Here is a brief summary of the nine films vying for the most prestigious prize at Sunday’s Oscars ceremony:

‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’

Martin McDonagh’s darkly funny tragicomedy has surged at the 11th hour to go into Sunday as the narrow favorite in what most experts are characterizing as a four-way race with “The Shape of Water,” “Get Out” and Lady Bird.”

Oscarologists see its star Frances McDormand as a sure thing for the best actress statuette for her visceral turn as a rage-filled grieving mother at loggerheads with the local police over the failure to find her daughter’s killer.

The film’s late momentum comes as something of a surprise after it was hit by the biggest backlash of any of this year’s contenders.

The criticism mainly centers on what has been perceived as a cheap redemption for racist, violent cop Dixon, played by Sam Rockwell — a performance that has made him a favorite for best supporting actor honors.

‘The Shape of Water’

Guillermo del Toro’s romantic Cold War-era fantasy tells the story of a mute cleaning woman who falls in love with a captive magical river creature in a secret US government lab in 1960s Baltimore.

The movie starring Sally Hawkins, Richard Jenkins and Octavia Spencer nabbed the most Oscar nominations with 13, including best picture, director and actress.

It has lost some momentum in the best picture race, where it was the favorite for several weeks but now is in second place in the betting.

‘Get Out’

The bold satire about race relations — told by first-time feature director Jordan Peele in the form of a fantastical horror movie — is one of the top five best critically-received movies of all time, according to Rotten Tomatoes, which collates reviews.

It tells the grisly tale of an African American spending the weekend with his white girlfriend’s family, and discovering all is not as it seems.

The Universal/Blumhouse film — which cost $4.5 million to make — has raked in $255 million so far at the box office.

‘Lady Bird’

A film with a female perspective has not won best picture since “Million Dollar Baby” in 2005 and coming of age tale “Lady Bird” would be a popular winner with supporters of the #MeToo and Time’s Up campaigns demanding justice for sexual misconduct victims and fair treatment for women in the workplace.

Greta Gerwig’s solo feature directorial debut — a moving and authentic portrait of a volatile mother-daughter relationship — could see her become only the second woman ever to win the Oscar for best director.

‘Dunkirk’

Sweeping World War II epic “Dunkirk,” directed by Christopher Nolan, will have to pull off a feat almost as unlikely as the air and sea rescue it depicts to win best picture.

The tense retelling of the storied 1940 evacuation of hundreds of thousands of Allied troops from a beach in northern France, starring One Direction singer Harry Styles, is an outsider for the top prize going into Sunday.

It is in good shape however to take some of the technical Oscars for sound and film editing, as well as sound mixing.

‘Darkest Hour’

In many ways a companion piece to “Dunkirk,” “Darkest Hour” follows the politics of the rescue at home — the machinations of the British government and the maneuvers of newly-anointed wartime leader Winston Churchill.

British actor Gary Oldman, who disappears entirely into the role of Churchill thanks to some convincing make-up and padding, is expected to bring home his first Oscar for best actor, although the movie is another outsider for best picture.

‘Call Me by Your Name’

James Ivory scooped the Writers Guild of America award for best adapted screenplay for his work transforming Andre Aciman’s 2007 novel “Call Me by Your Name” into the film of the same name, starring Timothee Chalamet.

Luca Guadagnino’s paean to the universal heartbreak of first love, set in northern Italy in the 1980s, has three nominations other than best picture — for Ivory’s screenplay, a best actor nod for Chalamet’s performance and best original song.

It burst into theaters before Christmas to critical acclaim — it currently boasts an average score of 8.7 out of 10 from 271 reviews collated by Rotten Tomatoes — but has lost momentum since and is seen as a long shot.

‘The Post’

Steven Spielberg’s celebration of journalism and the free press recounts the nail-biting behind-the-scenes story of the 1971 publication by The Washington Post of the Pentagon Papers, which exposed the lies behind US involvement in the Vietnam War.

