A STAR IS BORN

Margaret Qualley talks to James Mottram about her new film Stars at Noon, being a Chanel ambassador and the best advice mum Andie MacDowell gave her

What drew you to Stars at Noon?

Claire Denis. I just wanted to work with her. I said yes before I'd read the script. She's such a special filmmaker. What I find really singular about her is the respect that she gives for it all. For just you, being a human.

After you read the script, what were your thoughts?

That I'd better brush up on my Spanish! My dad lived in Panama. He had been there since I was 14. So I'd at least had the opportunity to visit and practise that way. It was nice to have that familiarity. I'd stayed in the hotel where the character of Daniel [played by actor Joe Alwyn] was staying. I'd been to a lot of the [film's] different locations and it was nice to have some kind of ownership over it.

What kind of film do you think it is?

I wouldn't be able to describe it as anything other than a Claire Denis film. It's otherworldly. It's political. It's romantic. It's intimate.

What was the most challenging aspect for you?

To realise that everything [in the film] was pretending to be ironic, because in life I'm pretty direct and painfully honest about my feelings. And that's really not in my character Trish's nature. She is kind of constantly weaving this maze and she's taking a very circuitous route in order to express herself in a way that is just unnatural to me.