‘THERE’SA
LOTOF
PRESSURE
ONWOMEN’
BACKONOURSCREENS
WWW.OK.CO.UK 99GEMMA CHAN PLAYSA
WOMANSTRUGGLING
WITHEXPECTATIONS
F
rom Channel 4’s Humans, to the
internationally acclaimed comedy Crazy
Rich Asians, Gemma Chan can turn
her dramatic hand to anything. But she
admits that improvising on I Am Hannah was
‘quite terrifying’. Nevertheless, Gemma delivers
a stunning performance as 36-year-old Hannah,
a woman struggling to stick to the social
expectations placed on her as a woman in
her mid-thirties.
Here, the actress, also 36, who is thought to
be dating Mamma Mia star Dominic Cooper,
explains why she wanted to share this story...Tell us about your character...
She’s very good at her job, but she’s not
fulfilled by it. She’s not in a relationship when
we meet her. She’s trying to find meaning
in her life and people have different ideas
about that meaning. Most of her female
friends have coupled off or have kids and
she’s really questioning everything about
that side of things.Why did you want to tell this story?
I wanted to tell a story about a woman
struggling with expectation. I’ve had
conversations with female friends and it’s based
on some of those. There’s a lot of pressure on
women to be mothers; what it means to be a
mother, what it means to be a woman if you
don’t want to be or can’t be a mother.What’s your own experience of this?
I think it’s crazy how, as a woman, when you’re
a teenager or in your twenties, it’s drilled into
you that getting pregnant is the worst thing
that could happen. And then suddenly when
you hit your mid-thirties, the other
message is that you’re running
out of time, your biological clock
is ticking... You have, essentially,
a five-year period when you’re
supposed to meet the right
person, settle down and start a
family. And I think that can be
quite unrealistic.
‘I AM HANNAH’ IS ON CHANNEL 4 ON AUGUST 6.FEATURE BY KATIE LANGFORD-FOSTER
PHOTOGRAPHS BY GETTY IMAGES,
SHUTTERSTOCKOK!Above: ‘I wanted
to tell a story
about a woman
struggling with
expectation,’
Gemma says of I
Am Hannah (left)