Bonnie Wright Discusses Writing, the Film Industry, and Charity Work
Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley) recently attended the annual Serpentine gallery party in London with Goblet of Fire co-star Angelica Mandy (Gabrielle Delacour), experiencing a blast from the past, but in a recent interview with the Suitcase Magazine, the actress spoke about embracing writing and a behind-the-camera role.
Bonnie spoke about the value of her early experiences on the Potter set:
Because I started acting at such a young age, I had no idea where the journey was going to take me. As a curious kid, on all the Harry Potter films, I became interested in filmmaking in its entirety.
Despite taking an interest in the writing and production side of things, Bonnie hasn’t entirely left acting. She said that
often, I’ll be writing and the idea of walking onto a film set in front of the camera throws me. And then sometimes the other way around, when I’ve been acting I’ll be like, ‘Oh, God, I don’t want to go back to my desk to write!’ But they inform each other so much. It is a collaborative medium, and the boundaries between jobs often cross. Especially when you’re an actor, and you’re working so much with the director. For me, that’s the funnest thing about being an actress: working with the director and working with their vision.
She also spoke about the importance of being a team player:
If you’re not a team player in the film industry it becomes very hard to share your message – and what’s the point of sabotaging your own work? It’s interesting to see the methods of different people, in the same way that it’s fascinating to watch another actor and see how they run a scene.
While she’s currently writing her first feature film, Bonnie is also about to embark on another project, adapting a short story:
I’m about to do my first adaptation of a short story into a short film, which is a new thing for me. It’s by an author called A.S. Byatt, and it lends itself so neatly to film; the description, the dialogue, the pace are all so easily transferable. So it’s going to be a joy to adapt. But at the same time, it’s a different realm of directing someone else’s idea or vision. How close do you stay to the material? How much do you want to put a stamp of your own [onto] it?
Finally, Bonnie spoke about becoming an ambassador for Oxfam:
I first went on a trip with them to Senegal when they were doing a whole push about the food crisis in West Africa. They decided they wanted to push the story before it got to a level that would be a hundred times more expensive to save. So I travelled with them, and through that trip they asked me to come on board long-term as an ambassador. Even though the focus there was on agriculture and food shortages. I’m now working with them on education and women’s rights because of the audience that I have. I know that I can connect with people on that topic.
You can read the full interview here, where Bonnie talks about living in New York and more. Of course, Bonnie is still acting – her most recent role is in upcoming film, The Highway Is for Gamblers.
Are you looking forward to Bonnie’s upcoming projects? What do you think her film might be about? Let us know in the comments!
