Its amazing watchingMike Leighs filmHard Truths, starring the extraordinaryMarianne Jean-BaptisteandMichele Austin, in an American theater.
It was comforting, like being in the presence of my, now long gone, judgmental Nigerian aunties.
Shes a chameleon in plain sight that Michele Austin.
Michele AustinGareth Cattermole/Getty Images for BFI)
She buries herself into roles on screen and stage.
The director Rupert Goold returned to her again and again at the Almeida.
And so many of us who have seenHard Truthshave recognized friends and family in Pansy and Chantelle.
(L-R) Michele Austin, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Mike Leigh at Deadline’s Contenders Film: London
Certainly a lot of people saw relationships between their mums and their aunts.
Exactly that, and thats why the film is relating to so many.
Young people kind of say, Im bringing my mom back.
I know both Pansy and Chantelle.
The play reopened the Theatre Royal Stratford East, which at the time had been refurbished.
And then after that, we didSecrets and Lies.
So this has been the culmination of a 30-year friendship.
And we hung out and weve been through everything together, weddings and babies and the whole nine yards.
So this has really been very special, really special, she tells me.
Austin says that shes been in the Mike Leigh club for 30 years.
Ive dipped in and out.
Ive done nice little bits.
So I did some stuff inAnother YearandAll or Nothing.
Even though both siblings inHard Truthshave such disparate natures, their souls are somehow in lockstep.
Their blood and their memories bind them like glue.
And actually we make each other laugh a lot.
We spent a lot of time laughing and having to be told to calm down.
So theres that shorthand.
But Im also an actor and Im curious about the world and all of that.
And of course, Ive got cousins who are siblings.
Ive got a family where sisters get on, dont get on, fall out, she says.
She talks about her mother, lowering her voice as if the woman would pop out of a closet.
Even my moms relationship with her sister is very loving, but its also very complex.
And thats what those relationships are like.
you’ve got the option to love your sister but still be jealous of her.
She can get on your nerves, but you still need to see her.
And so Im glad that we were able to show that in a way.
Ive got cousins like it, but youd think that there was going to be war.
So I always found my cousins relationships really fascinating.
The not sharing or the grabbing of things.
I mean, I find all of that.
It is really curious.
But Marianne has siblings, so she was obviously able to lean on that.
She says that Leighs brilliant at creating the tensions within a relationship.
He knows what hes doing.
Hes been doing it for a long time.
You only know what your character knows when youre working with him.
Leigh can tap into the human psyche very well.
You build your character up from literally first memory.
And for me, it was a first memory that wouldve involved her, Pansy, Jean-Baptistes character.
She wouldve started with her stuff, and then Id have come in later as the younger sister.
So you start very slowly, you kind of get a feel for where they might end up.
Did they have a Saturday job?
Where they went to church, the whole thing.
It became very evident that she was somebody who loves people, who was able to be around people.
And they got me lessons.
I thought, genuinely, I could do this.
Her own hairdresser allowed her to sit around and observe.
She literally was like Chantelle.
And they got me someone who came in and they got me a proper practice head.
So I took it home and it sat in the living room on a stand.
I was doing that over a course of a few months.
She loved doing it.
So working with Mike, because hes curious and he likes to work with nosy, curious people.
You get to just go to places youre never able to go to.
She was very, very good at knowing which cleaning fluid did what.
The dummy head never had a had a name.
Shes gone now, Austin says solemnly.
I donated her to someone who might need her, shes gone to a good home.
Austin says that she can become sort of this mad, cynical person.
Thats the truth, she says, roaring with laughter as I look dumbfounded.
Mariannes funny and warm and open and all of those things.
And I think Im probably more of a cynic than she is, she admits.
How so, I ask?
Its this industry thats ground me down, she declares.
I really have had the highs and the lows.
Its really funny because when I hear myself say 30 years, I do kind of go, why?
Okay, Ive done it.
Ive done a lot of stuff.
And so thats why Im really, really enjoying this.
I know its hard and Im not going to pretend that it hasnt been.
And Im not going to pretend that this industry wasnt difficult at the start.
But I feel really positive about the future.
And I really was that kid that was sort of in the middle of the room dancing.
She failed an A-level exam which meant she couldnt go to university to read humanities.
All she wanted to do was act.
Austin was accepted by Rose Bruford College just outside London in Sidcup, Kent.
When shes asked to talk to young actors she doesnt always paint a rosy picture about acting.
And whats for you is for you.
There are certain jobs that I havent got that I get pissed off about, but it is okay.
It will find you and you will find it.
She left Rose Bruford and went straight intoIts A Great Big Shame.
Ive worked really hard and Ive been a jobbing actor.
She read the script and auditioned for the part of Tracy, the senior midwife.
She felt, I really want to do this and auditioned coming out of the pandemic.
She didnt know how she would cope not getting it (spoiler: she did get the role).
So yeah, you do the work.
And so thats why Im really enjoying this moment.
Im really enjoying it and unashamedly enjoying it.
And actually my cynical head is, or the cynical, intrusive voice is a bit quiet.
But she feels like stuff will open up for her.
The raves she and Jean-Baptiste have received for their performances inHard Truthshave been ecstatic.
Also, she notes, the industry has moved on.
I mean a lot of American productions dont even film in America.
There are more opportunities, but its still not perfect.
This countrys not perfect.
I know exactly what shes referring to.
However, they splashed photos of Ariana Grande.
See, I dont even need to say anything to you and you know what Im about to say.
So you see I dont even know if they know theyre doing it.
And we also understand Cynthia Erivo is an amazing talent.
She is a once-in-a-lifetime, and we should be, youd think that she would be celebrated.
And that role is the lead.
And she was relegated, Austin says angrily.
Im moved that she noticed and cares about what happened to Erivo.
My gut tells me that angels are looking out for her as well.