It stars best actress nominee Meryl Streep as aristocratic Post publisher Katharine Graham and Tom Hanks as the newspaper’s scrappy executive editor Ben Bradlee.

Not mentioned in the film but present between the lines on every page of the script is President Donald Trump, who has waged a vitriolic campaign against media outlets he believes are unfair to him.

‘Phantom Thread’

In a movie full of noteworthy performances, the most remarkable thing about this project is the fact that its towering, iconic star — triple Oscar-winner Daniel Day-Lewis — says it will be his last.

One of the most acclaimed performers of his generation, the British-Irish method actor, 60, announced he would “no longer be acting” after reuniting with “There Will Be Blood” director Paul Thomas Anderson for the story about fashion in 1950s London.

Anderson’s tender but brutal story of the romance between a dressmaker and his muse is also up for best director and actor, best supporting actress for Lesley Manville, best score for Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood and best costume design.

But if there’s one thing previous ceremonies have demonstrated, it’s that it’s a good idea never to expect the expected on Hollywood’s biggest night.

Here are five things to watch for:

The specter of ‘Envelopegate’

It may have been the most embarrassing flub in Oscars history, but don’t expect host Jimmy Kimmel to shy away from mining “Envelopegate” for comedy gold at the Academy’s expense.

The embarrassing mix-up at last year’s show saw the best picture Oscar incorrectly given to musical “La La Land” before the actual winner, coming-of-age drama “Moonlight,” was finally handed the prize.

Accountants for PricewaterhouseCoopers, the firm responsible for tabulating Oscar ballots, had handed Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway the wrong envelope.

Oscar watchers expect the mistake, which made for a chaotic end to the film industry’s biggest night, to be fodder for both Kimmel’s opening monologue and jokes from the presenters.

Best picture photo finish

“The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro’s much-admired Cold War-era fairy tale love story, goes into the Oscars with the most nominations — 13 — compared to just seven for its main rival, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”

But Martin McDonagh’s “Three Billboards,” an early favorite in the prestigious best picture race, has weathered a backlash against its treatment of race issues to launch a late assault on the statuette.

It has regained its status as the narrow frontrunner at odds of 13/10 against 2/1 for “The Shape of Water,” according to awards prediction website Gold Derby.

Every Oscars ceremony serves up some shocks, however, so don’t count out “Get Out,” the third favorite ahead of outsiders “Lady Bird” and “Dunkirk.”

#MeToo and Time’s Up

The #MeToo and Time’s Up movements — against sexual misconduct and gender inequality, respectively — have featured prominently in the awards season, inspiring many powerful speeches and turning the red carpet into a sea of symbolic black dresses at the Golden Globes and the Baftas.

While there is no official repeat planned, some actresses have indicated they will again wear black in support of #MeToo on Sunday.

Ryan Seacrest, an Academy Awards mainstay interviewing the rich and famous on the red carpet for E! News, is facing his own backlash following allegations of repeated sexual harassment from a former stylist.

The channel is standing by Seacrest, host of ABC’s “American Idol” and “Live With Kelly and Ryan,” and says he’ll be on the red carpet as usual.

Oscar rarities and firsts

Don’t be alarmed if you hear glass ceilings shattering at this year’s Oscars, with numerous breakthroughs to cheer among the nominees.

“Mudbound” director Dee Rees is the first black woman nominated for best adapted screenplay, while her director of photography Rachel Morrison is the first woman to be nominated for best cinematography.

“Mudbound” scored another first, with soul diva Mary J. Blige the first person nominated for acting and best original song in the same film.

Yance Ford (“Strong Island”) is the first openly transgender director ever nominated, and Jordan Peele (“Get Out”) is the first black filmmaker nominated for directing, writing, and producing.

He is also only the fifth black person ever nominated for best director — after John Singleton, Lee Daniels, Steve McQueen and Barry Jenkins — and could be the first to win.

Greta Gerwig (“Lady Bird”) is the fifth woman in history nominated for best director” and the first to land the nod for a directorial debut.

