Vanessa: Because it's like 7:00 PM here, I've got mint tea with no caffeine in it,
but obviously because I'm British. It's funny, isn't it? I remember in LA, if you say
tea, and then you have to say English Breakfast Tea, and then they ask you if you want milk or
not. Of course, you always have milk. Here, it's not even a question, but I think in LA having
milk in tea is quite weird. And actually, if you think about it, it is quite weird.
Mireia: So, because this is part of the BAFTA new talent program,
I wanted to ask you, did you have any mentors in the early stages of your career?
And then what single piece of advice did you wish you'd received when you were starting out?
Vanessa: Yeah, I was so lucky. Because I didn't train, I didn't go to drama school,
and I always thought I should and I needed to, and especially in England,
it always felt like the absolute route that you must go. If you want to do theater and stuff,
you have to go to drama school. And I ended up being offered some work. And so just before I
was meant to start at a drama school, LAMDA, I turned it down and did the plays instead. And I
was really worried because I didn't know. I just was worried about not being officially trained.
Vanessa: So actually, I really lent on actors I worked with really early on in my career,
and I just tried to absorb everything I could from them. And I worked with John Hurt really early on,
who was so kind to me, and Harriet Walter played my mom in a play.
Who else? I played Rachel McAdams' best friend in a Richard Curtis movie. And I
remember there was one time where I was playing a small part, and Anthony Hopkins was doing a
version of The Dresser, which is a play about an actor playing King Lear. And he was just so
amazing. And I just sat in his dressing room between setups, and I just asked him a million
questions about his process. And he was so kind, and I hope to always do that for people because
I really think that collating everyone's different process and how they work and how they lead a set.
Vanessa: The Pieces of a Woman was the first lead I'd done on the screen. And I felt, by that point,
really ready, after 11 or 12 years of learning. And I often think that no one's route is the same.
I wish I'd known that, actually, at the time, when I first started. Because I've learned that
from doing it, but I wish someone had said to me, "Your own lane is your own lane, and
your timing is absolutely your timing." Some people lead films at 22, and they're
just incredible and so self-assured. And I just so wasn't ready to do that. And
I don't know. What would you say? Do you ever compare to people?
Mireia: Yes, and I feel like that is really soul-killing because that's not really helping
at all. And there's a lot of pressure because I'm in my mid-20s now, and it's this thing of,
"Oh, but so many people have done so much by this time, and I'm still here."
Vanessa: I know. It's so true.
Mireia: What's the point? It's not really helping.
Vanessa: What's it called? Compare and despair.
Yeah. What about you? What's the best bit of advice you've had?
Mireia: I don't know. I just feel like I'm a very indecisive person,
and I feel like the best piece of advice that I received was to just
try. You have to decide at some point, and there is this quote, that I don't remember perfectly,
but that I always keep bringing up about more is lost by indecision than wrong decision.
Vanessa: Yeah.
Mireia: And so that has really changed the way that I see things, especially as a producer.
I really do need to make decisions whenever I am finding a project,
or I'm putting together a project, and that really did help me a lot.
Vanessa: Totally. I know how that feels. I used to be so indecisive. It took me a really long
time to make decisions about everything. I found it so hard because you don't want to get it wrong.
But the thing is, what I learned is, there is no wrong. The thing you choose is the right thing.
Doesn't matter about the outcome. The outcome is meant to happen that way, even if you then
judge it as being something bad, it's not. It's just a huge learning thing. And you can't...
What was that great quote? "I've learnt so much from my mistakes. I'm thinking about doing..." Oh,
now I've messed it up. I'm trying to be profound. Serves me right.
Vanessa: What is it? What does it say? "I've learned so much from my mistake. I'm thinking
about making a few more." Making a few more. That's it. And I love that. It's so true.
And there's also that great Samuel Beckett quote, which is "Fail, fail again, fail better."
Which I also really like because good and bad is just the narrative that we
judge in our head. But actually, you literally learn more from what
you perceive as being wrong than right. So there is no wrong. There's no such thing.
