For Rivals star Claire Rushbrook, the 2021 film Ali & Ava provided an offbeat experience – but in a very positive way.
“I would say the whole experience was unusually gentle,” the Rivals star reflected during an on-stage Q&A at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), which was hosting a screening of the drama from writer-director Clio Barnard, in celebration of The Independent’s 40th anniversary.
This comes across in the film – a tender love story about two people from different parts of Bradford who tentatively explore a connection between each other, fuelled by their love of music.
“It really was important that there was an atmosphere of complete trust, led by Clio, and between Adeel [Akhtar] and I, of openness,” Rushbrook said, revealing that she accepted a role in the film after Barnard and Akhtar “worked very intensively together from a workshop level” to create the project.
Any concerns about portraying a working-class character, despite being from Hertfordshire, were immediately dispelled when she was welcomed to set by the film’s cast and crew, many of whom hailed from Bradford, who made her feel she could “convincingly play somebody from that world”.
Rushbrook has fond memories of working with Barnard, whose new film, I See Buildings Fall like Lightning, is out on 4 December.
“It’s a real delicate balance of feeling completely safe in her genius, capable hands, and yet she also has the strength of character to say sometimes, ‘I don’t know about this scene or this moment – let’s just see’ – and that’s very empowering as an actor, because you feel you’re not just a puppet; you have something to bring. But also, it’s just thrilling. That was the feel of the shoot.”
The film was shot in the autumn of 2020, mere months before the pandemic, with Rushbrook acknowledging: “It feels like another time.”
But one thing she does recall is the “exposing” moment she had to sing on set.
“I played someone who has Irish heritage, whose father was a singer in pubs, so the expectation was that I would give it some welly, but I find it quite terrifying,” she admitted.
On Saturday (24 October), Adam Pearson, an actor and disability rights activist, will be joining an Independent and ICA screening of Oscar winner Jonathan Glazer’s 2013 sci-fi masterpiece Under the Skin.
Pearson starred in the Bafta-nominated movie alongside Scarlett Johansson, who played an alien sent to Glasgow to harvest human flesh. It’s a surreal and superb watch, “a testament to bold, daring British movie-making,” wrote The Independent’s assistant culture editor Adam White.
The actor will be there to lift the lid on the movie’s “wild” behind-the-scenes story, which saw Johansson walking the streets of Glasgow and interacting with non-actors while cameras hidden in mop buckets and umbrellas caught the action.
‘Celebrating Free Thinkers’ will mark the paper's 40th anniversary celebrations with a series of specially curated events and screenings. Independent Members get 20% off all tickets. For more information, visit https://www.ica.art/films/the-independent
Claim free tickets to see award-winning films Ali & Ava, Orlando and Under the Skin
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