Other firsts include a superhero film nominated for best adapted screenplay (“Logan”) and the first person over the age of 87 to be nominated for an acting award — Christopher Plummer in “All the Money in the World.”

Hosting test for Kimmel

Comedian and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel will preside over the Oscars for the second consecutive time, with critics tuning in to see how he navigates the tricky balancing act of being funny without making light of the #MeToo victims.

Keeping the more than three-hour show — usually the most-watched non-sports telecast each year in the United States — upbeat in a year overshadowed by allegations of sexual assault will also be a tough challenge.

The “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” host was presenting last year when Beatty and Dunaway wrongly gave best picture to “La La Land” instead of rightful winner “Moonlight” after being handed the wrong envelope.

“We were like, we have 10 seconds to say goodbye, we don’t know how long the speech is going to be, and it affects your rating in a very negative way if you go on past midnight,” Kimmel recalled in an interview with news portal AZ Central.

“And then all of a sudden it was like, ‘Forget midnight. This might go on into ‘Good Morning America.'”

The Robin Campillo film, which tells the story of French AIDS activists in the 1990s, received 13 nominations and took home six gongs, including best film.

The best director award went to Albert Dupontel for “Au Revior la-haute”, an adaptation of a Pierre Lemaitre novel about the friendship between two World War I soldiers.

Jeanne Balibar took home best actress for her performance in “Barbara” while Swann Arlaud was awarded best actor for his role in “Petit Paysan”.

Top streaming service Netflix recently unveiled new about the cast as well as a first look at the series, which launches March 23.

The comedy is centred on Joel (Timothy Olyphant) and Sheila (Drew Barrymore) Hammond, a married couple working as realtors and leading vaguely discontented lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita with their teenaged daughter Abby (Liv Hewson) – until Sheila goes through a dramatic change and begins a new diet of human flesh sending their lives down a road of death and destruction…but in a good way.

Picking up right where it left off, Season 2 of Santa Clarita Diet finds the Hammonds trying to adapt to Sheila’s now-advanced undead state  even though she’s desperately working to hold on to her suburban lifestyle and not become defined as just another monster. Unfortunately – while the family has become markedly better at murder – the number of missing people in Santa Clarita is starting to pile up and it’s no longer going unnoticed.  Meanwhile, the Hammonds are chasing the source of the virus so they can stop it from spreading and save humanity. Through it all, Sheila and Joel are grounded by their unconditional love for one another. Sure, being undead – or loving someone who is – isn’t always easy, but don’t all relationships have their challenges? Joel McHale and Maggie Lawson guest star as Chris and Christa, married realtors in Santa Clarita and a more successful, more aggressive version of Sheila and Joel.

Other new cast members includes Gerald McRaney as Ed Thune, a retired army colonel who Joel finds very intimidating. Zachary Knighton plays Paul, a relaxed descendent of Serbian ancestors who has been tasked with pursuing the truth of the undead, no matter who or what stands in his way.

Find out more at Facebook.com/SantaClaritaDiet/.

One of the better fan-obsession movies to come out in recent years, Roman Polanski’s 2017 drama “Based on a True Story” is, as the title implies, adapted from the real-life trauma suffered by French writer Delphine de Vigan following the publication of a highly personal novel devoted to her mother. The work is a best-seller but also brings out the trolls, who write her anonymous letters accusing her of having thrown her family to the lions. Depressed and suffering from writer’s block, Delphine is charmed when she meets Elle, an intelligent and sympathetic young woman who seems to understand her better than anyone else.

With a screenplay by Olivier Assayas, who was behind the hit movie “Personal Shopper” and starring Polanski’s partner in real life, Emmanuelle Seigner as Delphine and Eva Green as Elle, the film was made in just  12 weeks and premiered out of competition at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.

Polanski spoke a little about the film before its release yesterday in Bangkok.

How did you get involved with this project?

