After The Odyssey breakout, Samantha Morton explains why she hasn’t worked in a year
If you've been wondering why you haven't seen much of Samantha Morton, you're not alone—and now she's explained precisely what's been going on.
In a surprisingly frank chat on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Morton cut through the usual spin and talked about being out of work, changing industry politics, and even being unceremoniously axed from a high-profile role years ago. It's not your typical bit of film PR fluff.
I haven't worked for a year since making The Odyssey,
That was Morton, plain as day on the podcast. And in case you think she's just slacking, she made it clear she's still got "really good agents and a manager," but the business has shifted on her. She put it down to sheer competition and, with her being 49, she reckons age might be a factor now, saying "there are other good actors out there". She didn't sugarcoat it: "The politics of the industry has changed massively." No obvious scandal, no beef with Nolan—just a crowded field and the reality that plenty of top actors sometimes struggle to keep the jobs coming.
The Her Situation
If you missed this bit of Hollywood trivia, Morton was actually the original voice for the AI, Samantha, in Spike Jonze's Her back in 2013. She did the whole performance across from Joaquin Phoenix on set. But then, in the edit, director Jonze swapped her out for Scarlett Johansson—Morton only found out after the fact. She described her version of Samantha as "very… she's English," and gave Johansson credit for being "incredibly evocative." Still, Morton admitted,
It does hurt when you're fired from something,
She did add, a bit wistfully, that she wouldn't have minded another shot at doing the lines in an American accent, but that chance never came up.
What's Next for Morton?
It's not all doom and gloom, though. After her stretch on the sidelines, Morton has finally landed a few fresh gigs. She'll be appearing in Love and War, a rescue thriller from director Lisa Mulcahy. More interestingly for TV viewers, she's signed on to star in Amazon's Manchester-set crime series Dirty as Detective Chief Inspector Lois Mercer, with Phoebe Dynevor co-starring. Looks like the dry spell is over, or at least coming to an end.