Page 85 - Flaunt 170 - The Phoenix Issue - Kiernan Shipka

On one hand my life and experiences with acting,” she recalls. “It was a very there are the hot, haze- filled desert days in Phoe- nix’s Valley of the Sun, and on the other there is the gritty, urban bustle of Lon- don, where no two days are the same on the damp, grey ANN DEMEULEMEESTER blazer, L’ÉCOLE DES FEMMES shirt, and L’AGENCE pants. transformative experience for me and I loved her humor, and her vulnerability.” For Daphne, Beecham won the ‘Best Performance in a British Feature Film’ at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and was nominated for ‘Best Actress’ at the British Independent Film Awards. It appears Beecham has less chance of letting media manipula- tion distract her from her job. “I was talking with a friend recently about the fact that the fame side of this life is almost like a com- pletely different job to handle,” she confides. “She put it really well, saying ‘it’s just another job and you don’t have to believe in all that, so it’s fine if you don’t.’ Profile stuff goes hand-in-hand with acting, I just have to be professional about it. What I really do it for is the work and character I’m representing and that’s the important part: promoting projects that you believe in.” In the heart-wrenching drama Sulphur and White, Beecham tells the true story of mountaineer David Tait, a man whose profes- sional success masks a series of traumatic secrets as he struggles to come to terms with the abuse he experienced during childhood. “This is the first time I’ve played a real person and it feels like an immense responsibility. We all cared so much about the subject and the people we were representing,” remarks Beecham. “David and his wife Vanessa (my character) went through something so unbe- lievably tough—men in particular find sexual abuse so difficult to open up about. There’s terribly high suicide rates associated with it and people’s lives are just destroyed because they are carrying dark secrets around with them that are so stigmatized. The message of this film is so important.” pavements. As a British actor with dual UK/US citizenship current- ly residing in London’s cosmopolitan borough of Hackney, Emily Beecham thinks all the time about where she wants to be. “You are never bored in London, it’s an amazing city. I don’t quite know what it would be like to live somewhere more remote and super-glossy like Malibu,” she muses thoughtfully. “Where my mum is from in Arizona there are a lot of wide open spaces, and if you’re driving through the mountains it’s only you for miles, which is incredible. Maybe I couldn’t do that forever though, albeit it’s beautiful.” Although Emily Beecham is quintessentially English—po- lite, slightly dreamy, and self-deprecating—she’s going to have to become accustomed to the American way of life and Hollywood’s Tinseltown allure, given the level to which her star is in ascent. Bee- cham’s upcoming releases include Disney’s 101 Dalmatians-prequel, Cruella, alongside Emma Stone; sci-fi action film, Outside the Wire, with Damson Idris and Anthony Mackie for Netflix, and Sulphur and White with Mark Stanley, Anna Friel, and Dougray Scott. Like a mythological phoenix rising, this quirky-yet-classical- ly-beautiful flame-haired talent has very much now cemented her reputation as an exceptionally versatile and diverse leading female. However, she is still somewhat overwhelmed by her Best Actress award from the renowned Cannes Film Festival last year. “It was quite the experience of 2019. It takes a while to process it, and I think that’s how I felt about the new year, you just have to own this amazing accolade and take it with you, and let that push you forward into 2020 and beyond,” she shares. “I’d love my working life to carry on the way it is really, where I’m doing an eclectic mix of projects, and I’d love to work with Lynne Ramsay!” (Lynne Ramsay is the Scottish film director and cinematographer best known for Ratcatcher, Morvern Callar, and the disturbing psychological drama, We Need to Talk About Kevin.) Before starring in Little Joe, for which she received her pres- tigious honour at Cannes, Beecham had steadily amassed a crit- ically-acclaimed and wide-ranging number of roles. Previous credits include the popular Black Widow in the AMC series, Into The Badlands, which was voted one of ‘The Best TV Shows of 2017’ by Variety, the Oscar-nominated Hail, Caesar!, and her universally lauded leading role in Daphne as a hedonistic young Londoner in flux. “I think, sentimentally, Daphne was what really transitioned What is it like to be in one’s mid-thirties, happily making a living from the passion of story-telling, only to be unexpectedly awarded one of the most pres- tigious awards in the film industry? Does it feel like a process of re- birth when one’s career is catapulted onto a much grander world- wide stage? “It’s like being in a playground abruptly, with lots of fa- mous people,” Beecham says, candidly. “Sudden- ly you’ve got access to all these amazing scripts you only really dreamed of being part of, and your dreams start be- coming a reality. I feel incredibly lucky.” PINKO blazer, L’AGENCE shirt and pants, and BEYOND RETRO scarf and bow tie. Hair: Shukeel Murtaza Makeup: Justine Jenkins 79 PHOTOGRAPHER: DERRICK SANTINI. STYLIST: MARK ANTHONY BRADLEY. HAIR: SHUKEEL MURTAZA USING MALIN+GOETZ AT THE ONLY.AGENCY. MAKEUP: JUSTINE JENKINS USING HOURGLASS COSMETICS. MAKEUP: JUSTINE JENKINS USING HOURGLASS COSMETICS. BY GHD NORTH AMERICA AND R+CO AT NEST ARTISTS. MAKEUP: LILLY KEYS USING CLE DE PEAU AT SWA AGENCY.