Anna Paquin on her ‘A Bit of Light’ indie film character: ‘A level of rock bottom she didn’t know existed yet’
“True Blood” stars and married couple Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer combine their talents in “A Bit of Light.”
Moyer, 54, directs Paquin, 41, in the indie movie, written by Rachel Callard and based on her eponymous stage play.
It’s the second time that Moyer has directed Paquin in a big-screen movie following “The Parting Glass” (2018).
He also directed her in episodes of “True Blood” when they co-starred on the HBO series as vampire Bill Compton and telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse from 2008-2014.
“A Bit of Light” follows the journey of Ella (Paquin), an alcoholic mother living with her father (Ray Winstone) and dealing with self-loathing after losing her two daughters over her drinking — and the 13-year-old boy, Neil (Luca Hogan), who helps her see the “light” toward a better future.
“Ella is at this excruciatingly mundane place after what she thinks is rock bottom and realizes that the everyday-ness of living with her choices and decisions is actually a level of rock bottom she didn’t know existed yet,” Paquin told The Post.
“Throughout the film we see her slightly coming out of her shell little by little … but she does a lot of things within her power to sabotage her own happiness.”
Ella strikes up an unlikely friendship with the wise-beyond-his-years Neil, who she meets in the park where she used to take her daughters — and where she frequently goes to brood over her plight.
Neil is an odd duck who speaks on an adult level (he addresses Ella’s father, Alan, by his first name) and appears to be friendless. He talks about his parents and older brother (who we never meet) but he always has time to materialize in Ella’s life (and the lives of other characters) at crucial junctures.
“This strange, fabulous Neil is on a mission to help her put herself back together and get her life back on track,” Paquin said. “She is becoming the person she knows she is under all the self-loathing and mistakes … and over the course of time she does things that are instinctively good parenting moments.”
“I do feel that Neil is sort of the collective consciousness of the audience as well as of the characters in the film,” Moyer told The Post. “He says things that, if you had a voice you would say, but he says them without any filter and it’s such an arresting presence coming from a 13-year-old boy.
“He has a preternatural sense of himself,” he said, “and the ability to say the thing a person needs to hear whether they want to hear it or not.”
“We don’t really know who or what he is until we see that he’s interacting with other people around him so there’s not ‘Sixth Sense’ thing going on,” Paquin added. “He’s the odd one out, he’s someone that no one sees but he sees [Ella’s] pain and sadness.
“He sees somebody who is incredibly broken and sad,” she said. “That’s really what he’s there for.”
Winstone is effective as Ella’s flustered father, himself a recovering alcoholic; Youssef Kerkour and Pippa Bennett-Walker play Ella’s ex-husband, Joe, and his partner, Bethan.
“What drew me to the film was the interaction between Ella and Neil,” Moyer said. “Ella is a character who is so broken and chooses to push everyone away because she doesn’t think she deserves to be rescued — and she’s seen by this young boy who believes in her.
“On a deeper or macro level, I like the idea that everybody somewhere has someone looking out for them — if only they reach out their arm,” he said.
“Neil has prodded and pushed people to a place they need to get to move forward — and his big prize is to push Ella to that place.”
