Olivia Colman on what she wouldn't talk about regarding acting

Olivia Colman is promoting her upcoming film 'Jimpa'

By Maryam Nasir
|
February 16, 2026
Olivia Colman on 'pretentious' side of acting

Olivia Colman is a celebrated actress, but she doesn’t like talkign about her acting process.

"All of it sounds pretentious," Colman admits during a recent interview with Variety.

Advertisement

"Whenever you talk about how you do it or how you don’t do it, or whatever, it sounds unbearable. I just like doing it, and ideally I’d like to do it with no one watching ever. But I know that’s not possible," she added.

It takes a collaborative and no pretentiousness type of set for the Oscar, Emmy and BAFTA winner to do her best work.

Sophie Hyde, director of Colman’s latest film, Jimpa, matched her vibe.

"I had just done a job where I really didn’t see eye to eye with the director, which is quite unusual for me, and it made me go, I don’t want to do this," Colman said.

The Roses star added, "And, and then my agent said, ‘I think you’ll really love Sophie. You’ll love the way Sophie works.'"

"I was given freedom," Colman said. "It was such a creative process. It’s the antithesis of what I had just done, where I was sort of used like a wall prop, and was told ‘chin up a bit, chin down a bit.’ You know, that’s not acting. It’s not the work I enjoy. And Sophie was the absolute opposite of that."

Jimpa follows Hannah (colman) and her non-binary teenager Frances's journey to Amsterdam to see the kid's gay grandfather Jimpa.

Advertisement