Rebecca Hall’s emotions are close to the surface as she recalls how her mother, the renowned opera singer Maria Ewing, insisted she receive an internet link so she could watch her daughter’s first film as a director.
The pandemic was at it’s peak. ‘I kept saying to her: “Shall we wait until we can be in a cinema together?” And she said: “No, just send it to me. I can’t handle it any more.”’
After Maria saw Passing — a delicate visual poem of a film, set in 1920s America, about two black women entwined in a tumultuous tale of racial identity — she rang her 39-year-old daughter.
‘She was crying an awful lot, so it was an emotional moment,’ Hall said of the conversation she had with her 71-year-old mum last year.
They weren’t just the tears of a proud parent, marvelling at her offspring’s progression from acclaimed stage and screen actress to debut filmmaker.
The story of Passing is based on a 100-page novella by Nella Larsen, published in 1929 at the height of what’s known as the Harlem Renaissance, where the work of black artists first entered the public mainstream.

Rebecca Hall at Passing’s premiere screening on October 10, 2010.

After Maria saw Passing — a delicate visual poem of a film, set in 1920s America, about two black women entwined in a tumultuous tale of racial identity — she rang her daughter
It details an encounter between two childhood friends — Irene Redfield, wife of a doctor, mother of two sons; and Clare Kendry, ‘the blonde beauty’ as the novel describes her: a light-skinned black woman who has been living as a white woman for years. She’s married to a racist, who is unaware of her true background.
Tessa Thompson plays Irene, while Ruth Negga (Ireland) portrays Clare. They both paint a devastating portrait of women trapped in their identity cages. It was a situation that Hall’s mother recognised all too well.
Rebecca, whose father was Peter Hall, a giant of theatre and film who died in 2017, told me her maternal grandfather Norman ‘was maybe African-American, maybe Native American ?. . . we don’t know’. But whatever his lineage, he passed for white — and so did Maria and her sisters.

Tessa Thompson’s Irene and Ruth Negga (pictured as Clare Kendry) portray devastating portraits of women trapped within their own identities. It was a situation that Hall’s mother recognised all too well
Hall said that her mother and Hall only spoke briefly about it growing up. ‘The sad thing about the history of passing in a family is that the family closes around and protects itself, so everything gets hidden.
“So, in a way you inherit all the shame but none of the pride. And there is so much to be proud of in my family.’
She said she has gone through a long process of uncovering her bi-racial inheritance, noting her mother and aunts ‘felt that they had to honour their father by not talking about it’.
There had been conversations about race while Maria’s father was still alive. ‘It was gradual.

Clare (pictured), ‘the blonde beauty’ as the novel describes her: a light-skinned black woman who has been living as a white woman for years. She’s married to a racist, who is unaware of her true background

Ruth Negga, Rebecca Hall, and Ruth Negga attend Passing’s post-premiere reception
“Putting together a snatch to see what my mother might reveal. Then, me comparing that to how she looks. I just always looked at her and thought: “Well, you look like a black woman to me.” ’
Hall said that although she felt compassion towards her relatives, it was complex. ‘This stuff is messy,’ she commented.
She noted her mum, who performed as a soprano and mezzo-soprano, had identified herself primarily as an artist, ‘like this is who I am, and this is what I care about’.
And the point of the book — and Hall’s movie — is ‘all these categories that we’re so obsessed with putting people in . . . none of us can be reduced to one aspect of our identity’.

Irene Redfield, right is the wife of a doctor, and mother to two sons.

Peter Hall, theatre director, is pictured with Maria Ewing, his third wife and their daughter Rebecca
Last week, Passing was shown at London Film Festival. It was screened in a packed theater with family members.
‘There were 25 Halls!’ she marvelled as we sat in a room at the Corinthia Hotel in Whitehall, discussing the picture which will open in cinemas next Friday before reaching Netflix on November 10.
It took 13 long years to get Passing on the screen. There were many roadblocks — the first being Hall’s own nerves.
It took her six years just to pull the draft script out of a drawer. She spent seven years pitching the script to financiers. They tried to bully and make it more masculine or shoot it in black and white instead.
‘Black and white isn’t black and white, it’s grey!’ she exclaimed. ‘That’s the big joke that I’m utilising.’


