JUNE 7, 2018<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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ANDREA RISEBOROUGH<\/h1>\n
BY FLAUNT MAGAZINE<\/h5>\n
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BCBGMAXAZRIA coat, top, and skirt.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cThis must die,\u201d 36-year-old British actress Andrea Riseborough declares, letting a pink gown slip through her hands. Out of the question. No doubt about it. The same fate awaits other garments brought for this shoot. Methodic and ritualistic, when her make-up artist begins working on her look, she fetches her phone and plays <\/span>Cosmic Dancer <\/span><\/em>by T.Rex. She hums over the music and requests some privacy in the room until she is ready for her close-up. Riseborough knows what she wants, that much is clear. But she doesn\u2019t see anything particularly radical about her words or actions\u2014 to her, it\u2019s just open communication. \u201cAs everyone does, I have views. I think it\u2019s unhealthy not to talk about things. Communication is so important,\u201d she tells me as we catch up in a Mexico City hotel. She is here for less than a week to work on a TV series that she is not at much liberty to discuss. No diva airs here, no ornate riders. She takes not but a light soda from the catering corner before sitting down to talk. Obstacles have been surmounted. She is a bit sick, at odds with the altitude here. No booze, no toast to celebrate the wrap. The work rhythm has been intense, but even if she admits it can be tiring, she\u2019s delighted to be in action. Among her meager demands for the shoot was a request to wear her own hoodie with the message \u201cEQUAL PAY\u201d prominently plastered. Female empowerment is something that she is unapologetically passionate about. Her decisions for the wardrobe mirror her stance. Nothing is deliberately feminine. Nothing incites the objectification of women. Formality is not something she enjoys.<\/span><\/p>\n
It has been a banner year for Riseborough. She\u2019s become a go-to for roles that require total immersion and transformation, and in a suite of Sundance stunners\u2014the Midnight selection <\/span>Mandy, <\/span><\/em>the lauded historical comedy <\/span>The Death of Stalin<\/span><\/em>, and U.S. Dramatic Competition titles <\/span>Nancy <\/span><\/em>and <\/span>Burden<\/span><\/em>\u2014she demonstrates not only her tireless work ethic but her seemingly limitless ability to embody a diverse range of characters.<\/span><\/p>\n
Her latest project is <\/span>Nancy, <\/span><\/em>written and directed by Christina Choe. It\u2019s a layered, complex portrait of a woman who creates elaborate alternate identities on the internet to fulfill her desire for human connection. Fiction and reality are blurred when she becomes convinced that she is the lost daughter of two parents whose child went missing thirty years earlier. Risebourough plays Nancy with sensitivity and total commitment. She\u2019s thrilled about the project, and for good reason\u2014this time around she not only stars, but she has also joined the production ranks.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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BCBGMAXAZRIA coat, top, and skirt.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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I ask her how she came to stake a claim on the other side of the camera, where equal representation of women is even farther off than in front of it. \u201cI met Christina about four and a half years ago now. She had just come back from North Korea and she had a script she wanted me to read. She wanted me to be Nancy. As I came to know Nancy\u2019s story, I identified with her. I just decided I wasn\u2019t going to leave this one aside. We were going to figure out how to get it made,\u201d Riseborough recalls. \u201cI have my own film company, but that was never because I had some great internal calling to produce shit, you know? It was more because I felt almost obliged to take that space that was so rarely occupied by women.\u201d The result was her all-female production company, Mother Sucker, which seeks to advance female-driven projects and provide resources for women in the film business to bring their stories to life.<\/p>\n
Playing the \u201cfilm game\u201d from the producer\u2019s seat has given her a new perspective. \u201cMy company came together because I was so fucking angry. It was kind of a revelation because you realize it doesn\u2019t need to be as shitty an experience as you have been told from the people you worked with in the past. You can actually make something that\u2019s really valuable, collaborative, communicative, and progressive. It can be all those things.\u201d A triumphant smile spreads across her face.<\/p>\n
