Photos courtesy of Netflix.
What do you get when two of Hollywood’s most magnetic young stars come together for a high-octane thriller about survival and sisterhood? A lifelong friendship, of course. At least that was the case for Vanessa Kirby and Julia Fox, who met only days before production began on Night Always Comes, a Netflix adaptation of author Willy Vlautin’s best-selling novel of the same name. In the film, directed by Benjamin Carron and streaming on Netflix this Friday, Kirby plays Lynette, a young woman who sets out on a dangerous all-night odyssey to come up with $25,000 to support her family. Fox, meanwhile, felt an immediate kinship with her character Gloria. “I’m here,” she remembers thinking after her first FaceTime with Kirby. “I’m literally this girl.” Below, she and Kirby reflect on their own friendship, developed over a string of late-night shoots and a bit of preparatory dream work. “It was just so cool to go that deep with someone you just met,” she told Kirby on a call earlier this week. “There were really no more reservations.”
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JULIA FOX: So wait, we’re going to start with—
VANESSA KIRBY: How we met.
FOX: When we met.
KIRBY: We met on a very shaky FaceTime.
FOX: We did.
KIRBY: I think you were in your car and you had to pull over.
FOX: In my car, and I hadn’t read the materials yet. So all I had was the little tidbits that Alan, my manager, told me. And as you were describing Gloria, I was like, “I’m her. I have to play this part now because I’m literally this girl.” There was just something about the friendship between Gloria and Lynette and how different they were—it reminded me so much of my best friend Harmony, who passed away. Lynette makes these decisions that seem kind of selfish, but then you realize she’s just surviving. And I think being selfish comes from a place of, “I have to look out for myself because nobody else will.” And then Gloria was just so funny with her sugar daddy. I love girls that have sugar daddies and stuff. I’ve had a sugar daddy. I mean, who hasn’t? But I loved going back there and getting to be that girl again. That was really fun.
KIRBY: It was so good, wasn’t it? And also, I just fell in love with you. I mean, I’ve always been in love with you, but the second I met you I just thought, “Oh my god, I know what kind of woman you are and I know what kind of friend you are.” And as soon as we spoke on that FaceTime, I just wished we could do a whole entire movie together on this friendship.
FOX: I know. We will, we will.
KIRBY: We will. And it continued, didn’t it? Because even when we were filming, even before we filmed the prep we did together, we went really deep and we really bonded.
FOX: That was crazy. I still try to describe it to people and I just can’t even put it into words because first of all, I’d never heard of dream work before. I did not know that was a thing. And then getting to do it. And I remember even when I gave myself the prompt at night before going to sleep I was like, “There’s no way I’m going to remember what it was.” But then I did, and it felt almost like channeling a message from something higher, or maybe something inner, and using that raw material. It was just so cool to go that deep with someone you just met. There were really no more reservations. Fuck appearances, fuck all of that. It was just the nitty-gritty, and it was really beautiful. It was painful, but it was beautiful.
KIRBY: As actors, you have to basically go into a situation where you’re pretending that you’ve known each other since you were 15 years old. Gloria and Lynette have been to hell and back together. So we did that kind of work together on Fantastic 4 too. I think that’s why those three feel like my brothers now. I mean, they’re literally family. And you’re like a sister to me.
FOX: Wow. Yeah.
KIRBY: Because it creates a real—
FOX: A real intimacy, yeah. A real understanding. I never really acted alongside another woman. I’d only ever really worked with men. And I wasn’t afraid, but there is that insecurity of your first time doing something. And then suddenly, after doing that work with you, I felt so safe and almost craved it and didn’t want it to end. Even though the night shoots were grueling, I could have stayed there with you forever because it was like, I’m here with my bestie. It doesn’t matter. We’re just shooting the shit and laughing and being whiny babies. The work on-screen is amazing, but the work off-screen is even more amazing.
KIRBY: Because there’s the thing, isn’t it? When you look at each other, you look at each other with a knowing, a deep knowing rather than pretending.
