Nicole Ansari-Cox on How Brian Cox Helped Role in Short ‘In the Night’

Multi-hyphenate Nicole Ansari-Cox has a lot going on.

The London-based actor, producer, writer and activist just shot Southern Italy-set rom-com “Under the Stars” directed by Michelle Danner where she stars alongside Toni Colette, Andy Garcia and Alex Pettyfer. In addition, she appears in Austrian director Kat Rohrer’s “What a Feeling” that premiered recently at the BFI FLARE: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival. Soon Ansari-Cox will be in Cannes as part of the production team for “Glenrothan,” the directorial debut of her husband Brian Cox which is being sold at the Marché du Film.

She’s also in young Lebanese director Shireen Khaled’s short “In the Night,” about a long-married couple who, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, realize they have suddenly fallen out of love and spend a night trying to rekindle the flame. “In the Night,” in which Ansari-Cox stars opposite actor-singer-songwriter Jack O’Neill, premiered last month at the Beirut International Women Film Festival where it scored the audience award.

A graduate of New York’s The New School, Khaled has also made another short titled “Nothing Has Changed,” starring Lebanese actress Nada Abou Farhat as a female tailor who reconnects with an old flame in her shop. It was directed entirely via Zoom.

Khaled and Ansari-Cox have now teamed up on Khaled’s first feature film project that will be based on both these shorts. They spoke to Variety about how their collaboration came about.

Variety: Nicole, how did Shireen manage to bring you on board?

Nicole Ansari-Cox: My manager sent me a message saying: “Well, this New School student has this script for a short film. Are you interested?” I replied: “No, I’m not interested in short films or non-paid work, thank you very much.” And she said: “Well, I have to say that the script is interesting. You might just want to meet her for the future, when she is a filmmaker.” So I went: “Okay.” Then before I met Shireen, I did read the script and I thought: “Oh, this is actually something interesting.” The story intrigued me, and the character intrigued me. And when I met Shireen, I just loved her right away. I mean, how can you not? And then she showed me pictures of how she wanted to film the short. And I could tell that she’s a visionary, not just some spoiled brat where the parents buy them a flat in Williamsburg. You know what I mean? That typical New York filmmaker story, the bearded Williamsburg brat? She actually has a vision. And of course, I immediately cut her more slack than anybody else because of the connection to the Middle East. Because I do want to give voice to women in the Middle East and stories that are connected to that.

Shireen, fraying relationships is a universal theme. But of course “In the Night” has the 2020 Beirut explosion in the backdrop, though it’s not really about that. Talk to me about the complexities of the backstory.

Shireen Khaled: During the blast, I had been with someone for years, and when the explosion happened it hit me to the core. And also with COVID, I realized it was a very pivotal moment. It was very metaphorical. I mean, a lot of things were happening then [in Lebanon]. There was the COVID; there was the revolution; there was the socioeconomic situation. But the blast, specifically, realizing that your government could do this and you don’t really have a safe home. It was just like I wanted a change. I wanted a change in my career. I wanted a change in my relationship. And I just started questioning everything. And I was constantly writing this piece. And then I realized that anyone might have had a pivotal moment. Mine happened to be a blast, which changed my life. But transitioning it, it’s a universal theme, as you said. This story could have happened anywhere.

Nicole, how did you prepare for this role?

Nicole Ansari-Cox: Well, I was actually grateful that the other film I was doing at the time [“What a Feeling”] was comedy, and everything I was doing on set was quite light. I feeling really heavy because of the whole thing happened with Mahsa Amini in Iran, the women’s uprising, the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement was happening. I was very, very involved in that whole almost revolution. So actually I was grateful to have an outlet for that grief. I did not have to prepare. I was just grateful that I had somewhere to put this [grief]. As for the relationship, I mean, I’ve been married for 24 years, or maybe 25, at this point. And in any relationship, I think there always comes a point where it comes and goes. Where you come to the edge; where you’re like: “This is a threshold. Are we going to continue, or are we going to go each other’s merry way?” Yeah, so again, I was grateful that I had a place to put my experience, really. So my preparation was life.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.