Michaela Coel broke her rule against multitasking because The Christophers felt like a project she couldn't pass up.
The I May Destroy You actress stopped taking on acting opportunities in 2024 so she could focus on her upcoming TV show First Day on Earth, on which she serves as writer, executive producer and star.
However, when her agents suggested she might star alongside Ian McKellen in Steven Soderbergh's The Christophers, she couldn't resist accepting the job.
"It was a phone call from my U.K. agent, Michael Duff: 'We don't have a script yet, and there is a project with Steven Soderbergh, Ian McKellen, (writer) Ed Solomon - those are three names packaged together,'" she told The Hollywood Reporter. "I was writing (First Day) at the time, and I am very bad at multitasking and the team knows that, so they leave me alone and they only call me when it's like, 'You are going to want to stop what you're doing when the time comes to do this.' I knew I was going to have to take a break to do this project and then get back into mine."
After she finished her scripts for the TV show, she flew from Ghana - where the series is set - to go to McKellen's house to discuss the project before the shoot.
"(I) went to Ian McKellen's house - he wanted to go through the scenes; I'd never met him and just turned up at his door - for five days," she explained. "Then two days later, we were shooting it. No rehearsals. Just a discussion. That was that."
Recalling what those five days of intensive prep looked like, Coel shared that working opposite the 86-year-old acting legend forced her to focus on the scene at hand.
"He's very focused on the story. He wants to know what every scene means - the intention behind this writing, this piece and that piece," she said. "He scrutinises the script so intensely that it forces you to forget that you are working with one of the greatest legends the acting industry has ever had. You just have to focus."
The Christophers, in which Coel plays a forger hired to complete McKellen's famed artist's paintings, is in U.K. cinemas from 15 May.