Emmanuelle handed me Delphine De Vigan’s novel and told me, “you have to read this, this could be a film.” She was right! I reached out to Wassim Beji, the producer who retained the book rights. We met for the first time days prior to Cannes last year and everything unfolded incredibly quickly from that point on.

What appealed to you about the novel?

The characters and the peculiar and unsettling situations they find themselves in. These are themes I explored in “CuldeSac”, “Repulsion” and Rosemary’s Baby”. This is also a book that tells a story of a book, not unlike “Ghost Writer”.

How did Olivier Assayas become involved?

Olivier’s last two films were about women. I was familiar with his work, I knew that he had written for other directors, and that he was effective. So I was sure he would be able to deliver a great shooting script right out of the gate.

Did you always have Emmanuelle Seigner in mind to play the novelist?

Initially, we debated which role Emmanuelle would be best for, but as soon as we started writing, it became apparent that she was the perfect choice to portray the novelist. We therefore needed to find her counterpart, someone very unsettling. Eva Green immediately can to mind and you only need to see the film to understand why. I had been blown away by her performance in Robert Rodriguez’ “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For”. It was a wonderful experience working with Eva, but even more so working with Eva and Emmanuelle together. From the onset, Eva and Emmanuelle got along extremely well – which isn’t always a given between actors. Their friendship was a godsend.

Do you find it hard to direct the woman with whom you share your life?

It’s easier than … living together! [Laughs] What surprised me, with one much like the other, was how prepared both actresses were. And yet, they would receive the script piece-meal, which we were still tweaking whilst in production.  Emmanuelle and Eva were both consummate professionals and came to the table with excellent ideas. Emmanuelle was specifically interested in constructing a character which was a departure from her past roles.

What made you think of casting Vincent Perez as François, Delphine’s partner?

I have long been looking for an opportunity to work with Vincent Perez, he’s a friend. In the role of Francois, I wanted someone who resembled Delphine De Vigan’s real partner in life [François Busnel] who reminds me of Vincent. I thought of him immediately. We met and he quickly accepted the role. He instinctively knew how to balance the kindness and the distance that the character required.

You also cast Josee Dayan, Brigitte Rouan and Noemie lvovsky – who are all directors. Was that a coincidence?

I enjoy working with directors, as they are often very good actors and also generally very easy to work with. When writing a screenplay, I have a very clear idea of what my characters look like. So once we start casting, I seek actors that most closely resemble the image in my mind. Josee reminded me of a ‘tough’ book editor that I had once met. With Brigitte Rouan, it took longer. The actresses that we met with for this role didn’t fit my exact vision. One day, I fell upon a photo of Brigitte that perfectly corresponded with what I had in mind.

Have you met Delphine de Vigan?

Yes, of course. I met her as soon as Olivier and I started working on the adaptation. And then again, towards the end of the shoot. We wanted to shoot during the actual Paris Book Fair, and in order to do so we had to wait until March to capture these scenes in question. Whilst we were there, the organizers invited Delphine, Olivier and myself to meet with the readers. We experienced a warm welcome. The panel was very well attended – there were a lot of people – and when we asked who had read the book, two thirds of the room raised their hands, mostly all women. Delphine de Vigan wrote a story that spoke to women and it was not only important but also satisfying for me to create a film for them.

One of the world’s most important film events, the Berlin International Film Festival brought down the curtain for another year at the weekend after an enthralling 10 days of movies from all over the world.

Rookie female director Adina Pintilie from Romania took home the Golden Bear for her film “Touch Me Not”, which explores intimacy and sexuality among various people. The film also picked up the Best First Feature Award.

The Grand Jury Prize was awarded to another female filmmaker, Poland’s Malgorzata Szumowska for her latest feature “Mug”. Wes Anderson landed the Best Director Award for his latest stop-motion animation “Isle of Dogs”.

