Having toiled away for years, did you relate to the idea of ?

Once a starving artist… you know what I mean? I’m not so far off from my character Gloria Gardener. I know what it’s like to feel a ticking clock, being a woman. I’m a woman of colour, in my 40s, and I’ve lived a life of navigating all kinds of highs and lows, trying to accept that a dream will not happen, and then unexpectedly… I mean, this is late fame!

Would you rather have fame now than when you were younger?

You mean, would I prefer to have been a millionaire at 20? No, it’s not about the money at all. It’s a complicated question. There were a lot of years of experiences lost – I feel like I’m making up for it now. And of course, I wonder where I would be now had I had more of the opportunities earlier on.

Would the ideal career look like your co-star Willem Dafoe’s?

If I could do what Willem has done, that’s a dream! Talk about a career.

Had you met him before?

We met for the first time the moment before we shot our first scene together. We were joking that he would never recognise me ever again after this film – I wore three different wigs and had no eyebrows! So we had a real laugh about him walking down the street and not knowing who I was at all.

Gloria’s an eccentric aspiring actor who becomes obsessed with an obscure poet, played by Dafoe. Where did she spring from?

From our earliest conversations, Kent [Jones, director] and I were talking about this opportunity to bring to life a certain type of woman who maybe doesn’t exist any more. We are talking about the original diva, a woman who aspires for greatness, but on the scale of Marlene Dietrich or Sally Bowles, someone who is social-media agnostic. She doesn’t have her finger on the pulse of the contemporary world. These women are the reason why I’m here. I fully acknowledge that times have changed incredibly. Maybe our current world can no longer support the existence or success of a woman like Gloria. You need to be an influencer on the side!

I’m opposed to AI actors... The essence of being human is essential to movies existing

How do you see social media – are you for or against it?

I have to admit I’m slightly more agnostic when it comes to screens. I’m not on social media – I decided half a decade ago to no longer engage. I didn’t like how it was shifting. The way I live, I feel like it needs a remove from that lens of social media and screens and phones.

Has it been easy to do that?

It takes work, I have to admit. I’m not perfect, and I have two children. I know that it’s inevitable to be tied to screens and the way we live – I don’t live in a cave. I don’t live in Antarctica, in the middle of nowhere. I have to find a way to exist with it, but it’s something that I am actively trying to manage.

You voiced the iPad-like tablet Lilypad in and you featured in the AI-centric . Do you worry about what’s to come?

To be frank, I’m opposed to AI actors, I don’t think I need to be shy about that. I’m a human actor; I would like to remain a human actor. Movies are all about connecting people all over the world, people who normally wouldn’t have any contact with each other. And the essence of being human is essential to movies existing. And I can’t imagine a world where we don’t have people making movies. I think that is an extremely concerning future to face.

You’ve moved between TV shows like . Are you strategic?

I can’t say that it’s overly strategic. I’d love to take more credit for seeming like these are measured moves, different-size budgets and whatnot. For me, it’s just which stories are compelling. We’ll see where that takes me next. I have no idea.

Talking of Willem Dafoe’s dream career, he has starred as the Green Goblin in four Spider-Man movies. Would you like to play a superhero?

Really, I like playing normal people who find themselves in an extraordinary circumstance. In a way, sometimes they unexpectedly have to become superhuman, or have to test the limits of their own abilities, mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally. I think that is endlessly fascinating to me. And probably what informs my stance against something like an AI actor! james mottram