Naomie Harris covers the latest issue of New York Magazine. It’s a completely charming interview from someone who knows she’s not going to win an Oscar this year. Naomie even says in the interview that she’s sure Viola Davis is going to win, and Naomie seems fine with it. While I liked Naomie in Moonlight, I would actually be a little bit disappointed if she was a major contender, just because I didn’t exactly think she was the strongest part of the film? Anyway, I decided to cover this because Naomie actually talks about how her “over it” expression went viral at the Golden Globes, when she seemed to really not GAF about Tom Hiddleston’s “aid workers love me!” speech. Naomie tries to be professional and understanding of Tom, but it’s still funny. Some highlights:
She never drinks: “I’m so Miss Control Freak. I could never imagine being drunk or losing control like that. That’s my worst nightmare.”
The diverse nominees & #OscarsSoWhite: “I know that everyone thinks this year is a response to that whole campaign,. When, in fact, these films were in production or preproduction for years before all of this. So they aren’t actually a response to that whole argument. So I don’t like the way that they’re used as a response to that. And people are saying, you know, ‘Isn’t it amazing in a year how things have changed as a result of that campaign?’ ”
She’s worried about the anti-immigrant movement in the UK & America: “Because the whole foundation of these countries — America in particular — is based on immigration. Britain wouldn’t be the country it is without immigration. So it’s madness. It just seems so retrograde to talk about these ideas now, at a time when the world is just becoming smaller and more interconnected. And now, to want to take a step backward, almost to the dark ages, where, you know, ‘We want monocultures and mono-races,’ it just seems really … yeah, regressive. And very sad.”
Her own experiences with racism: “The only time I’ve ever experienced racism — I’m talking about blatant racism — was in France when I was called a ‘n-gger’ by a bunch of kids and hit on the head.” She was 16 and on a student exchange. “It was really shocking. I had never heard that word. I mean, I had heard it, but not used against me … I just thought, What idiots. I didn’t even feel afraid.”
Her chances on Oscar night: “It’s not going to happen. It’s Viola [Davis]’s year, you know?”
On her unimpressed face during Tom Hiddleston’s Globes speech: “I really sympathize with Tom because I think it’s so easy, under the pressure of those moments … to find yourself going down the path of telling a story and as you’re telling it, think, This is not what I want to say, it’s not how I mean it to go, but you’re kind of trapped on that train and you can’t stop … And then ridiculing a person for that … I just think it’s so mean!”
Is it mean though? Granted, I get the feeling Naomie is an incredibly nice person who always tries to do the right and proper thing. But for Hiddles, this wasn’t a one-time occurrence. He has a consistent problem with being an overzealous famewhore, a LOOK-AT-ME-I’M-A-DANCING-BEAR whenever he’s around a live microphone. Personally, I think Hiddles deserved Naomie’s “unimpressed” face. As for what Naomie says about immigration and regressive politics… yep. Welcome to fascist democracy!
Naomie Harris' face listening to Tom Hiddleston is all of us pic.twitter.com/oorxtNFkyF
— Sarah (@Cinesnark) January 9, 2017
Photos courtesy of WENN, cover courtesy of NY Mag.
I can relate to her about not drinking because of control issues. Not being in control of my actions is scary. And because I never drank I don’t know my limit.
i mean, she’s still saying his speech was bollocks, but she’s trying to be nice by saying he got caught up in the moment. which i’m sure people who are not familiar with his antics might even believe. us, we’ ve seen it all and we know what a famewhore he is lol. she looks so mortified in that video, it’s never not going to be funny.
i love her btw, and have for a long time, so happy to see her doing well. and i agree with everything she says about immigration.
The thing about Tom is that he’s very intelligent, charming and has an effervescence about him. He’s a brilliant actor who has always come off as very humble and down-to-earth. Before the TSwift debaucle I had never heard anything negative being said about him. I’ve always admired him, sad to say I was a bit turned- off by the whole thing but I believe he’s still Tom. He needs to be given the chance to brush the infamy and unpleasantness off and move on. Everyone screws up. Everyone deserves a a break.
