Exclusive: Gugu Mbatha-Raw Talks ‘Belle,’ ‘Jupiter Ascending,’ and ‘Blackbird’Posted by Wilson Morales
May 5, 2014
Currently in theaters is the romantic period drama, ‘Belle,’ directed by Amma Asante and starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson, Sam Reid, Sarah Gadon, Miranda Richardson, Penelope Wilton, Tom Felton, James Norton, Matthew Goode, and Emily Watson.
The film is inspired by the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle (Mbatha-Raw), the illegitimate mixed race daughter of a Royal Navy Admiral.
Raised by her aristocratic great-uncle Lord Mansfield (Wilkinson) and his wife (Watson), Belle’s lineage affords her certain privileges, yet the color of her skin prevents her from fully participating in the traditions of her social standing.
Left to wonder if she will ever find love, Belle falls for an idealistic young vicar’s son bent on change who, with her help, shapes Lord Mansfield’s role as Lord Chief Justice to end slavery in England.
For Mbatha-Raw, the role represents a big change in her career. Having done theater opposite Jude Law in ‘Hamlet,’ playing Boris Kodjoe‘s wife in NBC’s short-lived J. J. Abrams TV series ‘Undercovers,’ and playing social worker Clea Hopkins in Season 1 of the Fox drama ‘Touch,’ ‘Belle’ represents her first lead role in a studio film and her first high-profile since she had a supporting role opposite Tom Hanks in ‘Larry Crowne.’
In speaking with Blackfilm.com, Mbatha-Raw talks about her character, being the lead of a film, and her upcoming projects.
How did the role come about for you?
Gugu Mbatha-Raw: For me it’s been such a long gestation period to actually get to play the character. About seven years ago I first met the producer Damian Jones for a completely different project. I was just out of drama school and had a two-line role in a film he was producing, and he mentioned to me about this painting of Dido Belle. At the time I was living in Highgate in North London which is very near Kenwood house where the story is set. He introduced me to the idea of this girl who really existed in the painting, then I went to the house and got a postcard of the painting because it wasn’t actually there at the time, it was up in Scotland. Time went by, a couple years later I had always wondered what had happened to the project, I think at the time it was called “Belle and Bette”. Fast-forward, I was working more in LA and doing TV shows in the states and “Belle” came back into focus after “The Iron Lady” which Damian also produced with Meryl Streep. Amma was on board to direct, I met with her again then read for her and got the part! I had a pretty traditional audition process but was aware of the story a long time before that.
How was working with Amma?
Mbatha-Raw: This is Amma Asante’s second film, and this is actually my first lead in a film. I’ve done leading roles on stage and on TV. Working with Amma has just been an absolute joy. She’s so intelligent and articulate, but most importantly she has a huge heart and that’s something she really put into this film and drew out of everyone’s performance. The nuances of this world, approaching these characters on a human, emotional level. She really has such a beautiful aesthetic, this film is very sweeping and elegant, and she’s a very elegant woman herself.
It’s seven years later, you’re in every scene as the main character. If this movie had happened seven years ago would you have been ready to do this movie as a lead?
Mbatha-Raw: (laughs) This is an interesting question! I felt ready but often I feel like the stars have to align for these sorts of things. It requires this wonderful British cast with Tom Wilkinson and Emily Watson. For myself, everything happens for a reason, and in that time I’ve acquired a lot of experience working on the screen and in America with great actors and intense TV schedules. They certainly equipped me to take on this role, even though I was kind of impatient about wanting it to happen! Sometimes slow and steady wins the race.
Between Sam Reid, a relative newcomer in the states, and Tom (Wilkinson) and Miranda (Richardson), how was working with the rest of the cast?
Mbatha-Raw: Sam Reid is such a wonderful actor and we have such a beautiful love story to portray and it was very fun working with him and charting the arc of this story together. The social nuances of the times, it’s a very strange period, and those moments of physical contact or romance become that much more electric so that was fun to explore. Also working with Tom Wilkinson, an actor I’ve admired for such a long time, he brings such gravitas to the screen in his story, the legal story which really did happen. I loved working with him and Emily Watson. Emily I’d worked with before on stage, we’d done “Hamlet” together with Jude Law. It was really lovely to work with her where she got to use her comedic talents as well. The whole cast is so down to earth even though we’re in this very mannered, gentile society.
How challenging was wearing the costumes and holding expressions?
Mbatha-Raw: The corset definitely took some getting used to. In fact, my first big thing I’d just got off a flight from LA and had to go directly to a costume fitting and that was pretty horrendous being squeezed into a corset after a ten hour flight, I’ll tell you. I do love the elegance of that period, there’s something very feminine about that classic silhouette, the cleavage, the high hairstyles. That really did give me a lot as an actress; the physicality, you have to watch your posture, just really what it felt like to be a woman around that time. The costumes and the corsets were really a metaphor for women’s repressed place in society. So for me it was a challenge working with those costumes, but you can’t not have them, they’re really what made the period and what makes the films beautiful to look at as well.
When people walk away from this movie what do you want them to walk away with? The romance? The issues regarding the slaves?
Mbatha-Raw: For me it’s such a layered and inspiring story, and depending on what people bring from themselves and their personal background people will bring different layers to it. For me this is a coming of age story and a romance, but the thing everyone can relate to is being comfortable in your own skin and learning to have the courage of your convictions. To challenge society if society is going in a backwards direction! (laughs) I feel like it’s uplifting and will give people the courage to be themselves.
Later on we’re going to see you in “Jupiter Ascending” and “Blackbird”. How was it working on “Jupiter” with the Wachowskis?
Mbatha-Raw: Oh my gosh, it’s very much a supporting role I have in “Jupiter”. (laughs) I’m just in a few scenes but it was such an amazing contrast to “Belle” because it was going from this intimate period drama then this studio feature, science fiction, these incredible visuals. The Wachowskis are incredible. That was the real reason I wanted to work on that film, just to have a chance to work with them because they have such great vision. I love that they always work on these really soulful ideas in an ambitious, visually groundbreaking way. For me that was the fun of working on that film and getting to work on green screen was a new challenge for me. On “Blackbird” again I’m the lead, once again working with an African American female director Gina Prince-Bythewood. That story is completely different to “Belle” in that it’s very contemporary. I play a pop star who’s struggling with the pressures of fame in the music industry and this very toxic relationship she has with her manager, and it was great! Singing and dancing, which is what I grew up doing as a child, so it was wonderful to use those muscles again and work with music producers like The Dream who’s written all the music for the film. Much more edgy than “Belle,” and explores the idea of self-image and how the media can package these young pop stars into a very sexualized image and what are the psychological limitations of that.
Being the lead in theater, TV or film, which one do you prefer?
Mbatha-Raw: (laughs) Oh gosh, now you’re asking me! I love all media, really. At the moment I’m loving film because it’s something I’ve done less of. I love to work on interesting stories with inspiring, creative people, so I can’t really pick a favorite. I just think it’s nice to grow in different directions, and I’ll always try to find a balance.
So is that to say there’s no TV projects in the works or is it all film right now?
Mbatha-Raw: Yes, I don’t have any plans for more TV at the moment but I’m certainly not ruling it out. With “Belle” coming out that’s the focus but certainly if something interesting came along.
