FILM

Her family’s military background meant Samantha Morton needed to do little research for her role in ‘The Messenger’ as the widow of a soldier killed in Iraq. Robin Askew met her.

"My family don't watch a lot of my stuff," laughs Samantha Morton. "They watch soap operas and things like that. Films are a bit too arty-farty, I think, for my family."

You'd have thought they might make an exception for her latest film, 'The Messenger', in which she plays Olivia Pitterson, the young widow of a soldier serving in Iraq. Morton comes from a military family herself. Her brother is a former Royal Marine who now works as a private security guard in Iraq and her stepfather served in Northern Ireland when she was a child. "For me, it's just completely familiar territory," she says, explaining why she didn't need to do any research for the role. "With Olivia, it was about the fact that she had lost her husband a long time ago, psychologically, and was just trying to be a single mum. And I have been a single mother, so I felt I could really identify with her. It was one of the few characters I've played in a long time where I had so much in common."

And the American accent? "Oh, I play Americans a lot. I mean, I've lived in America on and off since I was 19. So it's not really…" She smiles. "I'm an actor - it's what I do."

Written and directed by Israeli-born screenwriter Oren Moverman, who himself completed four years of mandatory military service, 'The Messenger' has had a long and complicated production history, At various times, Roger Michell, Ben Affleck and Sydney Pollack were attached to direct, until Moverman reluctantly took over the reins himself. It was also tough to raise funding for a film that explores the human stories behind 'casualty of war' statistics through the experiences of two Casualty Notification Team Members (played by Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson), whose job it is to deliver bad news to the next of kin. It didn't help that every previous film about the Iraq war - even the conventionally heroic ones - has under-performed at the box office.

Nottingham-born Morton got involved because of her history with Movermen, who scripted 'Jesus' Son' - one of the first films she made in the US. Even though she'd just given birth to her second daughter, Edie, she couldn't resist the script. "I read it and I thought I can't not do it really. It was incredibly difficult acting with a small child in a trailer, but I've been acting since I was a very young kid so I can get out of character quickly."

Much has been made of her onscreen 'chemistry' with Ben Foster, though this is a concept she says she finds rather elusive. "You never know if you're going to have chemistry with somebody. I've done films where you're in, like, a process with the director: 'I'm going to get you two together to see if there's any chemistry.' And you're sitting there thinking, 'This is just not working.' Later you do the film together and you're thinking, 'Wah wah wah!'" She pulls an expression of distaste. "Then you do something where you don't meet at all and the director's going, 'I think it's going to be great' - and it is. But that's chemistry. You just can't think it's going to happen if people look right together. It's fascinating, that…"

Foster and Harrelson join a list of Morton's distinguished co-stars that includes Philip Seymour Hoffman, Johnny Depp and Sean Penn. "These are men who I consider to be highly individual. So what they bring to their roles is a little bit more interesting. I think Ben falls into that young Sean Penn category, where it's all about the work. And it's really lovely to be around. But it's not like, 'Oh he takes himself too seriously.' Because there are some thespians out there. It's like, 'Get to the pub! Do something real!' If you don't live, you can't really bring anything to roles, I think."

At 34, Morton has certainly lived. Her well-publicised background includes years in foster care and children's homes, a period of homelessness and even a conviction for threatening to kill an older girl who'd been bullying her. But once she'd got her life together, there was, she insists, never a career plan. "I still don't have a plan. Every time I think it's all not going to happen again because a good script hasn't come through, then something amazing happens. So I don't have any regrets. I'm really happy. I think I'm very lucky, really, considering I'm very working class and have managed to do incredibly well in America. I still get work, and I've done it on my own terms. I don't think I'm a big celebrity. I don't feel I have to be a certain way to get work. So it's all going all right."

'The Messenger' was released on 17 June. See also review.

Copyright Robin Askew 2011