Australian filmmaker Sophie Hyde’s biggest film to-date is probably the 2022 indie she made with Emma Thompson, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande. Her newest film is unquestionably her most personal to-date. Sophie is the daughter of a gay father and mother to a trans nonbinary queer child. Sadly, Sophie’s father died before her child was old enough and out enough to have deeper conversations on queer identity with their grandfather. So Sophie imagined the conversations and put them to film in Jimpa, in limited release now in the US. The title comes from the nickname grandfather Jim — played by John Lithgow, doing a damn fine Aussie accent — comes up with himself after objecting to the traditional “Grandpa.” Rounding out the cast is Aud Mason-Hyde as Frances (yes, Sophie’s real-live child, nepo never dies) and Olivia Colman as Hannah, the character based on Sophie. Olivia and Sophie just did a really great joint interview, a few highlights:
Olivia’s ‘never felt massively feminine’: Throughout my whole life, I’ve had arguments with people where I’ve always felt sort of nonbinary. Don’t make that a big sort of title! But I’ve never felt massively feminine in my being female. I’ve always described myself to my husband as a gay man. And he goes, “Yeah, I get that.” So I do feel at home and at ease. I feel like I have a foot in various camps. I know many people who do. I don’t really spend an awful lot of time with people who are very staunchly heterosexual… The men I know and love are very in touch with all sides of themselves.
Sophie on the limiting idea of binaries: We can have different positions and stuff, but because we’re raised as women, we’re socialized as women, but that doesn’t mean that’s not a limiting idea for us — the idea of being a woman or womanhood. It doesn’t necessarily fit for all of us. I think these binaries of gender are problematic for many of us. It’s like, how can you fit? There are problems sometimes. A lot of us have been limited by this.
Olivia and her husband balance roles in their marriage: And men are limited, too, in that — in the expectation they have to live up to. I think with my husband and I, we take turns to be the “strong one,” or the one who needs a little bit of gentleness. I believe everyone has all of it in them. I’ve always felt like that. It’s only now, and talking to Aud and their community, suddenly I’m not an oddity. I’m not alone in saying, “I don’t feel like it’s binary.” And I loved that. I came away from making this film with, Yeah, I knew I wasn’t alone. I think I choose all these films because they’re films that speak to me. I want to help in telling those stories.
Sophie on the legacies of the AIDS crisis: My dad became HIV-positive when I was a teenager, and I actually thought he was just going to die. … The AIDS crisis was such a huge moment in my life and in [the lives of] so many people I know. We lost so many people, and it’s talked about so little. I just can’t believe it. We’ve learned so little about it. When we had this huge COVID pandemic, I just remember thinking, What the f–k? These guys worked out how to have community care across health organizations, and we’re not even turning to them, because everyone relegated it to drug users and gay men as though they were not to be listened to. That history of having to fight for something and losing a lot has informed a whole lot of people, and informed how they think.
“I’ve always described myself to my husband as a gay man.” Olivia (or should I say Oliver?) Colman had me at this line, as I vividly remember my mother essentially saying the same to describe herself when I was growing up. My mama’s version was: “I am a gay man trapped in the body of a woman.” Like Olivia’s husband (the smokin’ hot Ed Sinclair), my father also totally understood the sentiment. I also love what Olivia says about taking turns with her husband on being “strong” or “gentle” at times as needed. It’s so important to label the roles by their qualities rather than the gender they were historically associated with. And good on Sophie for saying plainly that we should have called upon our gay elders for direction on how to navigate COVID. (Sidenote: Dr. Fauci was a leading scientist during both crises, and a really beautiful moment of his American Masters episode was the revelation that he made lifelong friends with the activists who heckled him so hard in the 80s to help.)
Anyway, I will definitely be seeing Jimpa. John Lithgow does not stop working! And his projects are so varied and interesting… for the most part. His Jimpa costar Aud Mason-Hyde just gave a very honest, nuanced response to Deadline about John signing up for the new Harry Potter series.
Photos credit: Udo Salters/Wenn/Avalon, James Warren/Bang Showbiz/Avalon and Getty Images
As if I couldn’t love her more… She is wonderful on Heartstoppers, a lovely LGBTQIA focused program on Netflix. She plays the mother of a queer character and she has some lovely scenes as that character comes out to her. Just beautiful!