00:00Hi.
00:07Hi!
00:09Hey, good morning.
00:11Good morning.
00:15You are with the cast of Clarissa
00:18here in Toronto, the Toronto International Festival
00:22in the Hollywood Reporter studio.
00:32Hi, I'm Seah Rankin with The Hollywood Reporter,
00:35and I'm here with the cast and writer-directors of Clarissa.
00:38Hi, guys.
00:40Hi.
00:40First, I'm going to have you guys go around.
00:42We can do a circle.
00:44Introduce yourselves and tell me a little bit about who you,
00:47tell us a little bit about who you play in the movie
00:49and what you did for the movie.
00:52I'm India Armitifio and I play,
00:55I'm Nacta, and I play young Clarissa.
00:57Go to Alice.
00:58I'm David Yellowo.
01:00I play...
01:01Are we saying older Peter or old Peter?
01:04Or mature Peter?
01:05I think mature is nice.
01:06Or you're Peter.
01:06That's a young Peter.
01:08Yeah, true.
01:08Yeah, fine.
01:09Peter in present day.
01:10Oh, gosh.
01:11You've helped me so much.
01:12That was me.
01:17She's doing the interview.
01:19I've got to ingratiate myself.
01:19For sure.
01:20No, yeah, of course.
01:21Thank you after the interview.
01:22Later, of course.
01:23Please carry on.
01:23I'm learning.
01:24I'm sorry.
01:25My name's Aya Devery and I play Sally in a previous iteration.
01:32It's getting so complicated.
01:34I know, I know.
01:36I'm Aria Siri, I'm just the director.
01:39Just?
01:40Yes.
01:41Present day.
01:42I am Chuka Siri, co-director, writer.
01:45Fabulous.
01:46And I think people have gleaned from this that there are two timelines in this film.
01:52And I also had a question.
01:53When you do a retelling of a book, do you need permission?
02:00Like, is that considered an adaptation or like an option?
02:03Or anyone can just say, like, I'm doing a retelling of this?
02:05Well, it's in the public domain.
02:07If it's in the public domain-
02:08From a certain-
02:08You can do what you want with it.
02:10Correct.
02:10Yeah.
02:10Which it was.
02:12So was that why you were like rifling through the public domain?
02:16Yeah, going through it.
02:17Well, I did deliberately wait two years for it to fall into public domain.
02:20Genius.
02:21Yeah.
02:21Okay.
02:22So what about Mrs. Dalloway spoke to you current time with your background and your interests?
02:28Well, I feel that the themes and the principal emotions-
02:35Well, not principal emotions, but the themes and the emotions in the novel-
02:39Well, they cross all times, all generations, really.
02:42This idea of, am I living the best life that I can?
02:46This idea of what road's not taken?
02:50So all of that sort of spoke to me.
02:53But it's a book I adore.
02:54It's a book I've loved for a very long time.
02:56And I sort of feel with Nigeria and Britain's shared history, let's say, it felt like a
03:06pretty natural transposition from 100 years in London to, you know, here, 2020 Lagos and
03:15an opportunity to discuss and to examine some of the sort of like imperialistic ideas and
03:20how those filter through, but ultimately they don't change the way people feel.
03:27So yeah.
03:28All of that.
03:29Yeah.
03:30Some light topics.
03:32Light fodder.
03:32Did you guys all read the book in high school?
03:36Yeah.
03:37You did?
03:38Yeah.
03:38You did?
03:39We didn't read it in school.
03:40Do you remember?
03:41One of the first times we hung out, we talked about it.
03:44Oh.
03:44Do you remember that?
03:45No, I don't.
03:45Because you told me about desk.
03:47I've never been telling you about it, but I don't know.
03:48But you told me about your desk before you even told me about.
03:50Oh, yeah.
03:51Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:52Okay.
03:53Well, it's fine.
03:54Just a foundational memory for you.
03:57Yeah, but I read it in high school.
03:59But I think, I don't know if it was Mrs. Dalloway or another Virginia Woolf book that we had
04:04to read and then I was just like a depressed teenager from New England.
04:09So I kind of kept going into the archives because I was like, who's this woman who walked
04:14into a lake with stones in her pocket?
04:16You know what I mean?
04:17Being 16 and like listening to My Chemical Romance.
