Michaela Coel reveals what she learned from Steven Soderbergh
Michaela Coel has heaped praise on Steven Soderbergh, her Christophers director.
Michaela Coel learned not to "overthink" while working with Steven Soderbergh.
The 38-year-old star worked with Steven, 63, on The Christophers, the new black comedy film, and Michaela cherished the experience of learning from the acclaimed moviemaker.
She told The Hollywood Reporter: "From Steven, I really learned — and it was so useful for me to learn this because of the project I was about to start filming: Don’t overthink. Trust it. If I go into work like that every day, then it’s easy to know when I shouldn’t trust it."
Michaela also opened up about her approach to playing Lori, her Christophers character.
The actress admitted that she actually wrestled with different approaches for the role.
She shared: "There’s a version of trying to make her seem evil or going out of my way to make sure the audience knows, 'I’m a good person,' but actually she’s a very cerebral person. Even though she lives with people, she’s quite lonely. I didn’t want to share her internal mind the way that maybe I could have.
"I felt pretty steadfast. There were maybe one or two scenes where it was kind of like, 'How much do I show?' There’s a really lovely scene when Julian comes to Lori’s house and he says that he’s thinking of making a comeback. That’s the one scene where we did maybe three or four takes. Normally it’s one or two.
"To keep a little bit hard, and then allow her to be changed when she sees that he is changing — you see the vulnerability come, and Steven encouraged me to do that just a little bit. He’s a very smooth guy. He doesn’t want you to do too much."
Michaela has already enjoyed significant success in her career, but she doesn't worry at all about her legacy.
The London-born star said: "The film deals in the subject of legacy, and legacy isn’t something that I think about. This did make me think life will go on even when we’re not living it, and art, whether we’re thinking about it or not, there’s a way for it to continue living on in the minds of people, as Julian says. That’s what Lori does for him.
"It’s such a weird thing to think about that I’d never really engaged with before. We are here for a moment. We make things, we make stories, we make children, we make monuments, and we die. And they live on for a little bit — at least, for a little bit."
