I've known Marina for over 20 years. Back then she was on the French youth jockey team and stood out for her results in international horse racing competitions. Fate caught up with her and she joined the National Academy of Dramatic Arts. I remember, it was "just to see"...
ow she's the flamboyant actress we all know, former Comédie Française resident and won the Best Actress César for her role in Pascale Ferran's Lady Chatterley in 2007. Personally, I think Marina really comes into her own in high-flying theatrical roles where she can unleash her talent: Phaedra, Lucrezia Borgia, Mademoiselle Else etc. Her unique, fiery, unsettling, raw and radiant presence has won over the greatest directors of stage and screen: Patrice Chéreau, Yves Angelo, Claude Miller, Julian Schnabel, Jacques Weber, Nina Companeez etc.
She's performing in Ivanov by Chekhov at the Odéon in October, directed by the great Luc Bondy. This very contemporary play explores ordinary cruelty, how powerful people can be idolised one day and walked all over the next. Ivanov is the charismatic but depressed leader in the middle of a burnout. Marina plays his wife, an idealist lover who will never recover from the fall.
I was interested in how she sees the power of stage or screen directors who I'd compare to company directors. They share the same role of influential leaders. Their role is to provide a vision, build teams, guide, inspire and motivate the troops. Get them on board to perform/work together as harmoniously and spectacularly as possible by giving it their all to provide the audience/customers with a quality piece/product that people will flock to see/buy.
Interview
A stage or screen director is a company director who has to get teams on board with their vision and manage them. What do you think a good director should have in terms of leadership qualities?
It's very unusual for top directors staging major pieces (I'm thinking of a few geniuses I've been lucky enough to meet) to arrive completely sure of themselves. Every new play is a new equation to solve. They don't forgo research, questions, doubts. They are brave enough to ask themselves questions and say: "I'm not sure". That's a real strength. When putting a piece or play together, there are times when you're inspired, don't know where you're going or go down the wrong path. A strong director is someone who will acknowledge when things stop working, when it's not good enough, when it doesn't fulfil their quest for truth, sensitivity or the story they want to tell. Paradoxically, the directors who've reassured me the most are the ones who can say: "I'm not sure. Let's stop and pick up again tomorrow, maybe we got off on the wrong foot..." Why? Because they take the full measure of their responsibility. That means a lot to team members and sparks everyone's creativity. I think you should doubt yourself instead of never questioning yourself: being completely in the moment is a principle of reality and clarity.
Do you think that focusing on their teams' energy and motivation shows a respect for your work, recognition of your worth and that helps you feel more comfortable?
Exactly. They respect everyone's rhythm. And saying "Forcing it won't achieve anything", is a sign of confidence. The directors who've pushed me the most or who had completely devoted teams were people who worked on the basis that they had confidence in what you would bring to the table. Otherwise they wouldn't have picked you. They're confident in their decisions. The worst is when you have to prove to people that they were right to pick you, to reassure them.
So a leader should work and be confident in themselves and their teams?
Totally. I remember Chéreau, for example. He never sat down. He was always there and physically involved in the creative energy. If he was unsure, he'd excuse himself and distance himself a little to reconnect with himself but staying with us. A real captain takes the full measure of their responsibility in the creation of their work, they're the one who will provide the vision or sense of what they want to create, they've chosen people to join them on the journey and will carry them. So they have to be very involved in doing right by themselves and their teams.
Confidence is essential and gives us wings. Rather than worrying about something done badly. It's better to accept someone else's skills as different and complimentary to your own. Acknowledging you need them and appreciating the difference. Let's take stage design, which is vitally important. The best directors I've met are all ears when it comes to their stage designer's vision. They have deep admiration for them, just as they do for actors who have a different skillset and different kind of bounty. And I think without this mutual admiration, there's a hierarchy where there's no room for creation. In the most productive stages of creation that I've experienced, everyone had their say about what they were performing. Every brain works at the same time, there's a collective intelligence.
You've worked with iconic stage and screen directors such as Chéreau, Claude Miller, Schnabel, Denis Arcan. What did they have in common?
A vital need to validate their vision of the world.
How did they motivate their team?
With their vital energy, commitment and presence. It's all a question of the project leader's attitude. As soon as you realise something very important is happening and the leader embodies this importance, they don't need to claim it. Their innate commitment brings their team on board and motivates them far more. It also involves their presence, their presence at work, their listening skills, their vision, how they are with others. They're always on the lookout! Looking out for what's happening around them. There's nothing worse than being in a team of 50 and 35 of them don't feel noticed. A leader who wants to motivate their teams sees what everyone puts in and communicates with everyone. They make everyone part of their important creation.
How would you describe Presence?
I think presence is respect for your own rhythm. Someone who respects their breathing, internal rhythm, heartbeat or thought process, they have presence. Presence is being in the here and now with self-respect.
How do you achieve it?
For example, in an actor's work, a vital process when you're putting a character together is to define their rhythm. The American school is very strong in this area. Then to build your presence and bring out your internal rhythm, I'm a firm believer in austerity and deconstruction. Being completely confident in who you are. And I'd add: unleash your emotions and learn to manage them. But you have to believe in yourself and drop a way of working or attitude that isn't you. And I think presence shouldn't affect your self-awareness. Even if you create a public character. As an actress, I know I can't create a character without putting some of myself into it. I can't make it all up.
Do you think presence goes hand in hand with authenticity and sincerity?
Perhaps sincerity but definitely authenticity. It's self-esteem. Public speaking is no mean feat! It has to come from a place of needing to say something if the message is to be heard. Listening can also be very present. So authentic presence is the relationship you can have with both yourself and others. That means being fairly hard on yourself. And I think that's what's missing nowadays, there's a lot of hurly-burly. It feels like everyone's saying the same thing because it isn't authentic or the message isn't owned. Presence radiates truth and that makes an impact.
Photo credit: Gilles-Marie Zimmermann
The second half of the Marina Hands interview is coming soon where we'll address the following subjects: talent, emotional intelligence, body connection, preparation before public speaking and more.
