Naomi Ackie: London Is Home, Hollywood Is a Machine
Naomi Ackie says London feels like home. Hollywood feels like a machine.
Speaking at a sold-out Screen Talk at the BFI London Film Festival on Saturday, Oct. 10, Ackie said she respects that machine but does not find it comfortable or stimulating, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The on-stage interview was moderated by festival programmer Grace Barber-Plentie. It formed part of the 70th edition of the festival, which runs through Oct. 18.
Ackie was at the festival with I Love Boosters, the Boots Riley anti-capitalist satire that co-stars Keke Palmer, Demi Moore, Don Cheadle and Taylour Paige. The BFI bills the film as a wildly irreverent satire, and the Talk was advertised as a chance to hear Ackie discuss it alongside her wider career, according to the BFI listing. The session took place at Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 1, at 10:30 and was listed as sold out with live captioning.
Awards season came up early. Ackie said campaigning for the Oscars involves a run of appearances. She compared it to a presidential campaign and called it more predictable. BAFTA nominations, by contrast, seem more surprising to her.
Horror took up much of the conversation. Ackie said she loves doing horror because it is the funniest job. She called horror the best genre right now and said it is popping.
She linked that popularity to anxiety beyond cinemas. War and other horrors in the news, she said, leave people looking for a release. She also named Obsession as a current fixation and noted that its director, Curry Barker, came up making YouTube shorts.
Ackie has two genre projects in motion. She said she finished filming They Follow, the sequel to It Follows, in the summer. She also said she was travelling to Los Angeles later on Oct. 10 to start promoting Clayface.
For fans, this means a busy run is next. A festival satire in London, a horror sequel in the can, and a comic-book press tour starting in Los Angeles. And at home, Ackie said she keeps a crank radio, candles, matches, magic straws, tins of food and water, ready for an emergency.