Hall has come a long way since I first met her, aged ten, at St Paul’s Cathedral while her father filmed a scene for his 1992 television adaptation of Mary Wesley’s bestseller The Camomile Lawn

Hall is seen directing a scene during filming of Passing

Hall is pictured here with her father Sir Peter. It took 13 years for Passing to be made available on the screen. There were many roadblocks — the first being Hall’s own nerves
Was it really that hard? ‘Are you kidding!’ she cried. ‘It was a nightmare.’
She refused to give up. She shot the film ‘on a wing and a prayer’, with a budget of next to nothing.
Everyone told her she was wasting time. ‘Then it went and sold to Netflix for a huge amount of money,’ she said smiling, tears banished. I predict it’s also going to be at the heart of award season action.
Hall has come a long way since I first met her, aged ten, at St Paul’s Cathedral while her father filmed a scene for his 1992 television adaptation of Mary Wesley’s bestseller The Camomile Lawn.
It was her first role on the screen, and it was the seed that led to the film artist that she is today.
Derek Jacobi and Eileen Atkins will step before the cameras in the new year to portray playwright George Bernard Shaw and his wife (and key collaborator) Charlotte in a new film charting the couple’s trip to Los Angeles, where they hoped to sell the screen rights to his play Pygmalion.
Shaw thought he’d landed in the strangest of strange lands and fled Hollywood in horror. The film was made five years later in England by Shaw with British stars and backers, including Leslie Howard.
Of course, following Shaw’s death in 1950 a feeding frenzy ensued, with Warner Bros eventually claiming victory. The rest is movie history: My Fair Lady was released in 1964 and is the musical version Pygmalion.


Derek Jacobi (left) and Eileen Atkins (right) will step before the cameras in the new year to portray playwright George Bernard Shaw and his wife (and key collaborator) Charlotte in a new film charting the couple’s trip to Los Angeles, where they hoped to sell the screen rights to his play Pygmalion
The issue of rights continues to be a problem. A My Fair Lady remake featuring Emma Thompson’s screenplay has been in the limbo for many years.
Now, Simon Callow will direct Mr Shaw Goes To Hollywood, based on Mark Saltzman’s play that imagines the kind of hell Shaw and his wife endured in 1933, when they met MGM studio titan Louis B. Mayer, Clark Gable and all manner of Hollywood folk.
Dustin Hoffman will portray Mayer, with Aidan Turner playing Gable — just before he embarked on another historic picture, Gone With The Wind.
Riz’s Close Encounter with star director
Riz Ahmed — Oscar-nominated for Sound Of Metal — and director Michael Pearce have revealed how they ‘stalked’ each other to ensure they worked together on Encounter, a gem of a psychological action movie.
Pearce’s film, set in the U.S., is about a former marine, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, who takes his two sons — the marvellous Lucian-River Chauhan and Aditya Geddada — on a terrifying road trip.

Riz Ahmed (pictured) — Oscar-nominated for Sound Of Metal — and director Michael Pearce have revealed how they ‘stalked’ each other to ensure they worked together on Encounter, a gem of a psychological action movie
Ahmed told me he chased after Pearce after being bowled over by the power of the script (by Joe Barton and Pearce) and because he was impressed by the Jersey-born director’s first film, Beast.
Meanwhile, Pearce had heard whispers Ahmed had read the script — and the director was prepared to change the marine’s name in order to woo the Wembley-born actor.
Octavia Spencer plays a parole officer in the film’s stunning climax.
It is released December 3, and then launched on Amazon Prime Video a week later.