Michaela Coel Is Back: On Ian McKellen, Anne Hathaway, Wakanda Forever

Michaela Coel.

Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for IMDb

Six years ago, Michaela Coel released I May Destroy You — the searingly personal HBO series which she wrote, directed and starred in, and which won her an Emmy Award and landed her in a spotlight unlike any she’d ever experienced. It was the kind of success that could yield a ton of opportunities in all kinds of directions — except, Coel didn’t want that. She felt frustrated by those in her ear telling her to seize the moment — to make the most of her “window.” She felt moved by I May Destroy You’s impact, but also willing to let it go. Eventually, she felt ready to write again — for a project that turned into the most intensive and all-consuming of her career.

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In between all that, she dipped into other worlds. She first took on a small role in Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther sequel Wakanda Forever, and as she tells The Hollywood Reporter over a wide-ranging conversation, learned some hard truths in the process. She guest-starred in Amazon’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith reboot series, going on to win a second Emmy. And over several years, she agreed to two leading film roles: In Steven Soderbergh’s The Christophers, starring opposite Ian McKellen as a painter who’s been hired to forge a legendary artist’s work, and in David Lowery’s Mother Mary as a stylist whose former and massively famous pop-star client (Anne Hathaway) returns to her orbit after years of estrangement. (The Christophers hits theaters tomorrow, while Mother Mary will be released next week.)

Coel is at the top of her game in each movie — emotionally raw, locked-in with her co-stars, a little mischievous. This feels like the beginning of a new chapter. After all, our chat took place during a very brief production break from her next BBC/HBO/A24 series joint, First Day on Earth. So rejoice, because Michaela Coel is back.

Coel and Ian McKellen in The Christophers.

Courtesy of TIFF

You’ve got films out with Steven Soderbergh and David Lowery this month. They’re the only directors you’ve acted for over the last few years. What was it like working between them — how do they differ?

David is more like me, in that we like to ruminate. We like to just go, “Is this right? What about this?” So there were a lot more takes [than with Soderbergh] in a great way. He had a lot more to play with in the edit. Then Steven is like the man in the shadows. You could hear him say “cut,” but he’s real chill. David is also chill, but he’s, I don’t know how I can describe it — less aloof. I love Steven’s aloof thing. (Laughs.) But David is vulnerable. I can really see David and I can see the writer. I can see, “Oh yeah, Steven didn’t write this — Ed [Solomon] wrote it.” David and I, we can just sit there and talk for hours about one line or what we think something could be about. It’s the same with Ed Solomon, actually. But because David is a writer, we have a thing — we were quite connected for the duration of the project.

Mother Mary finished filming almost two years ago, right? So to your point, that’s a lot of time in the editing room.

And also, David is very collaborative. I’ve seen a couple of different versions of this film. He’s like that, and I support him, but I’m also like, “Dude, I’m not trying to get in the edit. I trust you.” Also, it was during the strike, so it was like, we have pre-strike, we have post-strike. And it was a long shoot, but it was great. I sobbed, sobbed at the end. I didn’t want it to end.

I sobbed at the end! Anne’s last line to you, in the car, is just wrenching.

I got the script and I read it in a car and I was just reading. My cousin was driving. I got to that and I broke down. It just broke me down. David Lowery’s writing is witchery.

As a filmmaker yourself, when you see people like Steven or David who are even just so different between them, what are you picking up to carry yourself in your own work?

From Steven, I really learned — and it was so useful for me to learn this because of the project I was about to start filming: Don’t overthink. Trust it. If I go into work like that every day, then it’s easy to know when I shouldn’t trust it. With I May Destroy You, I was checking things, going over and over again. “New take, new take.” “Don’t trust this. Don’t trust that.” But with [First Day on Earth], I’m like, “No, no. The groundwork is laid. Lay back. Everybody’s doing their work.”