Cynthia Erivo (left, pictured with Alia Shawkat) plays Jacqueline, a refugee trying to rebuild her life on a Greek island
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When Singaporean director Anthony Chen cast British actress Cynthia Erivo (Harriet) in his new film, Drift, he sensed this was going to be a unique experience. ‘It’s a project that is close to our hearts,’ says Chen (Ilo Ilo).
‘The depths of emotions that she has to reach in this film… I think it’s one of the most vulnerable performances you’ve ever seen from her. It might be something that audiences have not seen before from Cynthia Erivo.’
Adapted from the novel by Alexander Maksik, Drift tells the story of Jacqueline (Erivo), a woman who has fled Liberia and made it to a Greek island. So real did it feel, Chen didn’t even know it was fiction when he first read the script. ‘There was something very authentic about the portrait of this Liberian refugee and it moved me, it haunted me, it devastated me. There was so much humanity in it.’