Piper: No one talks about the uglier side of having it all ... I was floundering
BILLIE PIPER says the feeling of “floundering” under the pressure of juggling motherhood with work inspired her directorial debut.
The actress wrote, directed and stars in Rare Beasts, an “anti rom-com” about a single mother, played by Piper. It also stars Lily James, David Thewlis and Leo Bill.
Piper, 37, has a nine-month old daughter, Tallulah, with Tribes frontman Johnny Lloyd, and two sons, Winston, 10, and Eugene, seven, with actor Laurence Fox.
She said: “I started writing Rare Beasts at a time when I felt like the world was telling us [women] we could have it all and I was trying to experience that myself.
“I started writing it at 30, which is when I feel like I had a rude awakening. All I could see around me was common casualties, certainly in women. I too was finding it... I was floundering. Because it is a wonderful idea. But quite often the reality is that it is incredibly hard and stressful.” She added: “And I’ve personally seen the uglier side of that. And I didn’t feel like anyone was talking about that with full transparency.”
The star began her career in music at the age of 15 before going into acting, with roles in TV shows including Doctor Who and Secret Diary Of A Call Girl.
She said: “I feel like the modern world points us in the direction of being the ultimate soloist. Because as women you can do a lot. You don’t have to be in a relationship, you can have casual sex, you can have a baby on your own.
“But it comes at a cost. It is not a massively relaxing life. To share your life is really helpful. And people don’t want to talk about that.” Her next project is I Hate Suzie, an eight-part Sky Original drama about a woman who is compromised when her phone is hacked.
She said she felt hopeful about the rise in the number of “uncomfortable” female stories being commissioned, attributing it in part to writers such as Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Lena Dunham. She added: “I don’t know if it is the Me Too movement, I am sure it is a contributing factor. I think it is a culmination of things. It is a number of women who are making bold strides and going: ‘No,
I want to say something that is going to be uncomfortable.’ [Women] can’t take it any more. [Women are] angry.And rightly so. There is a lot to be angry about.”
● Rare Beasts is being screened on Thursday, Friday and Sunday as part of the BFI London Film Festival