Secrets & Lies

“Secrets & Lies, Mike Leigh, who transformed the kitchen-sink drama into the most operatic, intense, crushing experience, watching cinema through Performance. The performances of these actresses in this movie are ingrained into my… myself. The great Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who I recently saw in Hard Truths, who was just so extraordinary. And, of course, Brenda Blethyn. But the reveals of this movie, the… It’s operating on so many different levels, about class and race and… and place.”

“Secrets & Lies. Timothy Spall is an amazing actor. This is a Mike Leigh film. Timothy Spall’s an amazing actor that I worked with on Love’s Labor’s Lost, this Kenneth Branagh film. Is Brenda Blethyn… Yes, of course, Brenda Blethyn is in this, and she’s so fantastic, and I can’t wait to see this again. It’s been so long since I saw this, but I love this film. And Timmy’s my dear, dear friend still. I love him so much. He’s such a brilliant actor. Anyway, this is amazing.”

“But here’s a film you’re really going to like. It’s called Secrets & Lies. And it’s about a character played by you. But let’s not be so self-indulgent. No, no. Do you know what? I actually don’t have it. All right, well then you should have it. Yeah. I’ve got a big old fat VHS. There you go. Well, good. Cool. I’m having this one.”

“Secrets and Lies. I won't take this because I've seen it loads but when I was young and I wanted to be an actress, Brenda Blethyn and this was so inspiring. Mike Leigh, his style of... Actually I'll take it actually because I want to work with Mike Leigh and I don't want to screw myself out of a job so I love Mike Leigh and I loved Secrets and Lies.”

“We’re just going to go across the pond to Secrets & Lies. I don’t do impressions, but I will do one briefly when she says, 'Sweetheart!' 'Sweetheart!' That’s what’s been said a lot in this film. And that phrase comes to mind a lot when I’m trying to wrangle my children. 'Sweetheart! Sweetheart, what’s wrong, sweetheart?'”

“I'm actually going to start with Secrets & Lies, Mike Leigh. Hello England. This to me just feels like his juiciest work. There's just something in him kind of utilizing naturalism for like really heavy drama. He also just doesn't waste a character, which I think is, in my experience of being an acting person, quite a common pain you feel. I think that guy in his films always is given a proper something to do, which I think is so generous but also like beneficial to the film. I love this on...”

“I do love Mike Leigh, I love his films. But there was a moment in this film from Timothy Spall where he has such an emotional outburst after kind of sitting on emotions throughout a lot of the film, I thought. And when he did this, I burst into tears and I thought, I don't know of a Performance that was so restrained that just exploded. I've thought about that moment for years and the power of restraint.”