Naomie Harris’ tough role

Naomie Harris found her role in ‘Moonlight’ very "tough".

The 40-year-old actress stars as addict Paula in the critically acclaimed movie but admits it was tricky for her as she had to put her usual "health nut" persona aside to play a character who was "completely different" from herself.

Speaking on the red carpet at the 70th British Academy Film Awards held at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Sunday (02.12.17), she said: "It was completely different for me because I’m this health nut and she’s an addict who goes to the deepest darkest places of despair so it was a tough role to find for sure."

And Naomie praised the film’s director Barry Jenkins for helping her get into character so quickly as she only had three days to shoot the movie.

She shared: "The hilarious thing about it is that we finished early on two of those days so we managed to get everything in and he made me feel not rushed and he made me feel as though it was completely possible.

"Now I look back at the movie and I think, ‘Oh my gosh how did we do that in three days because obviously, I age 15 years and there’s a lot to cover."

Naomie was also impressed by her co-star’s acting skills including that of 12-year-old Alex Hibbert.

She said: "Most of them haven’t really acted much at all and Alex Hibbert, he’s only 12-years-old and he’s never acted before and he was phenomenal in the movie and I think that’s a testimony to what a brilliant director Barry is."

Meanwhile, Barry praised Naomie for doing such an "amazing job" despite having a limited amount of time on set.

Speaking on the red carpet, he said: "You do what you must and she did an amazing job. If we had her for 10 days, I think the work would still be the same."