Lorien: Why was this project appealing to you?
Sa ron: You’re giving a voice to survivors of abuse and
hopefully that will be emboldening for people. I think
so many of us have had experiences that relate to this.
When I was 15, I was sent to Paris to model and the whole
language of the fashion industry was about coercion.
It was, at times, close to prostitution; the way agencies
o ered girls to ‘important men’, who would choose from
the wall of model cards and, if you didn’t want to sleep
with them, you were made to feel as if something was
wrong with you. It happened to a shocking degree.Lorien: Why do you think the abuse of young
models was allowed to take place?
Sa ron: People knew, but there was a culture of
complicity. There are now female agents expressing
regret over what they let happen to girls. Dangerous
situations; bad situations – teenage girls far from home
being given drugs and waking up the following day not
knowing what had happened to them. I saw an industry
that conducted itself unchecked for many years.Lorien: What do you intend to do about it?
Sa ron: I want to raise consciousness, like you are
doing. I’ve written a screenplay called Adored about
the highs of modelling and also the incredible loneliness
that I experienced; how the world that co-existed with
us enabled the predators.Lorien: At what stage of production is Adored?
Sa ron: Patricia Rozema is attached to direct it, which
is exciting. When I started acting, there were hardly
any women directors. My mentor, Ngozi Onwurah, is
a British-Nigerian director and we made our fi rst fi lm
together when I was 17. I didn’t star in another fi lm with
a female director until my mid 30s, when I worked
with Amy Redford on The Guitar. That’s basically
20 years without a female director.Lorien: Did you ever imagine you would direct?
Sa ron: When I look back on the last few months of
my life, I’m amazed. I had no idea that I’d direct two
short fi lms, nor how the experience would expand
exponentially: going into the editing room and loving
it; asking Sia to sing on the score and seeing her being
moved by the fi lm; and being even more ambitious
and nerdy going into the second fi lm. It appears part
of my brain is quite logistical.22 PSYCHOLOGIES MAGAZINE APRIL 2020“People knew about
the abuse of teenage
models in the fashion
industry, but there
was a culture of
complicity”
Lorien: What else is important to you about the fi lm?
Sa ron: Modelling from such a young age, I didn’t have
the chance to go to university. Ever since, I have been
desperate to learn and I take every opportunity to do so.
When I was fi lming Troy, for example, I was doing an
Open University degree in politics, English and French.
My desire for learning is even greater as I grow older.
For any woman who grew up feeling underestimated, it’s
an extraordinary feeling, in your 40s, to fi nd new avenues
where you don’t feel underestimated or patronised; that
you have to be seductive to get somewhere; that you have
to be anything other than who you are; that you can use
all your brain power to think about a project and not hold
back; that you’re not stopping yourself from having ideas
and making suggestions.Lorien: Model, actress, writer, director and parent...
What’s your order of preference?
Sa ron: I’ve got young children, so I want to be with them- that’s my priority. I made a decision that I didn’t want to
work the way I did before; 18-hour days for months. I have
to navigate that and I don’t really have the answer.
Lorien: How has the subject matter infl uenced your
feelings about protecting your children?
Sa ron: I think we have to talk to our children.
Awareness of potential abuse and boundaries is being
integrated into education. For example, schools insisting
children use the proper names for their body parts, so
there’s no ambiguity about anything that might happen.The interview