Hall didn’t intend to make ‘Passing’
Rebecca Hall came across Nella Larsen’s novel “Passing” at a time when she was grappling with her own family history.
She’d become aware that her maternal grandfather was “white passing,” and it might have gone back even further. Then someone handed her this book, from 1929, about two lightskinned Black women, Clare and Irene, who live on opposite sides of the color line. That began a lengthy journey to making her first film, “Passing,” starring Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson, which premiered at the recent Sundance Film Festival.
This interview with Hall has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: Did your interest in directing start with watching your father (Peter Hall) direct theater?
A: I was never particularly interested in directing theater … but the moment I started watching film, I became very preoccupied with how it works. It’s like anyone who becomes obsessed with film. I had an experience as a kid of being transported and I was like, well, how does that happen?
Q: It sounds like you’ve been preparing to direct for quite some time.
A: I’ve always been an actor, obviously, but I don’t really entirely define myself as an actor forever. I’ve always loved it, and it’s a huge part of my life and will never, ever stop being that but I do other things … I play music. I paint. I’ve always felt that being a filmmaker actually holds all of those things in one place.
Q: Was ‘Passing’ always going to be your debut?
A: I wrote it having zero intention of making it. But the first draft of the adaptation just came out of me very quickly along with a visual language for the film. … I thought this would be tremendously arrogant to make this my first film, and I would probably not be able to pull it off because it’s just too complicated. So it went in a drawer for years. I suppose it just took growing up enough to realize that filmmaking is an act of arrogance, so you might as well make the most arrogant one you got.
Q: How did you get Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson?
A: Ruth was the first actor to come on board. I was sort of stalking her in my brain for a while. But I didn’t really know her and then fortuitously we were on a similar press round. … Eventually I cornered her … and said, look, I’ve got a script, please, will you read it?
Q: What went into casting Irene?
A: I’d seen Tessa in that first “Creed” movie and thought, wow, that’s a movie star. … I was terrified to get on the phone (with Tessa) and then she said, it’s brilliant, it’s so up my alley. But then … the money fell apart, and we had to wait a year. I have no words for how indebted I am to those two women for just sticking by this project for two years of their lives. Feb. 14 birthdays: Singer Razzy Bailey is 82. Saxophonist Maceo Parker is 78. TV host Pat O’Brien is 73. Magician Teller is 73. Opera singer Renee Fleming is 62. Actor Meg Tilly is 61. Singer D’wayne Wiggins is 58. Singer Rob Thomas is 49. Actor Danai Gurira is 43. Actor Tiffany Thornton is 35. Actor Freddie Highmore is 29.