04:19I'm like, we're the same.
04:21So yeah, but I really loved the book and I loved their take on it and their connection
04:27to both present day and past day.
04:33Yeah.
04:33It's harder.
04:34We're struggling with that.
04:35We're struggling with that.
04:37We're working at it.
04:38We're working at it.
04:38Yeah.
04:38And past day Nigeria.
04:41I really loved the connections that they drew.
04:44For you two, was filming, because you filmed this, this is all on location.
04:48So the past is in, is that a real working resort or is that someone's home?
04:53Well, sort of both.
04:55Both.
04:56I guess so.
04:57I mean, it's a working resort.
04:59My father built kind of in the, or started building bit by bit in the, in the nineties.
05:05And we, we, I mean, we live in one of the bungalows on it, but it is a working resort.
05:11Okay.
05:12We all stayed there as well.
05:13Okay.
05:13So yeah, I was going to ask, was working, was this location like part of what made you
05:17want to say yes to doing this movie?
05:20I didn't have the privilege of, of that location.
05:23Yeah.
05:23Because the, the, the younger group were there.
05:27Um, but honestly, for me, it was, it was, I read the script first, um, and then couldn't
05:34understand how this had originated from a Virginia Woolf novel because it felt so germane to Lagos
05:43and, uh, Abraka where, uh, these, these guys were from.
05:47Um, and, and the, the, the, the sort of, in the past part of the film is set.
05:52Uh, and you know, I spent some of my youth in Nigeria and really recognized so much of what was
05:59in the script, but growing up watching
06:02Merchant Ivory movies in the UK and all those period films that, uh, we make a lot of in the
06:08UK.
06:09I, I just, there's no version of me thinking that, um, a literary classic, uh, that is germane
06:16to British life would, would transpose so easily.
06:20And it, it was kind of astounding, uh, to me.
06:23And when it comes to a literary adaptation, I think this is the way to really breathe new life
06:28into, you know, these, um, uh, novels that have kept depressed 16 year olds going for a while.
06:35Um, so, uh, so yeah, it was, it was quite miraculous reading the script.
06:39What were you reading when you were 16?
06:40When I was, when I was 16, oh, comics.
06:44I was, I was not depressed.
06:46Um, I was.
06:48Okay, what?
06:49All right.
06:53We're working out a lot on this.
06:55For sure.
06:56I was like Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, down.
07:00Octavia Butler, down.
07:02Are you gonna go see the bell jar?
07:04I will, I'm so, I know, I'm excited.
07:06That's like, that's me, like, transposing.
07:09If I was depressed and, like, heard, like, Sarah Polley making movie, Billie Eilish, Connor Story.
07:13I go, yeah, get me there.
07:15Wow.
07:15Get me to the theater.
07:16Get me walking home alone.
07:18Right, right, right.
07:19Incredible Hulk.
07:20That's all I want to say.
07:21What?
07:22What about you at 16?
07:24What were you into?
07:25I wasn't, you know what?
07:26I wasn't reading at 16.
07:28No.
07:28And something, as an adult, yeah.
07:30It's just going really fast.
07:32It's warm.
07:35You're an amazing reader.
07:37I was a lot.
07:38I was only 16 nine years ago, guys.
07:40Flags.
07:41Why would you say that?
07:43That's so good.
07:43And directed at you, what the heck is going on?
07:46I'm so sorry.
07:47We actually like each other.
07:49Yeah.
07:49We enjoy each other.
07:51No, I honestly...
07:52You're talking a lot, right?
07:52Yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:53Go on.
07:54I was always in quick math.
07:56Yeah, I know.
07:56Yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:58I actually wasn't really into books.
07:59I was studying at a drama school, like a dance school.
08:03So I was very much like Hamilton, Heathers.
08:06Like I was into like plays and musical text.
08:09And then I would say I probably only started reading when I was 18, 19.
08:13So yeah, the classics.
08:14I'm only really just starting.
08:15I only finished Pride and Prejudice like last year.
08:17Clarify that.
08:18You could read.
08:19Oh my God.
08:20You just went.
08:21Yes.
08:21I wasn't actively picking up those books.
08:23Sorry.
08:24I thought what it was happening to me.
08:25I really wanted to clear that up for the piece.
08:27I started reading.
08:28I started reading 18, 19.
