Interview with Ruth Negga, member of the Feature Films Jury
Irish-Ethiopian actress trained in Shakespearean theatre, Ruth Negga came to international attention at Cannes in 2016 with Jeff Nichols’ Loving. Ten years later, she returns as a member of the Feature Films Jury, presided over by Park Chan-wook. A conversation with a woman who thinks of cinema as both a political and a vital act.
Loving was in Competition in 2016. The film told the true story of a persecuted interracial couple. In Passing (Rebecca Hall, 2021), you played a woman who hides her identity. You yourself are Irish-Ethiopian. Is that sensibility what draws you to these roles?
The female Black experience in history, and now is so important. I move through the world as a woman of colour. My ability to work is due to the strides made by Black actresses of the past, Black artists, Black activists. Mildred Loving was very special to me because I feel my job is to give platform to stories that haven’t received the attention they deserve, stories of people who have been excised from the past. And especially now, when civil rights in America are being gutted left, right and centre. That landmark case, Loving v. Virginia, that this working-class mixed-race couple helped enact, is in danger right now. People gave their lives, people survived not just humiliation but violence. It is our responsibility, as human beings and as artists, to call it out and say no.
What do you look for in a film when you accept a role?
A voice with integrity, a voice that is listening to its own rhythm. I like storytelling that beats to a different drummer. All the storytellers I admire have a fidelity to their own rhythm, their own ideas. And cinema is a documentation of our time, it’s not just about is it good or bad, it’s: is it relevant? Does it capture the zeitgeist? If you’re watching Blow Up (Antonioni, 1966), you’re watching the zeitgeist of the ’60s. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation is a deeply racist film, yet celebrated for its inventiveness of form, and lynchings increased in America after it came out. Film not only reflects the time, it has an effect on the time.
“Cinema documents what we feel.”
You’ve played Ophelia, Hamlet, Lady Macbeth on Broadway with Daniel Craig. What has the stage taught you that film hasn’t?
Stamina, over a long period of time. But I don’t think you can fully separate them, they inform each other. In cinema, you have to hold the moment despite the technical setup, the distractions, and use them. In theatre, it’s the same: an audience member who coughs, a phone that rings: you use it all. That’s what creates here and now. What I love in both is the same thing: collaboration and community. Daniel Craig is a fantastic partner, he listens, he supports. He jokes around with all of us. When you’re number one, you’ve got a lot to focus on, but he gave us energy. I think to be an actor you must be generous, and it can be hard sometimes. But that generosity is reciprocated, it’s all given back, because the energy you give out is reflected back. When you’re in a great cast, a great troupe, there’s nothing else like it. Making a film takes community. These two weeks on the Jury are the same, you enter this little bubble “en famille” for a short time, and the relationships are really intense and strangely moving.
A word on the atmosphere within the jury, at this stage of the Festival?
There’s a luminous energy because I think all of us are so grateful to be here. I know what it is, the heartache, the joy, the lifeblood that goes into making things. Every artist opens up their ribcage and allows you, through their insides, to feel things you might not otherwise feel. I had dinner with Xavier Dolan, who presided over Un Certain Regard in 2018. I told him I felt genuinely inspired. He said: “For me, I left and I just wanted to make things, create.” That’s it. Art begets art begets art. It’s a creative fulcrum.
