‘Passing’ as white: How making new film helped explain Rebecca Hall’s family history
Rebecca Hall was in her mid-20s when she first started to understand her complicated family history. The British actress-turned-director says most would look at her fair complexion and dark hair and see “English rose”, she says – but looks are never the end of a person’s story.
Hall, who has appeared in films including Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Frost/Nixon and Holmes & Watson, is the daughter of the late renowned British film and theatre director Peter Hall and the American opera singer Maria Ewing.
Her maternal grandfather, she learned, was a light-skinned black man who “passed” for white for the majority of his life.
Tessa Thompson (left) and Ruth Negga star in Rebecca Hall’s Passing. Pic: Netflix
It was about 13 years ago, when Hall picked up the 1929 novel Passing, by Nella Larsen, that she started to consider her own mixed-race heritage and why it had never really been spoken about in her family.
Set in the Harlem neighbourhood of New York, Larsen’s exploration of race and the practice of “passing”, which was not uncommon for light-skinned black people wanting to escape racial segregation and discrimination in that era, struck a nerve.
Hall pictured with Negga (left) and Tessa Thompson (right) at a screening of the film in New York earlier this year, and below with her mother, Maria Ewing, in 2010. Pics: Andy Kropa/Invision/AP and Alex Berliner/BEI/Shutterstock
Finding out about her own history led to Hall adapting the novel for the big screen; the story follows two black women, Irene Redfield (Tessa Thompson) and Clare Kendry (Oscar nominee Ruth Negga), who could both “pass” as white but choose to live on opposite sides of the colour line.
“I think so many people are not aware that it happened because it’s a historical event that was necessarily hidden,” Hall tells Sky News.
“So a lot of families, it’s hidden even within those families, including my own. My grandfather was African-American and he passed white for most of his life. And that is a fact that I’ve only really fully learned details of in the last year or so.”
Before she read Larsen’s novel, Hall says she had no context or even any way of describing how her grandfather had lived his life, and why. “So it gave me an enormous amount of context and understanding and compassion and empathy for the choice.”
Passing tells the story of former childhood friends Clare and Irene, who are reunited one summer and Irene discovers Clare has been passing as white; she is even married to an overt racist (played by Alexander Skarsgård).
The film uses the notion of passing to explore not just racial identity but gender and the responsibilities of motherhood, sexuality and the performance of femininity.
Hall on set with Thompson and Negga, and below with Andre Holland, who plays Irene’s husband Brian. Pics: Emily V Aragones/ Netflix
It is not about critiquing those who chose to pass, says Hall, but about critiquing “a society that, in any way, judges a person’s construct of themselves… there’s the things we think we believe, the person we think we ought to be, that society wants us to be. And there’s the thing we really want to be, that we desire to be. And sometimes that can be a huge conflict zone, and it means sometimes that we’re hiding our true selves.”
Passing is Hall’s directorial debut and it has been many years in the making. “I faced problems both within the industry – I came up against blocks trying to get it made – but I also came up against personal blocks,” she says.
“[The screenplay] sat in a drawer for quite a long time because I just didn’t have the confidence. I felt like it was too ambitious… and I just didn’t believe anyone would let me make it.”
Hall feared that some in the industry would question her suitability for telling this story.
“The pitch meetings were particularly poignant,” she says. “I ended up getting very emotional every time I was pitching it to some financier because they would invariably ask me, you know, ‘why on earth are you making this?’
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“But I feel like I’m this sort of walking example of what this film’s all about. You know, everyone looks at me and has a whole set of assumptions that aren’t necessarily true. Or they’re true but it’s not the end of the story.
“Forever, everyone’s looked at me and known that I’m Peter Hall’s daughter and I’m part of a British theatrical lineage, and [I’m thought of as] ‘English rose’, and that’s sort of the end of the story. And the fact that within my own story there’s… so many other contradictory and elusive things sort of points out the absurdity of it all.”
Hall has shot the film in black and white, something she would not budge on. “In a very soundbitey kind of way, it just felt like the best way to make a movie about colourism was to take all the colour out of it,” she says.
“But I think more specifically what I mean by that is, I think sometimes to understand truths about humanity, we need poetry. We don’t necessarily need complete reality, sometimes the abstraction helps.