Funny, I just read BAFTA’s diversity access report yesterday and Harris was one of the people they focused on. I was far less impressed with what she had to say than, say, Riz Ahmed. She seemed to focus everything on individual effort (almost bootstrap talk) than on structural issues. So I went off her a bit, having hitherto loved her. But the report does only have brief quotes so it’s possible I’m being a bit unfair.
Vis a vis Tommy LEGume – pft, Naomie, the entire point of LEGS is to mock him. Don’t you even know that?!
‘I just read BAFTA’s diversity access report yesterday’
i’d like to read it as well, do you have a link?
We need to sit Naomie down with some puff pastry swans and mimosas and have a long talk with her.
ell: here you go:
http://www.bafta.org/sites/default/files/uploads/baftareportsucceedinginfilmtvandgames2017.pdf
I can personally identify with a lot of what Riz Ahmed says about social codes (even though he is brown and male and I am white and female, we both come from working class backgrounds and got private school scholarships).
lightpurple: yes, we do. She clearly does not understand the LEGS phenomenon AT ALL. I feel we should also introduce her to paper knickers.
And Build-a-Bear Lokis.
And t-shirts. Oh, do you remember his Live Below The Line and the baked potatoes? I love Tommy. Nice legs and enough mocking to almost make the current situation not the first thing in my head – for nano seconds, anyway. Long live Tommy and laughing at Tommy, say I.
thank you Sixer!
He may have received a scholarship but he came from a middle class background
Ah riz ahmed <3
Hitherto! hahaha
What? Is that a funny word? Is it Britisher funny? Splain!
I think it’s pretty naive of her to dismiss the power of OscarsSoWhite.. I mean, there have been very Oscar-worthy films before made by and starring POC that have just been largely ignored by the Academy. I think the campaign the last couple of years made them really take note of movies they might have otherwise ignored.
I agree – she’s correct that those films were already in the works, but I think the problems last year definitely put them in a better position for recognition.
But I think crediting OscarsSoWhite takes away from what Moonlight is accomplishing – to me the subtext is that it’s there for diversity and not on its own merits. I think it’s important to recognize what Naomie was saying, that the movie is the result of years of hard work.
As promotion starts for KSI we are going to get lots of Tom with live microphones soon. He turns 36 tomorrow.
Looks like a fun movie. I’ll go. I don’t know if I will IMAX 3D it, but I’ll go. Looking forward to Thor3 too.
I’m definitely IMAX 3d’ing that thing. I want the full Kong experience.
See I have zero interest in another Kong movie. Correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t the last few not do too well? The cast doesn’t even really appeal to me though I like each individually
I thought this interview was dreadful. Harris was lovely. The publication used Hiddleston as click bait, knowing that more people would read it. Putting his name in the title was disrespectful of them. It’s as if the magazine was afraid no one would read it without mentioning the internet’s favorite punching bag and former boyfriend.
No major celebrity is going to insult Hiddleston. His reputation within the industry is very different from what we see online.
The version I saw online had Hiddleston’s name in the title.
Um, no.
I work in the industry – everyone I know makes fun of him. It’s not that he’s not respected professionally (I guess?), but yeahhhh, it’s a total sharktank. You think people in the industry weren’t gossiping and ripping the piss like mad for the Swift thing?
Well, CREW folk in the industry–both production and nutsnbolts–LOVE him.
aha, and we should belive you cause? a lot of people said they work in industries too and said people don’t make fun of him cause they don’t care about tabloid tweenies. Now we’re in dilmma on who to believe. But I am going with later because people who met him said he is hard workinh, nice to stuff. why would anyone make fun of someone if he/she is nice to them?
What part of the industry? It’s an enormous industry with many different stratospheres. As TG said no major celebrity is going to insult Hiddleston publicly, and I don’t think he’s the object of constant ridicule among celebrities at all. In the entertainment media and among those in the publicist fields that work closely with the media I can see that they may make fun of him cause that’s the level that they work at. That doesn’t mean that producers, directors, agents and actors feel the same. They know how the entertainment media works and see right through it and don’t give the gossip and ridicule much weight as a rule.
My favorite scene with Naomi is as Tia Dalma in Pirates when she is trying to take the curse off Captain Jack and hands him a jar of dirt. She is underused in the James Bond movies.
