The director ofAmerican Beauty did not have never met Olivia Colman before thinking of her to embody a character freely inspired by her mother. The actress was quick to find, finding Empire of Light a different score to play. Meet.
Olivia Colman is still surprised when she recalls the day when, in the midst of a pandemic, her agent advised her that Sam Mendes, a filmmaker whom she admires, but whom she had never met, wanted to join her on Zoom.
“We talked about everything and nothing, and nothing about the film was really explained, confides the actress to The Press during a videoconference interview with the filmmaker. Sam just told me he was writing something and thinking of me. And I said: Oh ! How lovely! Even though that’s all I knew, I said yes. It felt a bit like a bet, but when I got to read the script that Sam sent me later, I was really relieved. I had never played this kind of character before, it made me a little nervous, but I think it’s a good feeling! »
Empire of Light is the first screenplay that Sam Mendes has written entirely alone. When he requested a meeting with Olivia Colman, one of the most awarded actresses of the last decade (Oscar thanks to The Favorite ; Emmy thanks to the series The Crownamong others), the filmmaker was somewhat affected by the white page syndrome.
PHOTO PARISA TAGHIZADEH, PROVIDED BY SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES
Micheal Ward, Sam Mendes and Olivia Colman on the set ofEmpire of Light
“I was in the first half of the script and I was a bit stuck in my writing,” he explains. I only knew Olivia from afar, but I got to see her face on the character. I then realized that I was writing for an actress that I had never met in my life, which is a bit strange. That’s why I wanted to talk to him. His enthusiasm inspired me for the future. »
A family bond
Empire of Light does not have at all the scale of the major productions he has produced over the last decade (we owe him two James Bonds in particular: Sky Fall and Spectrum), but Sam Mendes still links his new offering to the war drama 1917. These two films draw on his family history.
” 1917 was inspired by my grandfather’s story, but I still had help with the writing [Krysty Wilson-Cairns a cosigné le scénario]. This comes from a part of my childhood and my adolescence, lived with a mother struggling with bipolar disorder.
Empire of Light is probably my most personal film, but I didn’t want to make it a purely autobiographical story either. I didn’t want to become a character myself.
Sam Mendes
Set in a small coastal town in the south of England in the early 1980s, the story ofEmpire of Light is built around Hilary (Olivia Colman), a half-aged woman who is the operations manager of the big local movie theater. Stuck in an abusive relationship with the boss (Colin Firth), the latter lets herself be seduced by a new employee (Micheal Ward, seen in Lovers Rock of Steve McQueen) who himself suffers from discrimination while the ambient racism becomes more and more uninhibited. To this story addressing the bipolarity that Hilary suffers from is added a social portrait drawn from the cinema.
PHOTO MICHAEL TRAN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Colin Firth, Micheal Ward, Toby Jones, Tanya Moodie, Olivia Colman and Sam Mendes at the premiere ofEmpire of Lightheld in Los Angeles on 1er december
“The pandemic has forced us all to confront our memories, underlines Sam Mendes. Remember that at a certain point, when there was no vaccine yet, we were no longer at all certain of the very survival of cinema in theaters. »
But I would say that there is above all, at the heart of this film, the theme of mental illness. Even today, the prejudices surrounding it are very strong and we need to talk about it. I tried to evoke in a dramatic plot something very difficult to explain.
Sam Mendes
An emotional resonance
The other axis of the story evokes a time, not so long ago, when the diffusion of the cinema in theaters was very different from that of today (we evoke in particular a great regional premiere of Chariots of Fire). And the effects a feature film could have on someone’s life.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES
Micheal Ward and Olivia Colman in Empire of Lighta film by Sam Mendes
“When I was a teenager, John of Florette and Manon des Sources [Claude Berri], which I saw at the time, had a very strong emotional resonance in me, says Olivia Colman. They remain two of my favorite films even today! »
However, Olivia Colman’s vocation as an actress was born a little later, thanks to a play performed at school at the age of 16, where she was entrusted with the main role of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodiea play by Jay Presson Allen (also adapted for the cinema in 1969 by Ronald Neame).
PHOTO MARIO ANZUONI, REUTERS
Olivia Colman at the premiere of the film Empire of Lightin Los Angeles on 1er december.
“For the first time in my life, I then felt like I belonged doing something I loved. I was poor at school because everything bored me, but there I could finally concentrate on something where I felt the pleasure of working. »
“I didn’t know if a career was possible, because I assumed that you first had to come from an artistic family to enter this world. But I ended up meeting people who convinced me of my ability to become what I wanted in life. And I said: Oh my God, I want to be an actress! It changed my life. I felt that I might have some talent, but being English, I had no right to say it very loudly! she concludes with a laugh.
Empire of Light hits theaters December 9.