FROM ALADDIN TO A MARRIAGE SCANDAL
NAOMI SCOTT reckons we all have voices in our head. The actress and singer, who starred as Princess Jasmine in Disney’s live-action movie musical Aladdin, says her ‘dark voice’ urges her to ‘get the vegan chocolate loaf’. We were discussing matters philosophical (and gastronomical) over Zoom, in relation to a dark narrative podcast called Soft Voice, which Scott stars in, and which has me hooked on its weekly instalments. Scott plays Lydia, an estate agent who puts her success down to the little voice in her head. That ‘soft voice’ advises her on everything from how to react to misogynist clients, to who to date, and even what yoghurt to buy. ‘It helps her navigate her world,’ Scott said. But then a new ‘ dark voice’ turns up. The idea of the podcast which also features Bel Powley and Olivia Cooke (and is produced by its three stars) was to start conversations about the twin engines of fear of failure and the pursuit of perfection. Other issues are raised, too. I was struck by a comment from Lydia’s grandmother, who asks, only half in jest: ‘Does anyone under 40 have a sense of humour any more?!’ Scott, who is 27, nodded. ‘There’s something generational that is happening ... I think it’s about having an open dialogue, and having grace in understanding where each person comes from — but also understanding what the generation before us went through.’ Then there’s cancel culture, and being woke, terms usually banned from these pages. Scott shook her head and said: ‘I am not the spokesperson for cancel culture. Or woke!’ Before adding: ‘I can only speak of my personal experiences, navigating what conversations to engage in ... and what ones not to.’
I remember meeting her for the first time two years ago. She was on the cover of that month’s Vogue, and I was a tad trepidatious. But there she was, barefoot, in a hotel suite — an East End vicar’s daughter, married to a footballer (Jordan Spence). And frankly, she was a hoot.
She and Spence started a production company last year, in the middle of the pandemic. I can see him in the background of their socially distanced offices, toiling away at a terminal.
I asked Scott whether he fancied appearing in any of the TV shows or films they have started to develop. No, apparently. But he’d jump at the chance of a part in Ted Lasso, the award-winning football comedy on Apple TV+, of which both are big fans.
Scott is in the middle of filming the six-part courtroom thriller Anatomy Of A Scandal, based on Sarah Vaughan’s best-selling book. It’s the story of a privileged junior Home Office minister (Rupert Friend), married to a wife he met at Oxford (Sienna Miller), who is accused of raping his high-flying parliamentary researcher (Scott).
Michelle Dockery plays the prosecuting QC who takes on the case in the Netflix drama, written by David E. Kelley (Big Little Lies and The Undoing) and Melissa James Gibson (House Of Cards).
Scott added sadly: ‘You don’t have to look too far within your own world for people who have gone through something similar.’