Thomasin McKenzie interview at Into Film Awards 2024, Best Film 11 and Under Award

Hi, Thomasin, so wonderful to have you here. How does it feel to be here today? And why do you think it's important to nurture young talent, particularly from diverse backgrounds? How I feel is that I was nervous, but really excited to be here. And I think it's important to nurture young talent because everyone needs encouragement. You know, when you're at the base of a mountain of something, you know, intimidating, which the film world is, people need a little bit of a boost to get started. And I mean, to be fair, they're 10 years old, 11. So like, you know, yeah. And what advice might you have for people trying to break into the industry and what might be your reflections on what can be challenging, but also, you know, is very progressive about the film industry, particularly for young women today? I don't have any specific piece of advice because it's I don't feel like there was any one thing that clung on to except for patience, I suppose, having patience. And also, though, just to maintain the joy and the love for what it is that we do, because when you get all like consumed by the stress of it, it takes away that joy. So just like to hold on to it. And you've had such a meteoric rise. I mean, you know, last night in Soho with Edgar Wright, most recently Eileen and with Anne Hathaway. What have been some of the highlights of that? And what have you got coming up next? Some of the highlights, just like meeting such incredibly creative people, a lot of whom I've reunited with here tonight, like Naira Park and Leo Thompson, who are producers on Last Night in Soho, and Derek Fowler, the head of working title, of course. So, yeah, a highlight has been meeting such incredible creatives. And up next, I've got a film coming out called Joy about the invention of IVF, which is coming on Netflix soon. And in theatres. And is there anything you would like to see change, maybe particularly for women in the industry? Or do you think like we've come a long way, perhaps from like how things used to be? Do you know what? I think there is so much pressure still on women to look a certain way, to, you know, spend so much money on their appearance and so much time on their appearance. And I think there's I think we need to take some of that pressure off because it's impossible to be perfect all the time. Well, I was very, very lucky. I come from an acting family. I'm a third generation actor. So I was able to kind of like follow in my parents and my grandparents footsteps. I'm from New Zealand, so when they were doing theatre shows, I travelled around New Zealand with them and just like watched and learned. So yeah, I was lucky in that respect. I'm still doing hundreds and hundreds of auditions and lots of projections. And all of the classic like actor journey that I still have to remind myself of today, which is to have patience. Because this industry is like, at the end of the day, these actors have very little control over the roles that we're able to play or like, you know, help with decision making. So, yeah, patience and to not have any enjoyment and love for what it is that we do as well.