Naomie Harris played Eve Moneyppeny, the secretary to M, James Bond’s boss, in several films in the franchise. She was also ‘Scream’, the villain in Venom: Let Be Carnage and ‘Paula’, the drug addict mother in the Oscar-winning movie Moonlight (2016), a role for which she won several awards as best supporting actress. It was in Moonlight where he shared roles with Mahershala Ali, with whom he now coincides again in Swan Song, the Apple Tv + tape where he plays Poppy, wife of Cameron (Ali), an evicted man who decides to leave a clone in his place. so as not to make his family suffer, without them finding out about his decision. We talked to the British actress about her role, the meaning of death and the need to face pain in order to learn to live.
Was your connection with Poppy immediate?
I had problems at the beginning, because I like to work with strong women characters and my doubt was if Poppy was strong. She seemed so weak, she was so lost in love with Cameron, so devoted and I was like, “I don’t know if I can find her!” But Poppy taught me that there is a lot of strength in vulnerability, in a person who acts from the heart. He gave me a lesson in how to open up in everyday life and I discovered that he is actually the strongest character I have ever played.
How do you assess the relationship between her and her husband?
The wonderful thing about the film and the relationship between them is that death is deeply present. Her story is true love and it’s beautiful because Cameron sees everything that Poppy has gone through with the loss of her brother and that’s why he makes a very sacrificial decision not to make her suffer again.
What would you do if you were in Cameron’s place? would you clone yourself?
Cameron is not selfish, in the end he dies alone without his son and his wife, without love. It is a very big sacrifice and you have to be incredibly brave to put other people first. In our society we try not to confront death, because we haven’t found a way to deal with it yet and it scares us so much that we ignore it. But it is part of our life and has much to teach us. If we really confronted the fragility of life and how short it is, I think we would live in a different way. Grief also teaches us and I believe that we take away from people the opportunity to grow if we spare them the suffering. So I don’t know if it’s really a gift to steal your death from someone. I wouldn’t make that decision for the people I love.
How was this reunion with Mahershala Ali on set?
I was very lucky. It doesn’t matter if he was playing Jack (the clone) or Cameron, he was just the most wonderful human being. He creates this amazing atmosphere on set that makes you feel included. He is generous, sensitive, receptive. I got a lot from acting with him. We worked together on Moonlight, but I didn’t know his process as an actor. One nice thing about doing these movies together was discovering that he likes to work in a similar way to me. He does not like to rehearse, but to find the truth in the moment. He’s open to feeling vulnerable and also willing to fail because that’s part of how you find the magic of the character.
Would you say that Swan Song is a love story or a pain story?
It is a call to love. No matter how isolated we have felt these past two years in the pandemic or in general, there is still someone we love and feel a deep connection with. So the appeal of this movie is that it’s about losing someone we love very much and sacrificing our desires for that person. I believe that love makes the world go round in the end. ❖