08:30I read my first book.
08:31Oh my gosh.
08:32We are sort of due for a new rumor about a celebrity who can read.
08:35So if you want.
08:36Me, me, me.
08:36I'm so glad you cleared that up.
08:38Yeah.
08:39That would have been close.
08:40Thank you so much.
08:41Now I can read.
08:42I can read.
08:43Fabulous.
08:43I'm like sending it out.
08:44I can read Charlotte.
08:46What are these symbols on this page?
08:49I haven't realized what's going on.
08:50That would really make you a Savant though.
08:52That would be amazing.
08:54Okay.
08:55What is a, when you're on location or on set, like what's a creature comfort?
08:59Like a personal luxury from home that you have to bring with you to feel at home?
09:03What do you mean?
09:04Yeah.
09:05Books.
09:06Books.
09:07No, I'm never living this down.
09:09Oh, creature comfort.
09:10I really, I like to make sure that I've downloaded an album that I've listened to as a kid.
09:17For me, music really transports me to a very safe space.
09:21But also I think in terms of, I don't know, creating a mini world, a microcosm.
09:27I weirdly just listen to the same album usually when I'm filming.
09:30Like I will only listen to one album.
09:32I was going to say, what do you listen to on this?
09:34I listened to, funnily enough, now we're in Toronto.
09:37I listened to Daniel Caesar's Never Enough, which is I think like 2021 album.
09:43And it's quite a journey.
09:44And I thought it really worked for our film.
09:47So that was one thing I always have, like one album that I know I can listen to all the
09:51time.
09:52A good diffuser with lavender.
09:56Oh.
09:57We all live in these trailers that smell a little funky.
10:03Stale.
10:03Stale.
10:03Yeah, stale.
10:04I'm sure people are living in them at night when you're not in a trailer.
10:09They are.
10:10They actually do.
10:11Surely.
10:11They do.
10:12Like locations sometimes.
10:14Yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:14So, you know, someone else's fumes is not something that I am really looking to spend the day in.
10:20So, yeah, a good lavender diffuser helps.
10:23I'm sure they're very lovely.
10:25I'm sure they're lovely, but I don't need to share that.
10:29Yeah.
10:32Too much?
10:33Not enough.
10:34Okay.
10:36I'd say like tea for me.
10:39Yeah.
10:40I love my little loose teas.
10:42I would bring them.
10:42I love my little loose teas.
10:45And then everybody on set, I feel like would be like, what is this?
10:48What is this?
10:48What is this?
10:49She wants to make tea.
10:50She's asked for her.
10:51What's up?
10:53Make the movie glass.
10:54I'm like, please, please let me make my tea.
10:57Myself.
10:57I don't want anybody.
10:58Like, I think also sometimes when you're an actor on set, there's a, like, obviously there's
11:05a certain type of power that you have by the nature of the position that you're in.
11:07But there are practical ways.
11:10You lose power.
11:11You are a grown adult, but you're asking people to use the bathroom.
11:14Yeah.
11:14Or you can't grab stuff or move stuff.
11:16Other people have to do it for you.
11:18Or it's just the way that is.
11:19So something like tea where I'm like, I can make it myself.
11:22Your autonomy.
11:23Yeah.
11:24It feels nice.
11:26It's the little things.
11:27Yeah.
11:27Yeah.
11:28And I have all my, like, tinctures and, like, this herb does this and a little blah.
11:33Yeah.
11:33Nice.
11:34What are your faces?
11:34What are you guys?
11:37Um.
11:37My brother.
11:38Oh, God.
11:40Okay, you guys.
11:41Okay, I don't care.
11:44And scene.
11:44Do you want a material good?
11:46You should go.
11:50No, but really, my brother.
11:51Yeah, that's fair.
11:52That's a good one.
11:52I do actually believe you.
11:54Wow, you have to reciprocate.
11:56No.
11:57That's a good one.
11:58That's a good one.
11:59That's a good one.
11:59I am so devastated.
12:01That's correct.
12:02Except I love him more than he loves me.
12:03That's correct.
12:06I was going to say my sides, but yeah.
12:09You guys are trash.
12:12Wow.
12:13Yeah, my brother.
12:14Yeah, there's going to be many conversations happening immediately after this interview,
12:17by the way.
Comments