Joanna Scanlan On Missed Call, Riot Women & Learning From Michelle Pfeiffer

Six months after it aired on BBC One, Brits are still stopping Joanna Scanlan in the street to tell her how much Riot Women means to them. While series 2 is officially in the works, there’s still a little while to wait before our gang of Hebden Bridge women return to the small screen. No matter: in the meantime, Joanna stars in a gripping new Channel 5 drama, Missed Call, every weeknight this week.

Below, we chat to Joanna about everything from Missed Call and Riot Women, to Stardust and The Girl with the Pearl Earring.

Q&A: Joanna Scanlan

Joanna Scanlan as Sarah Gleason in Missed Call. (Channel 5)

Hi Joanna! You’ve got so many projects coming up, but let’s start with Missed Call. What can we expect from the series?

It’s the story of a mum who sends her daughter off on a French exchange in the south of France. She does have some intimations of, ‘is anything going to go wrong?’ Like I think most parents would, putting their kids onto a coach and sending them elsewhere. The daughter is 17, and maybe it’s going to be fine, but maybe it’s not. And unfortunately, within a very short amount of time, she receives a call, which she misses in the middle of the night, and then a message saying, ‘help me’. Ahhh! So she goes down to the village, having found that no one else is prepared to really take it seriously. And the rest of the story is how she handles all the obstacles in her way to try and find out what’s happened to her daughter.

She’s a terrified mother, for one – but how else would you describe your character, Sarah?

Oh, she’s tough. She’s determined. She’s a challenger, and she’s unapologetic. And her love for her daughter… I mean, they’re very close. She’s a single mum. She’s flawed, as well. She’s made some bad choices with men in her life. Part of that recklessness of going down there and sorting things out is the same part of her that will take risks, and they don’t always work out. She’s got a chequered past with men.

It’s set in France. Did you get to film in France? 

Every single moment was filmed in France, even the bits that are supposed to be British. We shot near Montpellier, where there are some very beautiful villages and towns. Actually, the town of Sete is a really gorgeous town and is a bit underrated, but it’s where a lot of Parisians are moving to, because culturally there’s loads going on and at the same time it has a very nice lifestyle with beautiful beaches and so on. There are also mediaeval villages just outside of Montpellier, just in the foothills, and we filmed a lot in those. They are really, really gorgeous. But it was also extremely hot! You know how the climate has changed. Fine if you’re sitting sipping a gin and tonic, lying on a sun bed – not so easy if you’re trying to film. 

Joanna Scanlan as Sarah Gleason in Missed Call. (Channel 5)

Did you get to have much downtime away from filming while you were there?

Actually very little. We filmed in the week in the locations on a fast and furious schedule, and then at the weekends I’d go back to those places, because there was no time to explore them when we were there. We would go and explore those little villages, towns, beaches and everything that I’d seen in the week. I would think, ‘well, that’s gorgeous’, mark it down, and go back at the weekend.

Is there anything in the series you’re especially excited for audiences to see or react to?

We were working with French actors and a French crew, and it’s very unusual to have a co-production like that, where you really get a window on what the French TV scene is like. It has been made to go out on French TV, where my voice will be dubbed. A lot of it was filmed in English, but there’s some in French, so I think that makes it quite an unusual experience for audiences.

How did you get into character on set?

What was really interesting was the character was both the detective and the victim of the crime. Not the only victim of the crime, but one of the victims of the crime. Usually you’re one or the other in TV mysteries and detective dramas. You’re either the victim, and then someone comes in from the outside – police or detectives – and solves it. But I was in both modes, so that was really tricky to figure out. Like, ‘which mode am I in now? Am I upset because I’m panicking, or am I really cogitating and pursuing lines of inquiry?’ The director and I had to work quite hard deciding which one we were doing in this scene. ‘How are we going to prioritise her imperatives, her objectives, in that moment?’

You’ve also got Anxious People coming up, based on the book. Is there anything you’re able to tell me about that?

Spoiler alert, it’s a Christmas movie, so it’ll be coming out towards the end of the year. It has a really wonderful cast, and we had a beautiful time making it together. Frederick Backman, the author of the book, came and spent time with us, and he is a truly inspirational man. Every person putting it together had such big hearts. They really wanted to tell a story about the best in people, rather than the worst in people. Anyone who’s read the book will see that there’s elements of that in there. 

It was just a really beautiful, heartfelt journey of friendship throughout, and a great privilege for me to work with really top, top actors like Angelina Jolie, and the beautiful director and producer team, Marc Forster and his wife Renée Wolfe. It was just one of those blessed experiences that genuinely don’t come along very often.

You’ve also got The Party coming up, based on Elizabeth Day’s novel. Has filming wrapped?

Yes, that is done and dusted. Very exciting, starring Luke Evans and Sarah Sarah Solemani. Sarah Sarah Solemani wrote the adaptation. It has a great production company, World Productions, who I’ve worked with in the past and love. The whole thing felt really classy. It was filmed back in Wales, which is where I come from. I’ve worked a lot in Cardiff anyway, but it felt like a homecoming for me.

Anything you can tease about your role in the series?

Yes, I play the mother of Martin, which is the character Luke Evans plays. There’s a real journey that she goes on. The story takes place over time, and I don’t want to give away the plot, but there’s something that she sticks to in her own moral universe, and in the end, that proves to be very valuable. That was a really nice thing to play. She’s a kind of loner in having any moral universe, actually, but it really wins out. 

