Actress Miriam Margolyes and director Lee Knight‘s movie A Friend of Dorothy is an Oscar shortlisted film in the Best Live Action Short Film category.
The project is about the unexpected friendship between a teenage boy played by Alistair Nwachukwu, and a widow, portrayed by Miriam.
Miriam and Lee exclusively shared with us their experience on shooting the film together, whether or not we’ll catch them at the Oscars and what specific moment caused Miriam to be “scared stiff.” Check out the video below.
Believe it or not, but the touching movie was impressively shot in only four days and Miriam emphasized that doing a short film has a different set of rules and aspirations.
She revealed: “It’s an extraordinary journey that we all take when we become actors and take on a role and when you do a short film, it’s intensified. It’s sharper and quicker and it has to be because – I was on it for four, no, three days. The whole film was four days [and], I had three days [on set].”
Miriam added: “And in that time, you have to create a believable world, believable for everybody that watches it and [make it] believable for yourself.” The entertainer had one moment on set that made her “scared stiff.”
The performer said: “That last scene was terrifying for me because I knew that I would be overcome and I was scared. Even though I’m very experienced. But it doesn’t stop you from feeling scared stiff, and I was. And that was the moment when I knew I loved [Lee.] And he just took me gently through it. And we made it. We made it together.”
Lee replied: “I mean, my heart is so full right now. It’s a tough thing acting. It’s very scary and I’ve heard stories about a lot of very famous people that walk on set and they sometimes just think ‘am I gonna get recast, or I can’t do [it].’ We’re human. We have to be extremely vulnerable to show what Miriam shows and what Alistair shows. How can you not? You’ve gotta use the emotions you have at the time. If you’re scared, use it.”
© A Friend of DorothyHe continued: “But if you’ve got a director that’s saying, ‘I hear you and I wanna know how you feel and that’s where we’re gonna work from…’ You can’t pressure someone and say, ‘no, no, no, you’ve gotta get this done.’ As an actor, I understand the sensibilities and that journey and it’s useful to know that of your actor, and I went into Miriam’s dressing room and I said, ‘are you okay,’ and she said, ‘no, I’m worried about these lines’ and a monologue is terrifying for anyone.”
Lee continued: “And it was mean of me to write it. But I said to Miriam, ‘first of all, you’re Miriam [expletive] Margolyes, and secondly, it doesn’t matter – why do you need to know them?’ and Miriam said, ‘well, of course I need to know them.’ I said, ‘I’m gonna be there with you.'”
© A Friend of DorothyThe director added: “[I told her], ‘we’ve been collaborating since before we met. We’ve been collaborating cause I wrote this in your voice.’ I said, ‘so all you need to do is just trust me and we’ll work together. I’m gonna edit it. We can edit bits out.’ If there was a moment when Miriam needed a line, I gave it to her and that’s what it should be like…that’s collaboration.”
We’ll definitely catch Lee at the Oscars, however, Miriam doesn’t plan on going, but she shared who she would love to reunite with.
Miriam shared: “The thing that I regret [about] not coming [is], I would so love to meet all the people that you meet when you go, you know, all these superstars. I would love to see Steve Buscemi again, whom I haven’t worked with for years, but he’s a darling man and I miss seeing those kind of people.”
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