My favorite is in the bloopers when her costume gets caught on something and she bursts out laughing because she can’t move
28 Days Later is where I first saw Naomie. Have loved her ever since. She is seriously underused in the Bond films. She and Daniel Craig had sizzling chemistry. Moar Moneypenny I say.
Very classy, not that that’s surprising, coming from her. She seems like a lot of fun! And I can totally relate to the alcohol thing.
Well Hiddles is in GQ saying Tiddles Hiddleswift was REAL.
The vest was WAS misinterpreted, borrowed if you will.
The boy is just no fun.
GQ is like the High Sparrow of the LEGS Militant, isn’t it?! Luke has done good work for his boy with them.
Sixer, as much as I love Tom, You never fail to make me laugh!
if you mean a bunch of killjoys, then yes. LOL
I think Hiddles has been somewhere getting re branded. He will now be known as Serious Tom, not Tom Foolery. 🙂
Love how he denied that vest though. and OWNED THE SUMMER OF REAL LUUUUURVE.
Ok. I tried. Honestly, I tried. I googled the article. I winced at the number of words and the size of the scroll bar in the margin. But I tried. And I got right down to…
“He’s there, he’s present, he’s yours, he’s heartfelt, he’s real.”
And now I’ve had to go to the bathroom and change my soaking wet knickers because I did the proverbial and wet myself laughing. I love LEGS. But even I can’t get past that amount of saccharine in a single day, even for him.
So I still don’t know what he said about la Swift.
Loved since 28 days later. Her face is perfection.
I first spotted her in Street Kings(2008), then a year later in Small Island. She’s been one of my favorites ever since.
She is absolutely stunning and a great actress. That cover is awful, however. She looks like a huge lollipop.
I am so very happy to see Naomi getting a little shine, she is an very talented yet underutilized actress that has been doing good work for a while.I honestly feel that a big part of her being overlooked in comparison to other British Imports Thandie etc has been because she isn’t biracial
Wish her continued success
She’s almost the same color as Thandie though, and Thandie didn’t really get that mainstream famous until Westworld lat year so…
No she is not the same color as Thandie and codes differently Thandie was in Mission Impossible, Crash(Best picture Oscar winner ) etc she had her mainstream moments after playing Sally Hemmings a few years back, Westwood if anything is a revival of her career
There is still no diversity this year. I mean, Hollywood might be slowly getting there and it is great that they fibally recognized black people’s awesome work after being grossly ignored these past couple of years, but actual diversity would mean to have Latinos, Asians, Natives, etc…
I like that she’s trying to be kind and give him the benefit of the doubt.
I disagree that he was telling a story that got away from him though and he found himself rambling. I think he rehearsed that plenty of times and said what he intended to say.
She never drinks because she’s afraid to lose control?!
Sad.
I can’t imagine a life where you’re stuck in your own mental cage trying to live up to your preconstrued expectations of yourself all the time. Sheesh!! Whatever happened to just enjoying the moment and taking things as they come along?
I cant understand control freaks and I pity them because ultimately they’re constantly setting limits and barriers for themselves.
It’s perfectly possible to have a drink, and even be tipsy, without losing control of your actions. That part sounds overly dramatic.
I don’t really see what’s wrong with someone being uncomfortable with something and choosing not to partake in it. Her stance on drinking definitely beats that of a lot of other folks in Hollywood who seem to engage in it in spite of knowing that their behaviour while drunk isn’t the best. I don’t see why not wanting to go down that route means that she’s “stuck in a mental cage.”
Besides, considering that she’s an actress, and an Oscar-nominated one at that, I hardly think she’s really the sort who’s trying to live up to some preconceived notion of herself. Or that she’s constantly setting limits and barriers. If she were doing either, she wouldn’t be an actress constantly on stage and under the scrutiny of an audience.
Glad she tried to make the point about the brief expression she made being blown out of proportion to fit a narrative (in my opinion for the sake of clickbait). I got what he was trying to say & I’m sure many did in the crowd that night.
Tom is a nice guy who has given his time to charity and deserves the benefit of the doubt.