While it didn’t take home any awards, Lav Diaz’s latest film, the 230-minute-long “Season of the Devil” did win a great deal of critical acclaim. It also marks a departure in style for the Filipino auteur: “Devil”, he says, is a rock opera, albeit one without any musical instruments.

“When I make films, I never think of duration. The length of the film comes from the editing,” says Diaz of his latest oeuvre, which clocks in at slightly less than half the running time of “A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery”, the eight-hour work shown in Berlin back in 2016. Still, ‘Season of the Devil’ is almost four hours long, with long takes, and in black and white, which is not an easy style for the general audience to appreciate.

“Season of the Devil” takes the audience back the Philippines in the late 1970’s, when the country was under martial law imposed by President Ferdinand Marcos. Based on a true story and set in a remote village under military oppression, it shows how many characters who try to defy power of the military meet an unfortunate end.

“I asked Hazel to play a male soldier. This is part of the concept. The film is also conceptual. There’s also the ‘Janus Face’ guy, whose name is Chairman Narciso. He is a character that represents dictatorship. The character only sees himself,” says Diaz cryptically, referring to the casting of his regular actress Hazel Orancio as a military man who rapes women and tortures those who defy the military’s power. Filipino star Shaina Magdayao plays Lorena, a beautiful doctor who opens a clinic for poor people, but is later abducted by the military, while heartthrob actor Piolo Pascual portrays Hugo Haniway, Lorena’s husband, who is determined to find out what has happened to his wife.

“The songs have been around for a while and it’s good I can use them this time,” Diaz explains. “I wrote a lot of songs in the last quarter of 2016 so they were there when we entered the pre-production phase in September of that that year. Other songs were integrated during the shooting,” he says.

The songs, mostly lyrical laments sung a capella, are not only used to tell the story, but to reflect the political situation today back in the Philippines.

“Some of the songs were very different when I wrote them, but when I started shooting this film, I changed some lines, and changed some of the verses to fit the story”, he adds.

Yet even though there is no music, the form of “Season of the Devil” is similar to a traditional musical, where’s there’s choreographed dance. “We followed the musical format, the great orchestration, the very mani

cured movements,” he explains.

“First the actors rehearsed. I wrote the songs, then I recorded them, and sent them to the actors to practise.”

Given its veracity and knowing full well that the subject remains a sensitive issue in today’s Philippines, Diaz took his cast and crew to Malaysia for the filming.

“The story takes place when the country was under martial law. I witnessed it as a child in the Southern village where I grew up,” Diaz says, adding that history is now repeating itself.

“The military came and we witnessed it, and the same thing is happening again now. It’s a kind of cycle. Similar things are happening in other countries as well. Does any country in Asia have real democracy?”

Now that we live in a world seemingly ruled by authoritarian regimes Diaz feels it is his duty as a filmmaker to bring about change.

“It depends on how we battle evil. The only way is engagement. If you are an artist, you paint or sculpt and convey your message that way. Similarly, a writer must put his/her ideas down on paper and not stop. As a filmmaker, you must create something that is committed to change. If we stop, change is not going to happen. Any small movement can help. The real victim is all of us. The real problem is ignorance. Without examining our culture, we don’t think of the past, we don’t confront the past, we forget the past. The Philippines is a good example of this. The era of martial law was very recent, but young people don’t know about these incidents. If we are not careful, the populist leader will come again. The cycle will come back and we will become victims again.”

The newspaper confirmed Tuesday it is in talks with cable channels and online platforms on which the planned 30-minute show could run, according to Sam Dolnick, an assistant managing editor.

No specific timetable was announced for the show, which is expected to showcase the New York-based daily’s investigations and reporting.

A number of Times journalists are expected to participate in the project, according to CNN, which first reported the plans.

The Times, which already streams its own podcasts, would not be the first newspaper to venture into television.

In 1988, USA Today launched a daily television news broadcast that was pulled after 14 months.

Newer online services like Vice combine traditional news with television, including an HBO show called “Vice News Tonight.”

The Times has been transitioning increasingly to digital as more readers turn away from print.

