Samantha Morton: Celebrity profile takes commitment
Samantha Morton: Celebrity profile takes commitment
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Sunday, 27, Jul 2008 02:48
Mystifyingly earmarked by much of the gutter press as part of the Primrose Hill set, Samantha Morton's friendship with Kate and co seems more a coincidence than an active effort on the actress' part to maintain a place in the public eye.
Her steadily-rising star - from small parts in the likes of Soldier, Soldier, Band of Gold and Jane Eyre to major roles with Woody Allen, Jim Sheridan and Steven Spielberg and an Oscar nomination look to have fallen on her shoulders almost accidentally and were Morton to step away from film sets for a quiet life working in charity, you'd probably not bat an eyelid.
Away from the screen and her mesmerising performances as Myra Hindley or Deborah Curtis, the 31-year-old is a devoted mother to eight-year-old Esme and six-month-old Edie but spends much of her time working with a series of British and global charities.
The Oscar-nominated actress - who will soon make her directorial debut with a Channel 4 drama about a young girl growing up in the care system - is backing the World of Difference campaign, commissioned by the Vodafone Group Foundation, which will give four workers the chance to give up their job for a year to work for a charity of their choice and be paid up to £25,000.
Research carried out by the Vodafone Group has found that around six million workers in the UK experience extreme dissatisfaction in their jobs on a daily basis.
But with the World of Difference campaign, four Britons could find fulfilment through their work while helping a worthy cause.
inthenews.co.uk's Lewis Bazley spoke to the In America star about her involvement in the campaign, the choice between fame and fortune and working with Charlie Kaufman.
Why have you chosen to involve yourself with World of Difference?
A couple of years ago I read in the newspaper about a lady who had set up a charity in her flat. She was awarded an OBE for it. She was a driving instructor and trying to find a charity for young people in care and quickly realised that there wasn't any, having grown up in the care system herself. So she set up this charity called A National Voice which is for children in care, run by people in care. There are over 60,000 young people in care today so this was an incredible charity to set up. I phoned and got involved with it, having been in care myself, so when I heard about the World of Difference campaign, it just seemed to me that I understood the ethos behind it.
Why should celebrities endorse charitable pursuits?
I think it's important for people to find something they believe in. I happen to be an actress in the public eye and somebody that works very heavily for several charities so I can speak from the heart about this. I've gone out and worked in Timor, Banda Ache and in the UK helping charities and what I gained from that, how that enriched my life, has been incredible.
If the Vodafone Foundation are saying to charities they'll pay to help people who want to work in charity get into that position, then I think that's incredible.
According to the foundation, six million UK workers are dissatisfied with their work - as an actress, do you feel blessed to be in this position?
I do, yes, but I think there are many actors, and many people that are in very high-paid jobs, who are very dissatisfied personally with what they give and what they receive. There are certain actors that earn millions and millions and give a lot of their money away to charity - I think Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have set up a foundation and Bill Gates has his organisation, for example.
Do you think there's a level of cynicism about actors or musicians lending their faces to charities?
I think for a while there were a lot of 'over-celebritied' charities out there, with a lot of celebrities working for them without a great deal to say. And I think the public, perhaps, became slightly disillusioned with that and didn't trust it. This is taking it back to grassroots and yes, I am here talking about today, but only because I have a vested interest and this is something close to my heart.
While promoting Control last year, you said that the media's concentration on your background, rather than your acting, frustrated you. Is that still the case?
I think it varies on who I'm speaking to and what I'm speaking to them about.
Despite your Oscar nominations and critical acclaim, you're probably unknown to a lot of casual observers unlike, say, Keira Knightley - is anonymity something you've pursued?
I think that someone like Keira Knightley is successful not only for her work, but for the type of area that the media have placed her in. And I think there's a level of commitment that goes with that type of profile and very, very early on, I decided that I couldn't cope with that type of pressure. I wanted to go travelling for a year, and I wanted to work for charities and I wanted to have children very young - I had my daughter when I was 22 - and in order to do those things, you can't have one and the other. You can't be a Hollywood movie star and have the other things at that age. I just made a decision early on to do other things.
As a mother, how do you balance work and family?
I'm learning all the time! It's an ongoing process, whether it means turning the phone off when you get in the front door, to telling people they can only email you at a certain time. I was a working single mother, now I'm not a single mother but I'm still a working mother and that isn't easy. But you find ways to improve as a parent and at what you do all the time.
When you worked with Charlie Kaufman on Synecdoche recently, were you pregnant then?
Yes, I was! (laughs)
It's his directorial debut and obviously, he's an amazing writer, but how was he to work with as a director?
Pretty mind-blowing. He's a genius and I don't use that word lightly. I've called Tom Waits a genius today but there's two of them! He's absolutely amazing and somebody that I'd really admired from a distance, so to get to work with him was a bit like Ronseal, it did everything it said on the tin.
Lewis Bazley
Applications for the World of Difference campaign can be submitted at www.vodafonefoundation.org before the closing date of July 31st.
Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh is also backing the campaign - to see his exclusive interview with inthenews.co.uk, click here