Marianne Jean-Baptiste on changes in US: It feels like going backwards in time
The London-born actress, who has been living in America for many years, said she hopes that ‘good will overcome and will unite people’.
British actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste has said she feels like society is “going backwards in time” after Donald Trump was elected as the US president.
The 57-year-old, who is nominated for the best actress Bafta award for her starring role in new comedy-drama Hard Truths, has been living in America for many years.
Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, she said she hopes that “good will overcome and will unite people”.
Reflecting on Mr Trump being elected and the changes in America, Jean-Baptiste said: “People voted for him, the numbers, there are a lot of people who are unhappy or were unhappy with the way that things were going and they cast their vote.
“I think that it’s really sad because it sort of feels like going backwards in time.
“But I’d like to think that good will overcome and will unite people.”
London-born actress Jean-Baptiste was the first black British actress to be nominated for an Oscar when she was recognised in 1997 for Secrets & Lies.
Recalling the moment she found out about the nomination, she revealed it “came out of the blue” as it was a “very different climate” nearly 30 years ago.
She said she found out while she was on the treadmill at a gym in New York, where she was filming a new project, describing it as a “lovely” moment.
Despite her recent Bafta nod, she was snubbed for an Academy Award nomination on Thursday when the shortlists were revealed.
Her new film Hard Truths sees her reunite with director Mike Leigh, who helmed 1996 comedy-drama Secrets & Lies.
Set in London, it sees Jean-Baptiste play Pansy, a mother and housewife who struggles to contain her pain and takes it out on the people around her after her mother dies.
The actress said she thinks some people “get triggered” witnessing this type of confrontation on screen and take it “very personally”.
“As Mike says, tragedy and comedy, that’s life. And I think he’s expressed it really well in this film because although Pansy is a very difficult woman, you do feel sorry for her, you do have compassion for her,” Jean-Baptiste added.
She revealed it was a collaborative process with filmmaker Leigh, recalling: “He will say ‘I’m doing a film. I want you to be in it. I don’t know what it’s about. I don’t know what you’ll be playing in it, but we’re going to have a good time discovering what it is’ and that’s the premise of working with Mike Leigh.
“But you collaborate with him and you work with him to create the characters, the histories and the relationships.”