Negga as Clare and Thompson as Irene in Passing. Pic: Netflix
Alexander Skarsgard plays Clare’s racist husband John. Pic: Netflix
“I think black and white takes these concepts and sort of highlights that we’re so busy putting everyone into these categories, when no one can be reduced to a single thing. Like, you” – she gestures to me – “can’t be reduced to just ‘woman’ or, you know, ‘white’, or whatever it is… the great irony about black and white film is it’s not black and white, it’s grey. And this is existing in the grey areas, actually.”
Making the film opened up a lot of conversations between Hall and her mother that had previously been left unsaid.
“She’s extremely proud and she’s extremely emotional about it,” says Hall. “She said that she felt it had given her and her father who’s no longer with us a sort of release in a way, like an ability to talk about something that up until this point felt like it couldn’t be addressed.”
She adds: “I hope, sort of in the broadest sense, the thing that people take away [from the film] is, thinking about what the legacy of a life lived in hiding is. And that doesn’t just mean racial hiding, it means all the ways in which we’re not showing up for ourselves completely. And how we can’t because of how much society imposes something – especially black women.”
Passing is out now on Netflix
Sean “Diddy” Combs led a criminal enterprise for two decades, using “power, violence and fear” to carry out brutal crimes, believing his “fame, wealth and power” put him above the law, a prosecutor has told his trial.
Christy Slavik spoke for nearly five hours, as she presented the prosecution’s closing arguments after more than six weeks of testimony and 34 witnesses.
Prosecutor Christy Slavik pictured outside court earlier this week. Pic: AP
She began by describing the 55-year-old music mogul, telling the court: “He’s the leader of a criminal enterprise. He doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. And now you know about many crimes he committed with members of his enterprise.”
She said charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy were supported by proof that over two decades, Combs kidnapped one of his employees, committed arson by trying to blow up fellow rapper Kid Cudi’s car, engaged in forced labour, bribed a security officer and carried out the “brutal crimes at the heart of this case.”
Ms Slavik said Combs “again and again forced, threatened and manipulated” his former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura and an ex-girlfriend who testified under the pseudonym Jane into drugged-up, elaborate sexual performances, dubbed “freak offs” or “hotel” or “king nights”.
“The defendant used power, violence and fear to get what he wanted,” she said. “He thought that his fame, wealth and power put him above the law.”
Combs is charged with one count of racketeering conspiracy, two charges of sex trafficking, and two charges of transportation to engage in prostitution.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has strenuously denied all allegations of sexual abuse.
Read more:
Everything you need to know about the trial
The rise and fall of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
What we learned from Cassie’s testimony
Ms Slavik said Combs used a “small army” of employees – his trusted inner circle of staff including bodyguards and assistants – to “serve his needs,” covering up his harm to women in the process.
Homing in on the racketeering charge against him, she said, while Combs was already “very powerful”, he became even more so with the support of his business.
US Attorney Christy Slavik. Pic: Reuters/Jane Rosenberg
She said Combs and his inner circle “committed hundreds of racketeering acts,” including drug distribution, kidnapping, arson and witness tampering.
They listed drugs such as cocaine, meth, ketamine, Oxycodone and MDMA, that Combs’s assistants said they procured for him, or that federal agents said they found during raids of his multiple homes.
During parts of the evidence, Combs looked dejected, sitting with his head down, and with his chair pushed back from the defence table. At one point, when video footage of Combs appearing to beat Cassie at the InterContinental Hotel was shown to the court, he looked away.
Combs has been in a New York jail since his arrest in September last year. If convicted on all counts, he could face a minimum 15-year prison term and could be sentenced to life behind bars.
The 12-member jury must be unanimous to convict Combs on any of the counts.
Defence lawyers have conceded that Combs was involved in domestic violence but say he committed no federal crimes.
They say the women took part in the “freak offs” willingly and that there was no racketeering conspiracy because none of his employees agreed to be part of any conspiracy. They say the drugs procured were for his own personal use.
But in her closing argument, Ms Slavik said employees repeatedly agreed to commit crimes for Combs, such as delivering him drugs, accompanying him to kidnap his personal assistant, Capricorn Clark, and locking his girlfriend in a hotel room after he stomped on her face.
In her conclusion, she said proof of Combs’s guilt had been demonstrated, adding: “Before today, he was able to get away with it due to his money, power and influence, but that stops now…
“It is time to hold him accountable, it is time for justice, and it’s time to find him guilty.”
On Friday, Combs’s lead attorney Marc Agnifilo will give his closing argument, followed by the government’s rebuttal.