FOX: Yeah.
KIRBY: I’ve asked you so many questions about Uncut Gems because it’s one of my favorite ever and your performance is one of my favorite ever. It must have been such an intense experience and for you to have gone home every night feeling like you’re in that vortex.
FOX: I definitely did. Also, it was my first time acting or doing any of it. And I remember every day just praying to god get me through the day because I really didn’t know what the hell I was doing. And I was around such seasoned pros, so that’s where I got my love for improv, because there was a certain point where I was like, “Look, I’m just not going to memorize this shit. Okay? So you’ve got to work with me.” And it was really welcomed and almost encouraged. They just wanted me to do my thing. And now I take that everywhere with me. It just makes it so much more fun and exciting. And obviously it’s important to get a few takes saying the actual lines on the page, but like anything you do in life, you’ve got to find some fun in it. You’re really like, “Okay, I’m this girl. I’m in this situation. What am I going to say? What am I going to do?” So I definitely have taken that with me.
KIRBY: But that is not an easy thing to do. A huge majority of actors can’t do it. They can’t improvise.
FOX: That’s something I learned recently. I didn’t realize that it was a skill. I just thought it was like, “Okay, I can’t memorize the line, so we’re going to do this.”
KIRBY: No, it’s a total skill. It’s a skill that every actor wants and that a lot of us can’t do.
FOX: Really?
KIRBY: Yeah. You have to have so much confidence, and you also have to have tons of imagination. So you have to really believe you’re in that scenario. And then you have to be super confident and not doubt what you’re saying.
FOX: You have to believe it.
KIRBY: You just blew me away every minute of it.
FOX: Don’t you feel like being a woman is really performative and, in a lot of ways, we’re doing improv all the time? I feel like I am constantly. I don’t know if that’s normal or because I’m crazy.
KIRBY: But I think that’s why you’re so good at it, because you’re so unique. And also by the way, you are really unfiltered.
FOX: Yeah, I am.
KIRBY: You just are who you are without editing yourself. Do you know what I mean? So therefore, when you are in character, you don’t edit your characters. You just are.
FOX: I guess you’re right. But I didn’t understand how much work it really is. I think people have this really glamorized idea of acting, and it’s really so unglamorous. You’re just sitting around, you’re waiting, you’re tired, your feet hurt. It’s hours and hours and hours of prep for two minutes of action. So it’s really hard to turn on and off, especially if you’ve been in your trailer for four or five hours. It’s definitely physically taxing, mentally taxing. It takes over your life. If you’re working on a movie, you can’t really do anything else. It just takes over you. At least that’s my experience.
KIRBY: Yeah, but do you remember during our scene, they were resetting the camera or turning around or whatever and we just laid on Gloria’s bed next to each other. We were lying in a pile of her clothes, just staring at each other.
FOX: [Laughs] I know. Like, what are we doing here?
KIRBY: And it was 5:00 AM, we were barely holding on by a thread, obviously. It’s our first night shoot, so you just feel deranged.
FOX: I mean, a 10:00 PM call time. I have nightmares about it. But it just worked. It made us more vulnerable. It really cracked us open. I felt super, super raw in those moments, really holding it together. And my character is feeling that. Her man, he’s not really that interested in her anymore, and she’s living in this apartment and he could kick her out at any minute. It’s very much what the real Julia was doing in that moment.
KIRBY: It was. And our eyes were genuinely bloodshot. Acting like you’re in love or acting like you’re heartbroken, do you find it easier to do one or the other acting-wise?
FOX: It’s probably harder to be in love.
KIRBY: Definitely.
FOX: Right? Because that’s so charged. Whereas heartbreak, you can experience that many times a day, even if it’s not romantic. What about you?
KIRBY: It’s so true, isn’t it? And also, Gloria and Lynette are in love somehow, aren’t they?
FOX: Yes, definitely. That’s the best kind of love, too. Friendship love.