Mireia: That's great. Talking about decisions,
then, what drew you to Pieces of a Woman? Because that feels like a very bold choice.
Vanessa: Yeah, I guess it was that in itself, really. I've been waiting, really waiting
and really trusting, that at some point, something would come along on screen that demanded so much
of me. And I'd really found them on stage. And I've been doing those. There are some such
incredible female parts for women on the screen, especially when you're not really established. And
I've been waiting. The Crown was amazing. And it was just a real ground zero for me, where
a character really had a really immense journey. We were so happy on that job. It was so magical.
Vanessa: And then I was looking for something that really moved me, and that I could go really
deep into. And then when I read Pieces in an hour, oh my God, it just got right inside me.
And I just couldn't think of a film in which there was that ambitious a birth on screen,
and for that length, that really represented the whole journey of labor, which more I thought
about it, I felt, "God. That's just the most universal female experience that there is, and
has ever been. How strange that it hasn't been put on screen before, even really in a documentary."
Mireia: But infant mortality is such a taboo subject still across the world.
But when Pieces debuted on Netflix, it was the most watched film.
Were you expecting such a great reception from the public?
Vanessa: Not really. No. I thought a lot about it. I still don't. I don't know why. I think
maybe because it is something that people, even unconsciously or subliminally, are watching,
and they haven't really seen it before in some ways. And I think that in itself is a,
I hope, a really good thing. Because I couldn't believe I learned really early on in the process
of doing Pieces that one in four pregnancies end in miscarriage. And so that's 25% of miscarriage.
To me, that's 25% of women that have got pregnant, and at different stages of pregnancy, which means
that's a really huge number of us that go through it. And that should be something, therefore.
Vanessa: If it's such a great number of the global population, it should be something that is
openly spoken about and supported and conversation around it. So you don't feel like you have to hide
it or keep it to yourself if you need help or support from even people in your close circle.
Which is what the movie exposed really. This is somebody who feels like she can't find a way out
for awhile. And that's completely her unique process, but I do think that
with more conversation around it, there'll be more help.
And this film does a tiny bit of moving towards that. I literally couldn't ask for anything else.
Mireia: Yeah. No, I think that it's a great movie, and I feel like the grief that your
character goes through, it's just so universal. Because we've all experienced loss in one way
or another. And I feel like the movie has really reached a lot of people just because
it's very easy to connect, even if you haven't gone through that experience. I
remember watching it with my mother earlier this year, and we've really both connected
a lot with your character, even if we're both in very different stages of our life.
Vanessa: Thank you. That's so nice. And you're right about the grief thing. I think sometimes
when you come out of it, you forget what it's like. Because just like my friends that have
given birth, when I asked them about it, they said, "Oh, I can't remember it that well." I
had a few flashbacks, but I think sometimes your brain protects you. And it only gives you a little
moments of it rather than the memory of being in it. So I felt really grateful that I got to
experience Martha's journey. Because I felt really connected to that space of grief. And if I hear
someone in it, I have so much more empathy for them because it is such a lonely thing.
Mireia: What are you watching to stay sane these days as well?
We've been locked for a year now, so it's not new anymore. But what are you watching?
Vanessa: What am I watching? Well, I've been watching old BAFTA films,
which has been so wonderful to see. I'm sure you felt this, this time last year, when our
whole industry shut down. Cinemas were closed, and films weren't going. And we had no idea when they
were going to go back. I watched so many films during that year, and I felt so much love for
doing what we do and getting to do it. So now, next I'm on set, I'm just going to be like a kid
in a sweet shop type thing, running around and just so pleased because
it made me intensely grateful for it. So I don't know. I've been watching a whole mix of stuff.
Who knows how long lockdown will continue. So if you recommend anything, let me know.
Mireia: Yeah. I feel like I've been recommending Pieces of a Woman to everyone, but I don't need to
recommend it to you. And I'm also not saying this because I'm talking to you. Honestly, for real.
Vanessa: Thank you so much. I'm so glad. Just the thought of women watching it and feeling
connected just means everything. So thank you so much for saying that.