Sally Hawkins is happy-go-lucky over film career
Sally Hawkins was the essence of faith and optimism in “Happy-Go-Lucky,” filmmaker Mike Leigh's comic drama that won her a Golden Globe two years ago.
In person, Hawkins has the same sparkle as “Happy-Go-Lucky” heroine Poppy, sharing her character's big-eyed attentiveness, her giggly bemusement with what's happening around her, and her ability to convey the impression that she's smiling, even when she isn't.
Hawkins sounds very Poppy-like in her indebtedness for the secure, comfortable upbringing in southeast London afforded by her parents, who write and illustrate children's books. Their own childhoods were harder, her parents growing up in working-class families not unlike those depicted in Hawkins' new film, the autoworker drama “Made in Dagenham.”
“I was always very aware of how lucky I was, because I had them and their incredible, strong work ethic and mentality, which still prevails today. They work phenomenally hard. Too hard,” Hawkins, 34, said in an interview at September's Toronto International Film Festival, where “Made in Dagenham” premiered ahead of its U.S. theatrical debut earlier this week.
“It really instilled something in me, gratitude, really, and the fact that you have to work hard in this life if you want to get anywhere, and nothing is owed to you. And to be grateful for where you are. Happy, healthy, know you have a good life. I was always brought up with that.”
As Leigh's films have done before with “Secrets & Lies” stars Brenda Blethyn and Marianne Jean-Baptiste and “Vera Drake” star Imelda Staunton, “Happy-Go-Lucky” flung relative unknown Hawkins onto Hollywood's awards radar.
The role earned Hawkins the 2008 Golden Globe for best actress in a musical or comedy. She beat out contenders that included two-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep and fellow Oscar winners Emma Thompson and Frances McDormand.
But when Oscar nominations came out just days later, Hawkins got her next big taste of Hollywood life: the awards snub. She was not among the five best-actress nominees, despite riding high on prediction lists all awards season.
Hawkins shrugs it off.
“It was kind of, well, I've got a Globe. What more do I need?” Hawkins said. “Then people were outraged on my behalf, which was lovely, but I thought, well, I'm doing OK, you know? I haven't done badly. But it was very nice that people were outraged, and to even have been in those lists of contenders was mind-blowing for me.”
Based on actual events, “Made in Dagenham” has put her on the awards watch again for her role as a 1960s British Ford factory worker who leads other women in a strike to demand equal pay as men.
It's a serious film told with great heart and humor, which Hawkins hopes might help it break out with audiences beyond Britain the way “Happy-Go-Lucky” did.
“You don't want it to be a polemic, and you don't want it to preach at people,” Hawkins said. “You just want to tell good stories, so I hope it does catch fire.”