KIRBY: Yeah, totally. And that’s helpful, I think, when you have so much trust and you’re such good friends that you know can go to really hard places, but also really euphoric ones, so you just feel safe.
FOX: Do you have a bestie for life? Beside your sister, obviously. But a person that you grew up with that you’re still cool with?
KIRBY: Yes, Anna is my best girlfriend. But also, you do make these friendships on set, don’t you? Meeting you on this movie and going really deep with you was so beautiful. And I know that you’ll always be in my life now.
FOX: That’s so true. Also, in this industry, there’s been moments where I look around and I’m like, “Damn, I hang out with the people I work with more than my friends or my family.” The people you work with kind of become your family and your friends in a weird way. It’s the best part of the job. They’re there to celebrate your wins and they’re on your team. Because with friendships, I’ve had to leave so many people in the past because they couldn’t handle that I was successful and they weren’t. And I tried to help but, at a certain point, you just have to let go.
KIRBY: It’s so true. And that bond, the fact that you spend more time with those people.
FOX: My manager, Alan, he came to visit us on set. He loves you, by the way. I always tell people, “Yeah, he’s my manager.” But he’s really my best friend. That’s my ride or die.
KIRBY: But also, you’ve had to navigate becoming really well-known for who you are, this incredible force and person and personality who’s so singular as well as this amazing actress. That must have been a hard transition.
FOX: It was hard because of the perceptions of so many people and having people project on you what they think you are. When you tell a kid that they’re bad, they become bad? I was like, “Wait a minute, but I’m not all these things.” There came a moment a year or two ago where I was like, “What do I really want? I need to show up for me and not show up for people that don’t even know me.” You know what I mean? One of the weird things about fame is just forgetting who you are because people tell you about yourself all day long, and then you just have to be more intentional about your identity.
KIRBY: From my perspective, and also knowing you now, who you want to be is so definitive and really so confident.
FOX: Really? I love you.
KIRBY: That takes a lot of courage.
FOX: Thank you. But you know what I will say? The ones that do, they really ride for me, and that’s all I need. I’ll be worried the day people stop hating on me. I’m like, “Okay, I’ve got to step it up.”
KIRBY: Two of my best guy mates, when I told them I was acting in a film with you… I told you this, right?
FOX: Yeah.
KIRBY: They literally melted onto the floor and into the rug like, “Oh my god, we love her.”
FOX: Oh my god. Are they gay?
KIRBY: Yes.
FOX: You see? That’s why they get it.
KIRBY: [Laughs]
FOX: What is your dream project? I feel like you’ve really done it all. You’ve done the nitty-gritty indies, you’ve done freaking Marvel, which is insane. What keeps you going when you’ve done it all?
KIRBY: You know what? There’s certain directors that I’d just killed to work with. But also, actors are everything. The bond that we had and the process work we did. I mean, we were filming together for what, two days?
FOX: But it felt like a lifetime.
KIRBY: Because of the work we did, and I just find that so beautiful to me and meaningful. I guess because I started theater. And in theater, you did six weeks of rehearsal no one ever saw. Even if you did amazing work, no one would ever see it. And if you did terrible work, no one would’ve seen it. So the prep for me is just so amazing. And I’ve always had such a close relationship with all my actor friends.
FOX: Those photos of you and Pedro [Pascal] were going everywhere. And they were like, “Is it romantic?” And I’m like, “No, that’s just Vanessa. She’s so warm. You just meet her and you want to be around her and touch her.” That’s you for sure.
KIRBY: Oh my god. That’s so moving to me. When you are in that environment, it’s super scary, so sometimes you just want to hold someone’s hand, someone that you trust and feel safe with.
FOX: But I love that about you. You really value connection, even with people that you have nothing in common with. You just have such a curiosity and you’re not afraid of closeness or intimacy, which is something that I struggle with. I would’ve never gone there on my own, never.
KIRBY: We’ve just got to find five other movies to do together now.
FOX: Well, I told you Alan is on it. He is on it.
KIRBY: He better be.