In its latest quarterly update, the Times said it added 157,000 net digital subscriptions in the final three months of the year, which pushed subscription revenue for the full year to more than $1 billion.

Netflix provided Nasa, the American space agency, access to the pilot episode, which was transmitted to the International Space Station for the astronauts on board to watch.

Thirty years in the future, space colonisation has become a reality, and the Robinson family is among those selected to make new lives for themselves beyond Earth.

But when the new colonists are abruptly torn off course en route to their new home, they must forge new alliances and work together to survive in a dangerous alien environment, light-years from their original destination.

John Robinson, the expedition commander (played by Toby Stephens), and his wife Maureen (Molly Parker), a fearless aerospace engineer, decide to take the family into space. Their children are Judy (Taylor Russell), Penny (Mina Sundwall) and Will (Maxwell Jenkins).

Stranded along with the Robinsons are two outsiders who find themselves thrown together by circumstance and share a knack for deception.

The unsettlingly charismatic Dr Smith (Parker Posey) is a master manipulator with an inscrutable end game. And the roguish but inadvertently charming Don West (Ignacio Serricchio) is a highly skilled blue-collar contractor who had no intention of joining the colony, let alone crash-land on a lost planet.

Following a record-shattering opening weekend — raking in $242.2 million — the frenzy to see the 18th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe continued, bringing total domestic earnings to an astronomical $403.6 million in just 10 days, according to tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Its global take is now more than $700 million, with the film yet to open in China or Japan, the two largest overseas markets.

It is only the fourth movie ever to make more than $100 million in its second weekend, joining the elite club behind “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($149.2 million), and ahead of “Jurassic World” ($106.6 million) and Disney-owned Marvel’s “The Avengers” ($103.1 million).

Directed by Ryan Coogler, “Black Panther” features an almost entirely black cast led by Chadwick Boseman as the first non-white superhero to get his own standalone movie in the franchise.

Starring alongside the likes of Michael B Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o and Daniel Kaluuya, Boseman plays the titular superhero also known as T’Challa, king and protector of Wakanda, a technologically advanced, affluent, never-colonized utopia in Africa.

In at an anything-but-close second was newly-released dark comedy “Game Night,” with $17 million.

Featuring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams, the film follows a group of friends whose game night descends into a murder mystery.

Dropping one place into third was “Peter Rabbit,” based on Beatrix Potter’s classic children’s book. Sony’s family-friendly offering brought in $12.8 million in its third week in theaters.

Paramount’s new science fantasy horror “Annihilation” was off to a weak start, debuting in fourth place at only $11.1 million.

Starring Natalie Portman, the film — based on the novel by Jeff VanderMeer — tells the story of a team of military scientists who go into a quarantined alien crash zone known as “The Shimmer.”

Finally, in at fifth was “Fifty Shades Freed” — the last film in the trilogy based on the wildly successful novels by EL James — with takings of $7.1 million.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” ($5.7 million)

“The 15:17 to Paris” ($3.6 million)

“The Greatest Showman” ($3.4 million)

“Every Day” ($3 million)

“Early Man” ($1.8 million)

n the film, which based on an infamous true-life crime, Williams portrays Gail Harris Getty, whose 16-year-old son John Paul Getty III – grandson of the oil tycoon J Paul Getty, then the world’s richest person – was kidnapped in July 1973 while he, his mother, and his younger siblings were living in Rome. The criminals’ $17 million ransom demand went unmet by the boy’s miserly 81-year-old grandfather, who suggested that if he met this demand, his other grandchildren might be kidnapped, and he’d have to pay those as well, leaving the divorced Gail as the clear-eyed force trying desperately to rescue her son.

The petite, Montana-raised actress made her breakthrough with TV’s “Dawson’s Creek” and went on to star in “The Station Agent”(2003), “Wonderstruck” and “The Greatest Showman”. In her Oscar-nominated performances – “Brokeback Mountain” (2005), “Blue Valentine” (2010), “My Week with Marilyn” (2011), and last year’s “Manchester by the Sea” – Williams has displayed diamond-like facets, pivoting from heartbreaking to haunting to an earthy grace that could cut glass.

