

Pathetic attempts to win Khan back take a leaf out of the book of Bridget Jones – minus the excessive smoking – including scenes of Diana attempting different dialects in the hope the doctor will take her call.

“Yes, I’ve been a mad bitch, yes I’ve

been a stalker and yes I put on the clumsiest Liverpool accent to get your attention!” she concedes in one of many scenes that beggar belief.

Opening in Paris 1997, Hirschbiegel’s film rewinds two years to sow the seeds of romance between the princess and Khan, part of which involves smuggling him into Kensington Palace in the back of her car.

“Looks about 80 kilos in there,” quips one security officer as the vehicle passes a checkpoint.“That’ll be a Pakistani heart surgeon,” deadpans a colleague.

The pressure of conducting a romance through the omnipresent lens of the media takes its toll and Khan eventually ends the affair, propelling Diane into Dodi’s arms.

Diana isn’t quite the total disaster some vitriolic critics have suggested, but it comes perilously close. Watts offers a passable impression of a global icon, rehearsing answers to Martin Bashir’s questions in a mirror so she can perfect her head tilt as she whispers, “There were three of us in this marriage... so it was a bit crowded.” Andrews fails to live up to his surgeon’s nickname as Mr Wonderful and Hirschbiegel’s direction lacks energy.

An excessive two-hour running time will test the patience of even the most ardent and devoted Diana fan.

Rating: ᗄᗄ

THE CALL (15, 94 MINS) Halle Berry, Abigail Breslin, Morris Chestnut, Michael Eklund, David Otunga, Michael Imperioli, Roma Maffia, Evie Thompson. Director: Brad Anderson.

NOTWITHSTANDING a ridiculous final act that seemingly belongs to a different film, The Call is a slick, nail-biting thriller that propels us satisfyingly close to the edge of our seats.

Director Brad Anderson navigated emotionally richer terrain on the big screen in his earlier films, The Machinist and Transsiberian. However, recent stints behind the camera on TV series Boardwalk Empire, Alcatraz and The Killing serve him well here and he cranks up tension with aplomb. The middle section is genuinely exhilarating, ricocheting between emergency services and a kidnap victim, trapped in the claustrophobic boot of her abductor’s car.

Screenwriter Richard D’Ovidio takes a staple of the genre – an imperilled heroine, who loses her clothes for no compelling reason – as the seed for his sadistic game of cat and mouse between a 911 call centre operator and a serial killer with a penchant for blonde girls.

In a tense opening sequence, terrified teenager Leah Templeton (Evie Thompson) dials 911 to report an intruder in her family home. Skilled operator Jordan Turner (Halle Berry) coolly advises Leah to lock herself in a room and remain on the line.

Unfortunately, the plan goes tragically awry and Jordan finds herself on the line with the intruder.

“I suggest you leave that house before you do something you regret,” she

barks.

“It’s already done,” growls the man, establishing a snappy catchphrase, which is recycled at two pivotal moments later in the film.

Leah is slain and Jordan hangs up her headset.

Six months later, the same madman, Michael Foster (Michael Eklund), abducts a blonde teenager, Casey Welson (Abigail Breslin), from a shopping mall.

Jordan happens to be in the call centre “hive” when Casey’s distressed telephone call comes through and the operator takes charge, determined to make amends for Leah.

Haunted by the words of her police officer father - “You might be the difference between somebody living and somebody dying” - Jordan provides Casey with ingenious suggestions for attracting attention from passing motorists.

The Call speed-dials suspense for the opening hour, cross cutting between jittery Jordan and hysterical Casey, who gradually bond through the magic of mobile communication.

After an engrossing build-up, we – and the film – deserve better.

Rating: ᗄᗄᗄ