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I bingedA Small Lightin two sittings.
I had thought it would be a really tough watch, but its such an inspiring story too.
Thats really what drew me to the project.
Liev Schreiber as Otto Frank with Bel Powley as Miep Gies.National Geographic for Disney.
Its the Nazi occupation.
Weve learned about this in school.
Weve read Annes diary.
We know that 6 million Jews were sent like lambs to the slaughter.
I think in human nature, the way we deal with difficult situations is trying to find lightness.
So thats why I was like, Whoa, this is a really interesting take on this story.
Because it still does make you laugh through your tears.
I think thats just how humans are.
We all can relate to having been in sad situations.
And I think that thats what this was trying to show.
And the Holocaust is just so horrific I think people can find it almost unimaginable and difficult to process.
And what we as humans can relate to is young love and marriage or coming-of-age.
The Franks were still parenting their kids in the annex, and Anne was 13 to 15.
It was the most intense time for a teenager.
And its that kind of minutiae that we as people I think can hang onto and connect to.
You went to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam before the shoot.
I could actually be in the place.
So that was kind of incredible.
And his real desk is still in there.
And also, in reality, his office was just below the annex.
It was definitely a strange but necessary, obviously, experience to have that before we actually started filming.
Our sets were built as a direct replica of the annex.
Our production designer,Marc Homes, is a total genius.
Her son Paul died last year.
But his daughter, Mieps granddaughter, she came to set while we were filming.
I think it was obviously a bizarre experience for her.
I was playing her grandma when she was in her 20s.
But its so hard to fathom your grandparents having to go through that.
It was a total honor to meet her.
[The real Alfred] came to our premiere.
Yeah, it was incredible.
And then there was a film made of the book,Anne Frank Remembered.
Yes, it won an Oscar.
And the book is obviously her first-hand account of the events.
And she also covers her life story from when she left Vienna.
So its very, very useful, and you do really get a sense of her sassy cheekiness.
But there isnt much footage obviously of Miep at the age I was playing her.
So it was kind of my version of her.
I found her so relatable.
I can relate to someone newly in love.
I can relate to someone with a best friend.
So it was those things that I could bring a little bit of myself to it as well.
Im an everyday woman.
Im an everyday person who just was brave enough to do an extraordinary thing.
Were all a bit of Miep, I think.
Theres been a really horrifying resurgence of anti-Semitic rhetoric.
And when you were shooting it, that was in the news quite a lot.
To be honest, it was mostly in school a couple of times.
In our show, which is a period piece, theres a lot of Nazi rhetoric.
But then, actually towards the end of filming, it was when we were filming Liberation.
That was the day that all of the Kanye stuff was at its height.
And then in LA, it was really horrible.
It was scary for sure.
I did really enjoy the relationship between Miep and her husband.
How did you and Joe build that dynamic?
I was so lucky that it was him.
We didnt know each other before.
We were very pushed for time.
They added another episode at the last minute, which they kind of squeezed in.
So we had to work very quickly.
And Joe and I just slotted into this incredible rhythm immediately.
Off-camera, we really get on, were really close friends.
We joke around with each other.
We have a very similar sense of humor.
Were not ones to be sitting around over-intellectualizing it before we do it.
So that was, I think, really useful and necessary.
It wouldnt have been good if we didnt have the same process.
You dont feel as much the pressure of the historical and political backdrop when youre in those scenes.
When we are doing those scenes, its a couple, its navigating a marriage.
Because it was like, Oh, I can breathe now.
Its like back to just being us and just the Miep and Jan show.
Whats been some of the most moving feedback youve had from people about the show?
So its just really beautiful to finally learn about those stories and meet those people.
Whats next for you?
Its calledTurn Me On.
Michael Tyburski directed it and its kind of in the style of Yorgos Lanthimos.
Its going to be good.
But yeah, from the past, straight into the future.
Its set in a dystopian future.
And you have a film at Tribeca?
Its calledCold Copyand its myself and Tracee Ellis Ross.
Its a psychological thriller about a journalism student who becomes obsessed with her professor.
