THE GREEK ESCAPE

DRIFT Anthony Chen’s refugee drama features Cynthia Erivo like you’ve never seen her before…

Cynthia Erivo (left, pictured with Alia Shawkat) plays Jacqueline, a refugee trying to rebuild her life on a Greek island

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.’

‘A big part of this film is painting a real portrait of the human experience’

ANTHONY CHEN

Erivo was attached even before Chen got involved. Once he signed on, he made sure all of the refugee elements were as authentic as possible, from language used to clothing worn by child soldiers in flashbacks to Liberia. ‘We didn’t make this film based on statistics. A big part of this film is painting a real portrait of the human experience. It’s not one of those refugee articles that we read in the newspapers all the time.’

Co-starring Alia Shawkat (as a tour guide Jacqueline befriends), Chen sees it more as an intimate character study than a refugee-in-crisis tale. ‘She is drifting on this Greek island and trying to rebuild her identity,’ he says. ‘In the end, for me, it’s a very, very universal human experience.’

DRIFT OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 29 MARCH.