Interview with Dionne Brown (Queenie)

9 July 2024

Queenie Jenkins, a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither.  A South London stalwart, journalist, loyal friend, not-so-loyal daughter and granddaughter, a sometimes catastrophist, an occasional mess, but more often than not an undervalued success – who is always, always enough.

 

Before you landed the role, how much did you know about Queenie and had you read the book beforehand?

I hadn't read it before my audition. It was one of those books that I was really aware of. The scope of its impact came to me when I was in second year. I remember being on the tube and seeing a girl holding a pink book with a girl with braids and I remember thinking ‘that's that Queenie book.’ It was on my reading list but I hadn't gotten to it. Then I met Candice when I was auditioning for Champion. My agent highlighted to me that Candice wrote Queenie, and the book was like wildfire. I didn't want to read it before I went up for Champion, I didn't want it to inform the job that I was trying to do, and I didn't want to become enamoured with Candice. I wanted to try and keep neutral. Obviously, I didn't get Champion but once I got called in for Queenie, I read the book then. And yeah, just bravo! It's such an amazing book. When I read it, I was so glad I didn't read it before I met Candice. I read it before my audition and then when I started filming, I read it all the time, in the car, on the way to base, on the way to set or in my green room. When I read it from start to finish with no stops, I saw Candice on set and said ‘did we know each other in a past life?’ I didn't know other people felt like this. I think sometimes when you're going through hardship, especially mental hardship or emotional hardship we make it singular to ourselves like we're the only ones going through it and that's obviously not true. It gave me a bit of personal comfort to know that thing I went through wasn't personal, everybody's dealing with that. I feel like where Queenie’s at in her life she’s going through a second puberty and I feel like that doesn't get talked about much, but I feel like in this book, it is highlighted in such a visceral way because it's happening so strongly. And it happens to everybody, men and women. We will get to around 25 where some of our friends are getting married, some of them are buying houses, some of them still live at home and I can definitely relate to being like, ‘what is happening, why do I feel like I'm not growing?’

 

Can you describe how it was taking on the role of Queenie?

It didn't come without its challenges. Queenie is going through a lot and a lot of it is visceral. A lot of it is raw. She's kind of ripping herself apart and then trying to figure out how to put herself back together again. I was like I haven't been back here since I was probably 25 or something. It was quite exciting to try to delve back in there but also it was hard. There were days where I was having a sensory overload, but it was great. It was fun!

 

Tell us what it was like working with Candice? Did she give you any advice?

Yeah, so much advice. It was such a privilege working with her. She is the architect, and it was great to have her there as a frame of reference. I didn't ask her as many questions as I thought I would at the start of the process, but I think that's more my technique. There were definitely times where I had questions and then I was like never-mind, if I asked her for the answer and she informs it then that becomes absolute and I kind of lose the idea of play that you still want as a performer. When you're doing something for TV or film or theatre, you want the audience to watch you try to figure it out. You want them to watch you try to play a human being that is relatable. But there were also times where I was like, ‘why is Queenie saying this’ and Candice would tell me. It was a privilege to work with her she's so supportive.

 

What was the dynamic like on set with the other cast members?

My gosh, it was so good. I love everybody. I know I’m fan-girling but everybody is so good. Just watching the ensemble come together and bring these characters to life. They are all so different, so multifaceted. You can see everyone so very clearly and everyone is just so good, so great and professional and lovely. Everyone was really prepped and we all really got along. There were a lot of good times, there was so much laughter even with the characters that aren’t the most likeable. Like Joe Oldman who plays Guy, his character is not the most likeable but Joe is the sweetest boy so sometimes we'd be on set and he'd be saying these lines that weren't that great and I would be laughing in his face. One time he was like ‘why are you laughing at me?’ And I was like, ‘Joe, this character is awful and you are the nicest boy that I have met.’ There was so much synergy with everybody around. I can’t wait to see everybody again and sit down and watch it together. It was so much fun.

 

Are there any similarities between you and Queenie?

I think probably our sensitivity. This is going to sound a bit deep, but I guess as people, we all just want to love and be loved back. So I would say that's a similarity initially on the forefront. I think maybe it won’t be peoples first perception of us, that we could feel things quite deeply or profoundly. Queenie is struggling to work through all the emotionality that she's going through right now and that's also been me at so many points in my life.

 

What were your favourite moments during filming?

Any scene that we had to do that involved driving. Samuel, Bellah and I doing that the first half of the shoot day, those were really good times. Obviously we're just driving around in circles on the driving route. But the three of us in the front seat of this van. All these lights loaded on it and we're just like having all this banter and taking pictures of each other because we weren’t really driving. Anything to do with those two was always so fun and anything to do with Joe, he's super funny. And also the lido record day because it was the nicest summer day and we had that location for the whole day. It was quite a hyper heightened scene, but the bottom line was I'm shooting by the pool today. All the extras were having the best day. We wrapped early and I was laying by the pool so that was a really good day, that was really memorable and beautiful.