{"id":877686,"date":"2026-10-10T17:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T17:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/877686\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T17:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T17:46:09","slug":"naomi-ackie-discusses-hollywood-star-wars-horror-crank-radios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/877686\/","title":{"rendered":"Naomi Ackie Discusses Hollywood, ‘Star Wars,’ Horror, Crank Radios"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tNaomi Ackie (I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Star Wars: Episode IX \u2013 The Rise of Skywalker, Small Axe, Mickey 17<\/a>, The Thursday Murder Club) stars in Boots Riley\u2019s anti-capitalist satire I Love Boosters<\/a>, part of the 70th edition<\/a> of the BFI London Film Festival<\/a> (LFF), which runs through Oct. 18. But on Saturday, she discussed not only her new film, which features her opposite the likes of Keke Palmer, Demi Moore, Don Cheadle and Taylour Paige, but also her broader career experiences and insights into the acting profession during an LFF Screen Talk.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the session, moderated by Grace Barber-Plentie, BFI London Film Festival<\/a> programmer, the star repeatedly drew applause and laughter from an adoring crowd that left the room buzzing about Ackie\u2019s passion and natural charisma. <\/p>\n

\n\tOne recurring theme was the actress\u2019 seamless move between smaller U.K. productions and Hollywood movies, as well as between film and series.<\/p>\n

\n\tAckie shared that she enjoys this variety of opportunities but also acknowledged that she feels most at home in the U.K. capital\u2019s industry circles. \u201cThe London film scene feels like home,\u201d and running into old friends and acquaintances feels \u201cso comfortable,\u201d she told the audience. \u201cI feel, controversially maybe, [that] in America, it feels like Hollywood, and Hollywood is not a thing that I\u2019m particularly stimulated by. It\u2019s a machine, and I respect it, but it\u2019s not necessarily the thing that makes me feel the most comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe also offered that when it comes to awards season, the big U.S. and U.K. awards are also different. For Oscars, actors are often making a lot of appearances, making the process similar to a presidential campaign and more predictable, while BAFTA nominations seem more surprising to her, Ackie said.<\/p>\n

\n\tBarber-Plentie pointed out in the context of the star\u2019s thoughts on the Hollywood machine that many of the U.S. directors that Ackie has worked with started with smaller independent films.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe star shared that this may also explain one of her recent favorites. \u201cI\u2019m obsessed with Obsession,\u201d she told the London audience. \u201cYou look at that director [Curry Barker] \u2013 he\u2019s been doing YouTube shorts for the longest time!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking of horror movies, Ackie mentioned that she was off to L.A. later in the day to start promoting Clayface. \u201cHas anyone seen It Follows,\u201d she also asked, drawing many shouts of \u201cyes\u201d from the crowd. \u201cThe sequel [They Follow], I just finished this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHer approach to genre films: \u201cI just love doing horror because it\u2019s actually the funniest job,\u201d she told the LFF Screen Talk. \u201cI said to my team: \u2018Guys, maybe I should ease up on the horror.\u2019 Horror is popping right now. It\u2019s the best genre right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAckie also offered her take on what has been driving the popularity of horror films, namely war and other horrors in the news. \u201cI think it\u2019s because, as a global community, we are extremely anxious. Did you see that tornado in Sydney?\u201d she said before sharing her own worries. \u201cAlso, everyone, get your tins! Please, get your tins of food and your water. I\u2019m not even joking. I bought a crank radio. \u2026 And the candles. I\u2019ve got matches, magic straws just in case the water gets dirty.\u201d The actress emphasized, though: \u201cI\u2019m afraid, but I don\u2019t want to put that on you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAckie didn\u2019t only discuss horror, but also comedy during her appearance, including I Love Boosters. \u201cI love a female friendship,\u201d she offered in expressing the joy she felt on the set. \u201cRepresenting female friendship is a special thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA special experience of a very different sort was, of course, her work on Star Wars: Episode IX \u2013 The Rise of Skywalker. She recalled how she felt she wouldn\u2019t get the role, as she has done after various other auditions, only to get a surprise call back. But the actress highlighted that even Star Wars and other big roles didn\u2019t change certain things for her. \u201cIt didn\u2019t change me from the inside,\u201d she explained. \u201cI still live exactly the same, and that was eye-opening.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAckie also shared on Saturday that the, or one of the, hardest roles she has ever taken on was playing Whitney Houston in I Wanna Dance With Somebody. \u201cI\u2019m a perfectionist, and this shit sent me crazy because you can never know a person,\u201d she recalled. \u201cIt was something about the pressure of people knowing Whitney, people loving Whitney, me playing her. Am I good enough? This is a mountain. I remember saying to my sister: \u2018I feel like I\u2019m a baby looking at the top of a mountain, and somehow I need to crawl up to the top.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tConcluded Ackie: \u201cIt was probably the most difficult part, but I look back at the film now, and I\u2019m like: \u2018Good for you!\u2019 That\u2019s probably one of the favorite things I\u2019ve ever done. The reviews weren\u2019t the most incredible; the box office didn\u2019t do great, but for me personally, it changed my approach to my craft. Because once you do something like that, I was like: \u2018Give me anything!\u2019 \u2026 Because I know I\u2019ve probably done one of the hardest things I can in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAt 35, Ackie has done so many different things, but there are some roles that she would like to take on in the future. Recalling how she grew up loving West Side Story and Grease, the actress said: \u201cI really would love to be in a musical. I just love it. It offers so much joy to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe also recalled how her character in Lady Macbeth, opposite Florence Pugh and Cosmo Jarvis, becomes mute halfway through the movie. \u201cIt taught me that we communicate a lot with our bodies and not with the words we say, and I still use that to this day,\u201d Ackie said. \u201cI was chatting to Lashana [Lynch] the other day, and I was like: \u2018My dream is to do a film where I don\u2019t say anything.\u2019 And she said: \u2018Me too.\u2019 I feel like a lot of actors might feel that way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Naomi Ackie (I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Star Wars: Episode IX \u2013 The Rise of Skywalker, Small Axe,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":877687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[124945,367255,88,2091,206,369175],"class_list":["post-877686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-bfi-london-film-festival","tag-bfi-london-film-festival-2026","tag-entertainment","tag-international","tag-movies","tag-naomie-ackie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=877686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/877687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}