Life as a Mike Leigh heroine can be a grim business. Can it possibly be coincidence that the Heaven’s Gate religious cult watched Secrets & Lies a few days prior to their mass suicide in 1997? Vera Drake, Imelda Staunton’s kind-hearted abortionist found herself banged up for assisting young women “in trouble’’ Katrin Cartlidge made easy prey for David Thewlis’ sadist in Naked. Even Alison Steadman’s aspiring sophisticate in Abigail’s Party is an object for disdain.

Come to think of it, life as a Mike Leigh actress can’t be a bed of roses either. The director’s methodology often entails that his projects begin without the benefit of a script. Instead, he sets out a basic premise, and lets the actors do most of the work through intensive improvisation. Add to this Leigh’s fearsome reputation and you wonder why any actor would willingly go through such an ordeal.
Sally Hawkins, however, assures me it’s not as bad as all that.
“I’ve never really understood that reputation he has,” she tells me. “He’s not at all scary. I think maybe it’s because he’s so bright he suffers fools badly.”
Isn’t that phrase usually employed as a polite euphemism for terrifying enough to force bowels spontaneously empty?
“No, honest,” she says. “I mean he’s not afraid to tell people things that perhaps they don’t want to hear. And he certainly isn’t one to grin and bear things that the rest of us might run with before going home and getting furious once we’re miles away from the person or situation that got us there. As far as he’s concerned life is too short to put up with rubbish. He’s too straightforward for niceties but that makes him easy to work with.”
Sally ought to know. In February she won the Best Actress award at the Berlin Film Festival for her arresting central performance in Happy-Go-Lucky, Mr. Leigh’s latest foray into neo-realism. It is her third time collaborating with the director following smaller roles in Vera Drake and All Or Nothing. It is also the latest in a long line of Leigh heroines who chirpily keep their chins up against the odds.
“Every character Mike collaborates on for the screen feels so different,” says Sally. “Although there is common ground. Poppy, like a lot of the characters that have been played by Alison Steadman or Imelda Staunton or some other fantastic actress is someone who is tested but she’s capable of bouncing back. That’s what made her so beautiful to play. She’s a lovely, life-affirming part to watch or to be around.”
We have to agree. Poppy, a wonderful and wonderfully performed character, is considerably livelier than most of Leigh’s put upon protagonists. One suspects this is down to the performer. While Ms. Hawkins has built an impressive dramatic resume in high class BBC television (Persuasion, Fingersmith, Tipping The Velvet) and prestigious film titles (The Painted Veil, Layer Cake), at heart she’s a comic. A writer for Concrete Cow, the BBC Radio 4 sketch show, she is also a regular player in Little Britain.
“Last series David Walliams vomited on me,” she laughs. “I can’t wait to see what horrible thing happens to me next.”

Happy-Go-Lucky is released April 18.