Nancy <\/span><\/em>is the first project to be produced by Mother Sucker. \u201cIt took a lot of women rallying together to make the movie,\u201d Riseborough states. She takes her time to answer when she speaks. She is meticulous with her words. She won\u2019t tolerate misinterpretation\u2014she intends for her message to come through loud and clear. She continues: \u201cIf making money was what drove me, I wouldn\u2019t be in this industry; I\u2019d be in Wall Street.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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SALVATORE FERRAGAMO dress and talent\u2019s own boots and necklace. Hair & Makeup: Torsten White Photographed at Hotel Mallorca<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Taking the production reigns wasn\u2019t easy, but it did come with rewards. \u201cIt was not a walk in the park; no film is a walk in the park. The heavy weight that comes along with producing and being responsible for sixty-five people\u2019s lives\u2014when you are in a little film, that is indescribable. I would say \u2018equal\u2019 if you compare it with just acting: the stress is equal.\u201d However, switching chairs was a great experience overall. \u201cWhen I was producing <\/span>Nancy <\/span><\/em>myself, I felt a lot calmer, because there was no bullshit; because I knew that ultimately, when it came down to it, we could steer the ship whichever way we wanted to. That was a huge relief.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
For Riseborough, pouring life into Nancy wasn\u2019t so much acting as it was an organic transformation that took place after feeling like she had known her for four years. \u201cFor the most part there she was, just waiting to manifest physically. With her it all felt very natural and experiences are not always like that. It just all became very apparent the first day we started shooting. There she was.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was an informative parallel between the substance of the film and the location where it is set\u2014\u201cupstate New York, in Grand Central Trump Town\u201d\u2014that lends the whole a greater dramatic resonance. \u201cWhat Nancy is going through is a hard experience. And I know it\u2019s not an epic big movie, but to me… I feel like it is. Not because anything particularly important is happening in Nancy\u2019s life, but because it is very honest and human. We are very honest about her deceptions and her loneliness, and her feelings of being disenfranchised from not just the town she lives in but the world she is living in. We were honest about all that and so, for that reason, I think it\u2019s epic.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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BCBGMAXAZRIA jacket and DOLCE & GABBANA leggings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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If Riseborough has a favorite word, it might be \u201chonesty.\u201d It comes up repeatedly during our discussion of her work and her objectives. \u201cSometimes I forget that I\u2019ve been honest about things, and that that can be dangerous. But when two people meet and you give them honesty there is also an exchange of respect. I already trust you. I don\u2019t worry about shit like that, I actually have more faith in people, and despite a few times when it was not well received, I keep doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
That honesty may be the reason many describe her as an activist, but Riseborough sees that aspect of her life as less a choice or a position than as a natural result of who and where she is. \u201cI think people in my profession (but especially females in my profession) for some reason are seen as unattractive when stating opinions at work. And I just think it\u2019s really great for men, women, transgender people\u2014everyone\u2014 to be politicized, to have a political life… It\u2019s okay to have an honest relationship with the world and share that with people if you do have a platform or a voice. I think there was a time when that was seen as very crude; it was very crude to have an opinion or go against the status quo, and that is boring.\u201d<\/p>\n
If there is an inspiration for her refusal to stay silent about the \u201cstatus quo,\u201d it is in part due to the experiences of her colleague, English actress Samantha Morton. \u201cWhen she talked about being abused as a child\u2014somebody extremely talented and respected as she is, and with the same job as me\u2014I thought, \u2018Fucking hell, if she wants to say it, she should say it.\u2019 That was the first time I remember somebody was honest about these things publicly.\u201d Now that Riseborough\u2019s voice is an increasingly prominent presence in the game, the status quo is in for some trouble.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Written by<\/span> <\/span><\/em>Roberto Rodr\u00edguez Mijares <\/span>Photographed by Ali Daniel Flores <\/span>Styled by Luis Enrique Bol\u00edvar Lugo and Juan Pablo Santoyo\/ Le Style Maison for 212 Productions <\/span>Produced by 212 Productions <\/span>Location Hotel Mallorca Mexico City<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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