Mike Leigh, Marianne Jean-Baptiste & Michele Austin Talk ‘Hard Truths’

“For me, this was a continuation of what I’ve been doing for a while,” said British director Mike Leigh when talking about his latest feature Hard Truths at Deadline’s Contenders London on Saturday. “I did a play in Australia about Greek Australians. I did a play in London about Jews. I did a film in Northern Ireland about Catholics and Protestants. I’ve made films about posh, upper-class people and different kinds of working-class people. For me, it’s about looking at people and society and life and the way we are – all of us.”

Leigh and his Hard Truths stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Michele Austin, spoke at length about the importance of exploring black characters without using tropes and stereotypes. The film, which marks Leigh’s first contemporary project since 2010’s Another Year, follows Pansy (Jean-Baptiste) an increasingly unmoored London housewife who takes out the frustrations of her loveless marriage on everyone she meets, until she finally snaps. 

“I think the thing about avoiding tropes and the way Mike works, is that these characters – every character – comes from truth and from real people,” said Austin, who plays Pansy’s sister, Chantelle. “That’s the basis to all of these people. So, hopefully, you get to avoid the tropes or stereotypes because these are real people that they are based on, and that’s what gives the film its originality and I think that’s really important.”

She continued: “What’s really important is to see black British families in this context, being a family having anxieties, dealing with their issues because real black families do. We don’t walk around experiencing being black. We walk around worrying about all of the things that everybody else does.” 

The trio, who also worked together on 1996 Palme d’Or winner Secrets & Lies, also touched on their long working relationship, with Jean-Baptiste and Austin noting that the journey of developing characters has become a “fun process” together. 

“What’s so lovely for me and Marianne is we’ve known each other a really long time and we’ve worked with Mike several times now, so we know how to get to the place where the intimacy is there,” said Austin. “It’s not easy but it’s a fun process, even when some of it isn’t very fun to be involved with and exploring.” 

Jean-Baptiste said: “We established such a tight history, like Sunday dinner with families when you ask, ‘Who’s bringing the coleslaw?’ Well, we knew Chantelle [Austin’s character] was probably going to do that. Pansy probably wouldn’t turn up with anything except for maybe some fruit that she likes but that no one else likes.” 

Hard Truths is being released by Bleecker Street in the U.S. on December 6. Studiocanal is distributing in the UK in January.