Off-screen, Williams is a devoted mom to 12-year-old Matilda, her daughter with the late Heath Ledger. Sitting in a suite at New York City’s 1Hotel, in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, Williams talks about the movie and her co-star as well as director Ridley Scott.

As you researched Abigail (Gail) Harris Getty, what struck you about her?

As soon as I got the offer to join the film, I set out to research her, looking at everything I could. In the clips of her from the time, there’s something about her directness, and the precision of her language, that I found intriguing. She had a very forward quality that helped me get a handle on her. She really held herself together. She exhibited a tremendous amount of strength. In the situation she found herself in, if she lost her wits or got too emotional, then she wouldn’t have become any closer to her goal, which was getting her son back alive. Flailing about wouldn’t bring him home, but staying clear on her objectives and then acting on those would hopefully save him. Abigail seemed to me like someone who very much was about progress and doing things, rather than feeling and emoting.

The film shows how the press implied Gail wasn’t a good mother because she wasn’t emotional.

I think she might have been given to that kind of response, but being emotional wasn’t going to serve the situation she found herself in. I think she believed that by making an impassioned, reasonable argument to these unknown kidnappers – if they could just hear her, if she could just reach them – then there could be some hope. She tried to keep herself together, and that, to her shock, backfired on her in the press.

She didn’t want to get “personal.” She was trying to say something that would work, that would reach these criminals, to say something persuasive. To do the right thing. And that’s not what the media at the time wanted from her. They wanted a kind of soap opera, and she was too accomplished and experienced to fall into that. She wanted to have authority in the situation, and be taken as seriously as any man would be. She wanted to be a real operative in the fight.

Something that linked Gail to the Getty family was fear, wasn’t it? Her fear of losing her son, and J Paul Getty’s fear of appearing weak.

That’s true – both Gail and J Paul Getty have a fear of being taken advantage of. It’s a struggle between something emotional and something practical, between thinking with your head and thinking with your heart. Most of us, especially if you’re a parent, would make a decision with their heart. But with her father-in-law, Gail was dealing with somebody with whom it would be of no use to plea. For J Paul Getty, only the numbers mattered. He was about financials, not emotions. That was the territory that family played in. They’re both trying to protect something they hold dear.

As you’ve played a mother more often in recent years, how has being a parent effected your portrayals of motherhood?

You learn so much about love being a mother, and a major part of movies are the connections between two people, two characters, which often involves love. And as an actor, you’re considering your character from that point of view: How many ways can I understand this person? How many ways can I put myself into this person’s shoes? And I think that’s intrinsically tied to parenting. When you become a parent, your heart suddenly feels like it lives outside of your body, and it’s susceptible and it’s open.

What was it like acting in a Ridley Scott film? Probably no time to slow down.

There isn’t! Sometimes, making movies can be boring, because you sit around a lot. But not on Ridley’s movies – you basically have to come to his films with a packed lunch, because you don’t take breaks. You have to make sure you always have enough food with you! Nobody on the set was on their phones, nobody had time to get bored or gossip or do anything but their job.

Performance-wise, Ridley was definitely only interested in things that were real and that were happening authentically in the moment. In the mornings, as we arrived on set, he would very often say something like, “Alright, welcome to work – the cameras are hidden all over the apartment, you can start over here if you want and you can end up there, and what do you say we rehearse on film?” And if he liked it, he’d say, “Okay, where are we going next?” One or two takes and then we were on to the next thing!

I was in heaven. I had the greatest time of my life. I thought, “I want to make this movie forever! Where’s the next one Ridley, I’m ready!” It was like doing a play, like every scene was a stage play. It was a great and satisfying way to work. And then you go home feeling like you know what you did today: You started something and you finished something, and you felt it all flow.