| Sally Hawkins, like her perennially upbeat character in Mike Leigh’s latest flick, really is a Happy-Go-Lucky sort. One minute she’s soaking up the adulation from the press for her Silver Berlin Bear-winning performance, the next she’s graciously stepping aside to allow us hacks to question John Hurt about his role in the upcoming Indy flick (in case you’re wondering, he still can’t confirm that he’s playing Abner Ravenwood – under pain of death from Spielberg). Before she was so rudely shunted, the actress who has landed a job in Woody Allen’s latest, Cassandra’s Dream, spoke of her sudden rise to stardom. “I’m just trying to zone it out really,” she said speaking at the movie’s UK premiere at the Odeon in Camden. “It’s a bit mad, I think it’ll hit a few months down the line. But it’s a great thing and very exciting.”
In the film, Leigh’s follow-up to the decidedly bleak Vera Drake, Sally plays Poppy, a young primary school who possesses the sunniest of dispositions. It’s a flick that has received some rave reviews, but does she think it will be received quite so rapturously by the general public? “I hope so,” she said. “I think if they don’t then we’ve gone wrong somewhere. I know some people haven’t reacted quite how we would have liked them to, some people have found Poppy quite irritating, but I think that says more about them than it does about her.”
Mike Leigh is, understandably, in agreement with his leading lady. “If you see it, you’ll be very happy,” he said. “If you don’t, you’ll be as miserable as sin.” The director is in no doubt about what makes the film such a joy to behold. “It’s not only down to Sally, but she does this wonderful, vivacious, warm, upbeat, funny, sexy performance. But at the same time her character is no airhead, she’s intelligent and focused and sharp and witty. I think if you come on a journey with Sally, you won’t be shortchanged.” So does this movie mark a new era of smiley, cheery Mike Leigh projects? “Happy-Go-Lucky is this film,” he said. “I hope you find it very joyous but if you think I may never make another film that makes you cry then, hey, who knows?” Happy-Go-Lucky is released on Friday. | 
