REBECCA HALL

She directed the movie Passing and starred in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Now Hall, 40, takes the lead in the psychological thriller Resurrection (currently in theaters and on demand). After a traumatic event that occurred when she was 18, Margaret (Hall) has achieved a successful and balanced life as a single mom. But that carefully tended equilibrium is upended when her past returns in the form of David (Tim Roth), and she must confront the monster she’s evaded for two decades.

What made Resurrection irresistible for you? I just found the audacity of it to be something quite out of the ordinary. I tend to applaud when films are daring and push things. I think it’s less about the subject matter and more about the cinematic experience, like it’s going to be something.

Tell us about Margaret. She’s the ultimate helicopter parent. Margaret’s micromanaging everything because she’s so terrified of the world. I see her as someone who’s dealing with a teen trauma. She has dealt with it by running away from it and building a barricade up, a strong edifice. But like anyone holding on to an edifice too strongly, it quickly disintegrates when triggered. It’s about someone who thinks they’re in control of their anxiety, but who isn’t.

What was it like directing Passing, about Black women who try to “pass” as white to avoid prejudice? I knew that it was going to be delicate to make people understand that I was coming to it from a place of truth. All my life experiences that went into it would be difficult for people to understand, given how people have perceived me. But my mother was Black and born into a passing family, so [directing the movie] became quite illustrative of the story itself, my story.

What did you learn about your family’s history from doing Finding Your Roots? My story was crazy because [host] Henry Louis Gates says any sort of Black history that’s traced, usually there’s no paper trail. But in my case, there actually was a ton of paper; my great-grandfather turned out to have been a famous post-abolitionist who was friends with Frederick Douglass.

What important lesson did she learn when making 2016’s Christine ?Goto Parade.com/hall to find out.