LONDON — Nearly three decades after being nominated for an Oscar, British actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste is back in the awards race thanks to a tremendous performance in director Mike Leigh’s new drama, Hard Truths.
The 57-year-old jokes she feels “older and wider” (rather than wiser) this time around – a line she credits to co-star Michele Austin, who plays her on-screen sister.
But waistlines aside, her reunion with Leigh, whom she first worked with on 1996’s Secrets & Lies, has prompted some of the most positive reviews of her career.
Hard Truths centers on Pansy, a woman who is constantly grumpy and miserable, and the impact her unspoken depression has on those around her.
It would be unfair to call the film a comeback for Jean-Baptiste, because she has been working tirelessly in the intervening years. But her second collaboration with Leigh has led to renewed attention on the film awards circuit.
“It’s kind of a full circle moment, rather than a comeback,” she tells BBC News.
“It’s very interesting, because the first time, I was not aware at all that we were even in an Oscar race. You’ve got to remember, in 1996, there was still a huge independent film presence in the United States.
“At that time, we weren’t that aware of the whole Oscar thing. It was something that happened over there,” she says, gesturing far away, “with really big stars. So it really was not on our radar.”
Having won the top prize at Cannes, it was only when Secrets & Lies played at the New York Film Festival four months later that Jean-Baptiste became more aware of the awards buzz. “I hadn’t even heard of the Golden Globes at that point,” she recalls.
“We were just talking about the film, doing loads of interviews, we were just knackered from all the plane rides, so there was a naivety to it the first time.
“Now we have the internet and it’s become more of an aggressive pursuit of those awards. The campaigning process has changed quite a lot. Or maybe it hasn’t and we just weren’t aware of it back then.”
Leigh and Jean-Baptiste have “kept in touch over the years”, she explains – which ultimately led to their second project together.
Hard Truths has been praised for its hard-hitting but nuanced depiction of depression and complex family dynamics.
There is humour in many of the scenes as Pansy starts arguments with pretty much everyone she encounters, from her closest relatives to her dentist. The man in the car park who asks if she’s leaving gets it with both barrels.
But there is something deeper going on. Although the word “depression” isn’t mentioned in the film, it’s clear Pansy is struggling.
“Yeah, it’s not spoken,” Jean-Baptiste says. “And the interesting thing about that is the whole family, everyone that she comes into contact with, other than her sister, just sort of gets on with it.
“It’s under the surface. ‘Oh, it’s just Pansy.’ And so many people live like that, where you have somebody that’s really difficult, and nobody says to them, ‘Man, what is it? What’s really going on?’ You just sort of avoid them.”
On paper, it might sound like fun for an actor to play such a juicy, bad-tempered character. But Jean-Baptiste’s performance reveals something much more complex.
“People have asked if it was cathartic, the chance to just spew. But no, it wasn’t like that,” she says. “I felt the very real pain, anxiety and fear. There was not a lot of enjoyment to be had in that.
“And also, Pansy comes from a generation where you’re taught to just get on with things. It’s like the pre-Oprah generation, self-help – it’s before all that. You just went, ‘I feel rubbish, but I’ve got to do the laundry.’ You get up and you get on with it.”
In her review of Hard Truths, Carla Hay of Culture Mix said Jean-Baptiste “gives a fierce and complex performance”, describing it as “a raw and realistic portrayal of how toxic anger and untreated mental illness can affect a family”.
“Even at its funniest, Hard Truths finds Marianne Jean-Baptiste channelling an anger that feels excruciatingly real,” wrote Slant’s Cole Kronman.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Jon Frosch noted that Leigh “pushes the bounds of our empathy and asks us to look, really look, at someone from whom we’d surely avert our gaze if we had the misfortune of crossing her path in real life”.
Leigh famously spends several months rehearsing, and crafts his script based on improvisation sessions with the actors.
“Basically, the process is to create a character from scratch,” Jean-Baptiste explains. “Their first memory, their education, house they grew up in, family members, neighbours, where the local park was. Minute detail.”
The actors are then introduced to one another to build their characters’ relationships. “We do all sorts of exercises to establish the family routines and the traditions. We do improvisations based on, ‘What’s Sunday dinner like?'”
By the time shooting begins, the script is firmly in place. “Nothing is ever improvised on camera,” she explains. “So we rehearse it and rehearse it.”
Jean-Baptiste is speaking to BBC News the morning after the British Independent Film Awards, where she won best lead performance, one of several early accolades she has picked up.
If she is ultimately shortlisted by Hollywood’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on 17 January, Jean-Baptiste could become the first black British woman to receive two Oscar nominations for acting.
Coincidentally, Wicked’s Cynthia Erivo is also a contender for best actress – meaning she could match that record, after also being nominated in 2020.
“I guess it’s a sign of progress, and I think it’s all great,” Jean-Baptiste reflects. “It’s recognition for a job well done, I guess.”
Four black actresses from the US have previously scored two Academy nominations – Whoopi Goldberg, Angela Bassett, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer.
Jean-Baptiste agrees strides have been made on diversity nearly a decade on from the OscarsSoWhite movement, but notes that the real issue is whether the work is available in the first place.
“I think [awards bodies] are trying. It’s always going to come back down to opportunity, though,” she says.
“If the films aren’t being made that feature black women [or] Asian women in the lead role, then they don’t even stand a chance of being nominated.
“So we always have to come back to the opportunities in the first place, the work being made, the stories being told.”
Notably, Jean-Baptiste now lives in Los Angeles – a place many British actors have moved to for the sake of their careers.
“Well, I was being offered work out there, so it made sense actually, because in the end I left to do a job that would require me to be there for an extended amount of time,” she explains, referring to her 2000s TV police drama Without A Trace.
“Because that show went on for seven years. I’d been flying back and forth for the first year or two of the show, and then it was like, you know what, this is a lot. It’s a long flight just for a weekend.”
When she’s back in the UK, she relishes the chance to catch up on British theatre and read books on the London Underground (“You have to drive in LA, so it’s books on tape”).
For now, though, her focus is on Hard Truths, which will be released in the UK on 31 January. Jean-Baptiste hopes viewers ultimately leave the film with “a bit more compassion for people, difficult people”.
“Not to avoid them, necessarily, but just sort of ask your aunt what’s going on, and if there’s something you can do to help. Don’t assume you’re going to be berated for doing it.”
Older and wider, we all begrudgingly are. But Marianne Jean-Baptiste is clearly quite a lot wiser, too. — BBC