Nathalie Emmanuel Embraces Her Own Power

9th September, 2024

Words by Emily Zemler
Photography by Rachell Smith
Styled by Georgia Medley

Coat and Scarf ERDEM

Not only does Nathalie Emmanuel want to see people who look like her onscreen, but she wants to be a proactive part of changing the entertainment industry. The actress, who’s currently starring in Francis Ford Coppola’s epic drama Megalopolis and John Woo’s action flick The Killer, has a fledging production company and hopes to become the change she’s looking for.

“I want to continue pushing myself in different roles and challenge myself in different kinds of movies and TV shows—any acting work that stretches me as an actor,” she says, speaking in London’s Loft Studios. “[But] I'm also really wanting to expand my involvement in the creative process and be more a part of the development and the kinds of stories I want to tell. Eventually, building up my own production company and, hopefully, if that's successful I'll be able to start bringing in people who don’t always get the opportunity. I’d like to nurture up-and-coming talent who don't historically get access.”

It's a feeling Nathalie knows well, especially growing up in Southend-on-Sea, where the actress didn’t quite feel like she fit in. She didn’t see herself reflected in her hometown or onscreen, although she can appreciate now how the Essex town made her who she is today. It hasn’t been an easy journey breaking out of Southend-on-Sea—Nathalie credits her mom as her biggest champion—but it’s been a meaningful one. The actress emerged on the scene with a role on Hollyoaks before being cast in a definitive role on Game of Thrones, which ultimately put her in the spotlight. In both the U.K. and Hollywood, Nathalie has seen first-hand how important inclusion can be on and off the screen.

Skirt & Stole ISSEY MIYAKE, Boots PIFERI

Coat STELLA McCARTNEY, Dress HUISHAN ZHANG

“As somebody who hasn't always seen themselves in the industry, I'm sure there are many people who don't see themselves in the industry and I'd love to be able to be a platform for those voices and those talents,” she says. “When I think about the amount of people whose talent and art we haven't had the pleasure of seeing, it makes me sad and I'd love to be able to be a part of changing that. We really need the industry to not be so afraid of nurturing and funding new talent and talent from communities that are historically left out.”

Embracing a variety of genres and characters has always been part of Nathalie’s ethos. She quickly followed Game of Thrones by joining the Fast and Furious franchise as a computer hacker named Ramsey. One of the main reasons she accepted the role in 2015’s Furious 7 was because the film series championed diversity with such enthusiasm.

“Those guys made us the heroes,” she says. “I felt really proud to be a part of a franchise that was so a part of inclusion and so about changing the narrative. Saying, ‘By the way, not only are we cool and capable and heroes, we're also bankable and we're going to make hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office.’ That isn’t what it’s about when you're making art or you're making entertainment, but that's why so many people hadn't done it, because they didn't think people would come out and support it. And they were wrong!”

Skirt & Stole ISSEY MIYAK

Since then, Nathalie has boosted her star power immensely, becoming a leading lady on TV shows like Four Weddings and a Funeral and films like The Invitation. This year, though, feels like her breakout moment. Woo cast her as Zee, a professional hit woman, in The Killer, a remake of his own 1989 film, which featured a male lead. She trained and learned stunts for the shoot in Paris, which took place in two parts last spring and early this year due to the SAG- AFTRA actors’ strike. Despite the challenges and hard work, Nathalie reflects on the production as an “amazing experience.”

“I had a freedom that I hadn't ever really experienced before with John Woo,” she says. “He sees the movie in his mind and he's very romantic with his camera. It's like choreography. It's like dancing. And I love that about him. He really gave me a lot of autonomy and freedom.”

It was an unusual process for Nathalie, who has worked with a variety of directors over the years. Some are very specific and others are more open to an actor’s take on the character. Woo was the latter, which offered Nathalie a sense of liberation she hadn’t necessarily realised she wanted.

Dress HUISHAN ZHANG, Hat NOEL STEWART

“To have someone say ‘I'm happy if you're happy’ for the first time made me force myself into having confidence in my choices and not overthinking them,” she says. “I had to make really clear choices and be confident in the work that I'd done and the development that I'd done with this character and stand in that and stand in my power. That was a really valuable experience and I was really grateful for it. But until it happened, I didn't realise how much freedom there was to be had.”

Being part of Megalopolis, a visually dynamic, deeply ambitious movie set in a modern-day New Rome, veered toward the other end of the spectrum. Nathalie plays Julia Cicero, the daughter of the city’s traditionalist mayor who becomes entangled with his enemy, an idealistic architect named Cesar Catilina. Coppola had been developing the film for decades before it went into production in 2022. Nathalie, who auditioned for the role over Zoom while filming The Invitation in Budapest, was immediately intrigued by the project, which she calls “a crazy ambitious, dense, complex piece,” even if she didn’t fully understand it at first.

“I felt really connected to it,” she says. “Once I had conversations with Francis and he told me about the things that inspired this woman and who this woman is and how she was an amalgamation of lots of times in his life and lots of specific people, I felt even more connected. I was very interested in this woman who was caught between two worlds and she really cared about and loved both of them.”

Bodysuit STELLA McCARTNEY, Boots PIFERI, Gloves HUISHAN ZHANG

The actress was interested in the many questions the film asks as Cesar Catilina seeks to adapt New Rome using a futuristic building technology. For Nathalie, the questions were as important for her character as they were for herself.

“It’s old versus new, traditional versus progressive,” she reflects. “What do we take from that and walk into the future with? What does the future mean? I realised I felt a lot of connection to that because I'm also getting to an age now where the world's changing and I can see it's changing. I always thought I understood it all, but now it's changing again. And that’s okay because there’s so much to be discovered in that change. That’s the constant conversation we're always having: What do we take with us from the past or from tradition and what do we let go to help us be progressive and move forward? Julia really represents someone having that conversation.”

The filming process was experimental and playful, with space for discovery in Coppola’s script. Like making The Killer, it was a new experience for Nathalie, who has come to appreciate the unusual scope of making two very different films in juxtaposition, especially as she personally looks to the future.

Bodysuit STELLA McCARTNEY, Gloves HUISHAN ZHANG

“It’s a very unique time for me,” she says. “I don't think this is going to happen necessarily in this way again. To take it all in and learn from all of these different environments and experiences and people and ways of working has been amazing. How do I carry that into the next thing?”

So far, that has meant taking a vacation and shifting her priorities away from work. When a new opportunity presents itself, whether it’s to act or to produce, Nathalie knows she will instinctually feel it—in part because she’s taken the time to reconnect with who she is and what she wants out of her career and her life.

“I'm in this position where I can stop and and be a little bit more intentional about the thing I do next,” she says. “Appreciate it. Make the most of it. Allow myself to breathe for a second and see what comes what feels right. That might mean that I'm not working for a while and that’s a real privilege to be able to do that. I want to maybe nurture other parts of my life that have had to fall to the wayside because I’ve been away somewhere or busy—family, friends. Those things are really important for your creative soul because otherwise you get so far away from yourself and you're like, ‘Wait, what do I like? What are my interests?’”

She adds, with emphasis, “It’s really important to fill up your cup and be around the people that you can truly be yourself with and connect with them and yourself. And then the ideas and the creative juices start flowing immediately.”

Megalopolis will be in theatres from 27 September.