Actress and writer Michaela Coel tells Nicole Vassell about starring in new film Been So Long, the importance of taking control, and why there was definitely no behind-the-scenes flirting between the cast
How often do you see a romantic musical film, set in London, that gives an accurate depiction of who the residents are, and how beautiful their differences can be? As a guess, anyone reading will answer, ‘not many’ – but here comes something to grow this short list by one: Ché Walker’s Been So Long, an adaptation of his critically acclaimed play, which takes place in the North London town of Camden, and shows how love ultimately dominates our lives.
Michaela Coel, star and creator of comedy series Chewing Gum, plays single mother Simone, whose life is safe, calm, and boring – and that’s how she likes it. But to vibrant best friend Yvonne (Ronke Adekoluejo), she’s stuck in a rut, and desperately in need of some romance… so, after much convincing, they go on a night out, where Simone instantly finds a spark with handsome ex-con, Raymond (Arinzé Kene). Cue love hearts.
If there was ever a film that wanted to urge its audience to look on the bright side, it’s this – with colours bursting through every scene, there’s a widespread streak of positivity that runs through, letting you know that whatever the characters go through over the course of 90 minutes, they’re going to be alright in the end.
Something that makes this film even more exciting is the positioning of Michaela Coel as the lead female romantic interest. Of course, Coel’s beauty is undeniable – but when you hear of a love story plot that involves a straight black couple, it’s often the case that the woman in the pairing is light-skinned, or mixed-race, with long, loosely curled hair, rather than a dark-skinned woman with a shaved head. Though it’s a fictional story, there is something so refreshing, and, revolutionary in seeing love portrayed in this way.
The impact of this visual is definitely not something lost on Michaela Coel – in fact, over the course of our meeting in a central London hotel, she explained just how much the image of seeing someone like her as a desired, sexual character meant to her – and just how determined she was to make sure that ‘Simone’ looks exactly the way she does.
Congratulations on Been So Long, Michaela – it’s so exciting to see something so unabashedly happy and full of love in such dark times. You worked with Arinzé Kene to create our loved-up couple, Simone and Raymond. What was the key for you both building that great chemistry together?
Michaela Coel: Well, I’ve known him for a decade. [She laughs.] He was the first actor friend I ever made, and I met him through Ché Walker, who’s the writer of the film. I’ve known him for so long – and we’ve been good friends. Ronke [Adekoluejo, who plays ‘Yvonne’] is also one of my best friends – so we all knew each other. The three of us actually hang out.
Michaela Coel and Arinzé Kene (Photo: Rob Baker Ashton)
Did this long friendship make it awkward when you had to film the more intimate scenes, then?
It’s quite weird, yeah. Everyone’s like, ‘Aww, I’m so jealous, you got to kiss Arinzé,’ and it’s kind of like people saying they’re jealous because I got to make out with my really handsome brother. He’s really gorgeous, but he’s still my brother – we’ve never done that! What’s nice is that our first kiss is choreographed; it’s a dance, so the whole idea of what a kiss is like in the real world isn’t there. It eased all the weirdness about it… [She thinks for a moment.] But how did we do that? Because after our first kiss we go on to do real intimate stuff… I haven’t even really thought about that myself! But we did it, and it’s possible for these things not to bleed into reality, y’know? Because it didn’t – and, we were both single. It’s acting, this is a character, and that’s what I’ve got to do – and then when they say ‘cut’, you’re not the character any more. It’s so simple! The fact that it sometimes bleeds into real life for other people, I’m just like, ‘control yourself! Keep your sh*t together!’
You have a shaved head at the moment – and it was so powerful to see a bald black woman desired in this way! What does this imagery mean to you?
Originally, I was actually offered the part of Yvonne. And I’d seen the play, where the lead is a mixed race girl – very beautiful girl – with curly hair. I saw that empty slot, and I thought, ‘I have to fill that slot, because of the young girls that are gonna be watching.’ When I was young, I never had that – seeing a black girl with no hair as a romantic lead. I knew I should make a play to get that part, so I asked. I said, ‘I’ll do it, if you make me Simone.’ And that’s completely unlike me; I have no desire to play the romantic lead, I really don’t, but I know that I had a desire to see that when I was little.
I knew that if I didn’t grab that, it would have been a very familiar story of a dark-skinned girl who’s sexually liberated and fun [Yvonne], next to the girl who’s ‘commercially beautiful’, blah blah… And they said, ‘fine’. And at this point, I was wearing wigs, so we were going through some options of how the character would look, and someone suggested an Afro wig, with a flower in her hair, and I thought: nah. I spoke to the head of make-up, Sharon Martin, a black woman, and I said, ‘Sharon. I want to shave my hair for this role.’ And she said, ‘O-kay! I think that’s a great idea – but if you’re going to do it, you need to just do it in the night, and come in with no hair.’ I said, ‘Cool,’ – because people are gonna resist that! So I called Kevin, my hairstylist, and told him to come to my yard, and at midnight, we’re gonna shave it off. And we did.
What was the team’s reaction?
They were cool with it – because it’s always cool after the fact. Everyone has initial anxiety about bold moves, but bold moves are the ones that, if your heart’s in the right place, you should just trust them. I did it to put it on the map: here is a girl with no hair, who doesn’t have Cinderella locks, and she can be loved. She’s strong and sweet; vulnerable and independent. She’s a human. She’s many different things.
At what stage of your career did you really feel you had the conviction to take a stand?
I remember when I definitely didn’t have that conviction or courage: it was during Chewing Gum season one, and I suggested my character having afro hair, but I was told that she’d look like a prison inmate. [Shocked pause.] Yeah. I didn’t have conviction then, because I didn’t fight it. For season two, I knew we had to change the hair and makeup team – and there was a lovely white woman who came in to show her ideas, and she smashed it! She had a bag of different hair textures to try! I said, ‘Bitch yes, the job is yours!’ Sometimes the skin colour ain’t gonna tell you sh*t – it’s the mind.
And finally, this month’s magazine issue is all about ‘anger’. What makes you angry?
It’s not anger, it’s more like a desperation – to try to make someone see my point of view. Recently, I had a very bizarre conversation with a friend; Lupita [Nyong’o] had written a story, about her experience with Harvey Weinstein. My friend said, ‘Oh, but why did she go to dinner with him?’ [She pauses.] I was so pissed off by that question, because my thing is, ‘No – why did he try to sexually attack her?’ That’s where your question should sit, not why she went to dinner with him. Asking questions like: ‘Well, why did you wear that? Why did you have so many drinks?’ is part of the problem we have with the judiciary system right now. The point is: why did someone sexually attack her? And that, makes me desperate in the sense of: ‘Surely, you see where I’m coming from.’ It’s not anger; it’s a pleading.
Been So Long is streaming on Netflix now
Nicole and Michaela
