Abe Friedtanzer
Drift, which made its premiere nearly a year ago at the Sundance Film Festival, tells the harrowing story of Jacqueline (Cynthia Erivo), a Liberian woman forced to leave her home after experiencing a devastating and violent tragedy. While wandering a Greek tourist island, she befriends Callie (Alia Shawkat), one of the few people who actually notices her and reaches out a welcoming hand.
Awards Radar had the chance to speak with Erivo about what drew her to this material and how she tapped into the difficult material. She spoke about writing the original song “It Would Be” for the film and her past work in films like Widows and in the upcoming big-screen version of Wicked.
On how Jacqueline’s experience compares to real-world stories shared on social media, Erivo shared:
“This film is about a very singular person that you could pass by who’s been completely displaced. So we’re talking about a person who is on the street and you have no idea where they’ve been… it’s important to amplify those who are in need and those who are dealing with terrible things, and it’s very important to hear from those people. But there are those people who simply don’t have the language or the healing that they needed in order to speak about things that they have already been through.”
On approaching the more disturbing Liberia-set scenes, Erivo reflected:
“Well, you take from the script what’s going on and you take from your surroundings what’s going on. I sometimes use music to get myself to a particular place, but the rest is just listening and experiencing what’s actually happening. We shot everything that was in Liberia in the week before we shot everything else in Greece, so we shot all of that scene, all of the the trauma that she’s gone through, everything that is in that part of the world together.”
Watch the full conversation below.
Drift will be released in early 2024.
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