Exclusive: Marianne Jean-Baptiste talks Hard Truths & working with director Mike Leigh 30 yrs later
Hitting theaters nationwide on Jan. 10 from Bleecker Street is the critically acclaimed film Hard Truths, directed by Mike Leigh and starring Oscar-nominated Marianne Jean-Baptiste.
Marianne Jean-Baptiste stars as Pansy, and Michele Austin co-stars as her sister, a single mother with a life as different from Pansy's as can be. The main cast also includes David Webber, Tuwaine Barrett, Ani Nelson, Sophia Brown, Jonathan Livingstone.
Reunited with Mike Leigh for the first time since multiple Oscar-nominated Secrets & Lies, the astonishing Marianne Jean-Baptiste plays Pansy, a woman wracked by fear, tormented by afflictions, and prone to raging tirades against her husband, son, and anyone who looks her way. Meanwhile, her easygoing younger sister, played by Michele Austin, is a single mother with a life as different from Pansy's as their clashing temperaments - brimming with communal warmth from her salon clients and daughters alike. This expansive film from a master dramatist takes us into the intensities of kinship, duty, and the most enduring of human mysteries: that even through lifetimes of hurt and hardship, we still find ways to love those we call family.
Marianne Jean-Baptiste received Academy Award, Golden Globe, and British Academy Award nominations for her riveting performance in Mike Leigh's SECRETS & LIES. Jean-Baptiste and Leigh’s history of collaboration has been decades long; they first worked together on his theatrical show A GREAT BIG SHAME. In addition to her work with Mike as an acclaimed actress, Jean-Baptiste is a writer and composer and also wrote the score for Leigh's feature film CAREER GIRLS.
Recently, she also starred in the Apple TV+ series SURFACE opposite Gugu Mbatha-Raw and in romantic comedy BOXING DAY opposite Aml Ameen, Yasmin Monet Prince, and Aja Naomi King. In 2018 she appeared in Peter Strickland’s critically acclaimed feature film IN FABRIC. She starred in the first season of Amazon’s HOMECOMING, opposite Julia Roberts; and in Netflix’s musical drama series Soundtrack.
Blackfilmandtv.com's Wilson Morales talks to Marianne Jean-Baptiste about Hard Truths and working with director Mike Leigh nearly 30 yrs later after Secrets & Lies.