Elizabeth Day and I both went to the same college [Queen’s College, Cambridge], so although she’s a lot younger than me, we had a lot in common – lots of things we could share about our experiences. The story of The Party is very much about going to Oxford and what happens to you when you’re surrounded by people who seem attractive and glamorous. That was very much my own experience as a girl there. Sometimes I go back to my college and do acting workshops and things with the current crop, and I’m an Honorary Fellow there, so there was a lot I felt connected to.

Beth Thornton (JOANNA SCANLAN), Holly Gaskell (TAMSIN GREIG), Kitty Eckersley (ROSALIE CRAIG) & Yvonne Vaux (AMELIA BULLMORE) in Riot Women. (BBC/Drama Republic/Helen Williams)

I’d also love to reflect on Riot Women, which had incredible success and impact. What is that like to look back on?

Of course, it comes out a long time after shooting, so in a way you feel like it’s yesterday’s news. But then people started reacting to it. I was really surprised that young women were watching it; I haven’t actually yet had a young man come up to me and say he was watching it, but a lot of young women and lots of mums and daughters together have. It’s actually still going on – people coming up to me and being a bit excited, like, ‘Oh gosh, you were in Riot Women!’. But then as they unpack their own situation, quite often it can be really tearful, because they see their own stories being reflected.

People talk about the menopause as a sort of physiological, biological process, but when you get to menopause age and beyond, there’s also the accumulation of life up to that point. By then, you’ve lived quite a lot: you’ve lived and loved, you’ve made mistakes, and it snowballs into something that you have to contend with. Then suddenly your body and brain seem to be not quite supporting you in that process. And society certainly is throwing some slings and arrows. I think that’s what the audience response was about, and when they come up to me, it’s not quite the same as going, ‘oh, we loved it, it was really good fun’. It’s more like, ‘Oh, thank goodness you told my story.’ 

Anything you can tease about series 2?

No, nothing. I don’t know anything. I literally don’t know a thing. All I know is that it will take some time to write it. You can’t just churn. And Sally Wainwright is a very good, careful writer, so she’s not going to just splat something on the page. She’s going to consider it all.

How do you think it will feel to all get back together after the success of the first series?

It’s quite interesting being in shows of an unknown quantity, then going back to it when it’s a known quantity, because you can’t help but see it through the lens of the audience. In a way, the audience takes some ownership of it at that stage. I think that’ll be really interesting for us as a gang.

What’s been your favourite project to date?

The first film that I ever did was Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) with Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth. It was literally the first feature film I ever did. And it was the most wonderful experience for me, because everything was done so beautifully, all the way up to how the costumes were done. The costumes were nominated for an Oscar, the cinematography was nominated for an Oscar, and the production design was just exquisite. 

I did art history at university, and I’m a big fan of Vermeer’s paintings – I mean, who isn’t? – and it was as if it was all manifesting in front of my eyes. To play Annika – the milkmaid in the famous painting, who is a Dutch icon on all the bits of cheese and milk – really did feel like a dream come true. Brilliant director, brilliant producer, and all of that kind of side of it, and I made some friends for life. Scarlett Johansson was 17, and she was quite exceptional. I remember thinking at the time she was going to be a really good director, because she had this brilliant director’s mind even at that age. Then of course, last year, she produced and directed her first film.

Who is an actor you learned a lot from?

This will sound strange, but it’s another big star: Michelle Pfeiffer. I did a film with her called Stardust (2007). And of course she was a mega star. I couldn’t believe I was going to actually be in a scene with someone who meant so much. She had her own separate trailer, and her chef and her this, and her that. So I wanted to be really respectful and just take my lead from her in the scenes when we were acting. Then the first time we worked together in a scene, it was like she just dropped into place. She locked eyes, and all of that sense of status, all the externals just completely dropped away. We were just two human beings trying to make the scene work. That was a really big lesson for me: that the only thing that really ever counts as an actor is being in the moment, really being with the people that you’re making the scene with – including the crew as well. In that moment, we’re all equals, despite what the movie business would have you believe. That’s more in the marketing and agents wielding power rather than what we actually do as actors.

Anyone on your bucket list you’d love to work with?

I’d like to work with Greta Gerwig – I think she’s just amazing. I’d like to work with Emerald Fennell; I have worked with her as an actor, years ago, but not as a director. I think she’s absolutely fabulous. I would also love to work with Céline Sciamma who directed Girlhood (2019), which I absolutely love. There’s a beautiful scene with the girls dancing in the hotel room to Rihanna’s ‘Diamond’. I often think of it. I’d like to work with her.

Do you get to spend much time at home? What do you do in your downtime?

I try to spend as much time as possible at home! I live in the suburbs in South London. I’ve got a preoccupation with my weimaraner, my dog, who I adore. We’ve got amazing places to walk here – the North Downs, beautiful nature reserves and so on, so I do a lot of that. I love nature. I love my garden. I spend a huge amount of time planning, buying and planting there. I also have a house in Wales and spend a lot of time there, which is where I come from – North Wales, in the mountains. And there we have more walks on the beaches with the dogs and family. 

How do you think we can all live a bit better?

For me, the only way through is nature. That is something that crosses from both town and country. When you’re in a town, you need the opportunity to see greenery. This is now completely documented and proved by research – it just transforms your parasympathetic nervous system, whether it’s the little tiny blade of grass in a concrete jungle or whether it’s a huge mountainscape. We need nature, plants and animals. I was brought up in the countryside, and we had horses, dogs, rabbits and any number of pets I could possibly find – even a vole. It’s just my way through to peace. I think for most people, feeling the fresh air on your face, rain or shine, seeing a little bit of greenery, breathing that wonderful petrichor smell after the rain… All of those things are really transformative.

WATCH

Joanna Scanlan stars in Missed Call, airing at 9pm every weeknight this week on Channel 5. Catch up at channel5.com