She walked in and asked the shop assistant who would be the best person at the charity to speak to. Her research into domestic violence began in a Women’s Aid charity shop in Dublin. She put the hours in, meeting social workers, psychologists, women’s charities, family lawyers and journalists with access to the family court. “An article about Dominic building his house for 25 grand.”ĭunne spent years researching the script. “The first thing I read was in the Guardian,” she says with a grin. What if a single mum built her own house? “No more endless forms and waiting in queues for your life to begin.” A quick Google search threw up the Irish architect Dominic Stevens, who had designed a small timber-frame house that could be made with fairly basic DIY skills. Why is it so bloody difficult? It’s just bricks put on top of each other.” In a flash, a story came to her. Here she was supposed to be learning lines for a detective show, but her mind was racing. She was being evicted from her house at the end of the month.” The call knocked Dunne for six. A friend in Dublin called to say she was about to become homeless: “She’s a single mother with three kids. If you can picture Ken Loach realism mixed with Horgan’s laughs plus a teaspoon of honey stirred in, you’ve got a sense of the film’s tone.ĭunne was inspired to start working on the script a few years ago, while auditioning in New York. What is unmistakably Lloyd about Herself is that it puts women centre stage and it is the work of a group of female collaborators, including Sharon Horgan, one of the producers. A lot of women are putting their lives and the lives of their kids at risk.” “That moment of crossing the threshold to leave is the moment when many women get killed, the moment of greatest danger. That experience, adds Lloyd, informed Herself: “We became so overwhelmed by the number of women in prison whose lives began in domestic violence and were fleeing abusive relationships.” The opening scene is crucial, she says. The plays originated in workshops at HMP Holloway with ex-offenders in the cast. I’ve been trying to climb back down to earth ever since.” Lloyd previously worked with Dunne and Walter staging a groundbreaking all-female Shakespeare trilogy set in a women’s prison. “I had such a curious start – going in at that Hollywood blockbuster level. Lloyd has wanted to make a low-budget film for years. Here I go again … Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia!, Lloyd’s first film.
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