Judge Arun Subramanian says he will instruct the jury on the law later that day, allowing them to begin deliberating as early as late afternoon.
The trial continues.
Entertainment
Jeff Bezos’s Venice wedding celebrations begin with star-studded party after fresh protests
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s star-studded wedding celebrations in Venice have begun, with VIP guests including the Kardashians descending on the Italian city.
The billionaire Amazon founder and his journalist fiancee waved to onlookers as they left a luxury hotel to travel to their pre-wedding reception by water taxi on Thursday evening.
Hollywood star Orlando Bloom was seen flashing a peace sign to fans as he left Venice’s Gritti Palace Hotel and he was soon followed by TV presenter Oprah Winfrey, who smiled and waved.
Orlando Bloom donning all white. Pic: Reuters
Oprah Winfrey is one of the 200-250 guests. Pic: Reuters
Kim and Khloe Kardashian travelled to the reception with their mother Kris Jenner – who snapped a picture of the pair on a water taxi – and other notable figures in town for the nuptials include Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
Some 200-250 A-list guests from showbusiness, politics and finance are expected to attend the events, with the wedding and its parts estimated to cost €40m-€48m (£34m-£41m).
Bezos, his soon-to-be wife and their famous guests have taken over numerous locations in the city, with the couple staying in the luxury Aman hotel, where rooms go for at least €4,000 per night.
Kris Jenner snaps a photo of Khloe and Kim Kardashian. Pic: Reuters
The bride and groom leaving their hotel. Pic: AP
The first of the weekend’s many wedding parties is taking place in the cloisters of Madonna dell’Orto, a medieval church that hosts masterpieces by 16th century painter Tintoretto.
While the couple and their A-list guests were all smiles, some in Venice are not happy about the wedding – with protesters seeing it as an example of the city being gift-wrapped for ultra-rich outsiders.
Read more: Why are activists protesting the wedding?
An activist from Extinction Rebellion unfolds a banner in front of St Mark’s Basilica. Pic: AP
An activist climbed one of the poles in the main St Mark’s Square on Thursday, unfurling a banner which said: “The 1% ruins the world.”
Elsewhere, a life-size mannequin of Bezos clutching an Amazon box was dropped into one of the city’s famous canals.
In a bid to keep demonstrators away from Thursday’s party, the city council banned pedestrians and water traffic from the area surrounding the venue, from 4.30pm local time to midnight.
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Bezos wedding protests explained
The couple will exchange their vows on Friday, on the small island of San Giorgio, opposite St Mark’s Square.
Another party will follow on Saturday – the venue for which was changed at the last-minute earlier this week.
Entertainment
Denis Villeneuve: Director of next James Bond film announced – and says he’s a ‘diehard 007 fan’
The director of the next James Bond film has been announced.
Denis Villeneuve – a four-time Academy Award nominee who earned critical acclaim for the Dune Franchise and Blade Runner 2049 – said the role is a “massive responsibility”.
The Canadian filmmaker described himself as a “diehard” fan since childhood, adding that it is a “huge honour” to come on board.
“Some of my earliest movie-going memories are connected to 007. I grew up watching James Bond films with my father, ever since Dr No with Sean Connery,” Villeneuve said.
Sean Connery as James Bond. Pic: The Legacy Collection/THA/Shutterstock 1963
Reassuring fans, the director continued: “To me, he’s sacred territory. I intend to honour the tradition and open the path for many new missions to come.”
His appointment comes as the British spy franchise experiences a major overhaul, with Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson handing over creative control to Amazon MGM Studios.
Daniel Craig as James Bond in Spectre. Pic: Columbia/Eon/Shutterstock
The Broccoli family have long been the force behind the Bond films, and now co-own the intellectual property.
Two recently appointed producers – Spider-Man’s Amy Pascal and Harry Potter’s David Heyman – said securing a director and developing a screenplay were top priorities before deciding who would succeed Daniel Craig in the role.
Read more entertainment news:
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Denis Villeneuve. Pic: Reuters
The head of Amazon MGM Studios, Mike Hopkins, described Villeneuve as a “cinematic master whose filmography speaks for itself”.
He added: “Denis has delivered compelling worlds, dynamic visuals, complex characters, and – most importantly – the immersive storytelling that global audiences yearn to experience in theatres.
“James Bond is in the hands of one of today’s greatest filmmakers and we cannot wait to get started on 007’s next adventure.”
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