My new film will shock men and my parents, says Sheridan Smith

 
21 November 2013
The Weekender

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A new film that shows what women really talk about in nightclubs is set to shock men — but star Sheridan Smith says it is only scandalous because of double standards between the sexes.

Powder Room shows young woman on a wild night out talking of — and having — sex and drugs as well as vomiting through excess in a story Smith admits is not one for her parents.

But the actress, 32, said she wanted to do the film because it seemed believable. “Often women are portrayed as quite twee or quite glossy,” she added. “There was something real about this, if a little bit crude at times. It will shock some people. A lot of men will be like, ‘Does this really go on?’

“In a ladies’ toilet, your guard is down and people cry, you’re drunk and have dialled your ex and somebody has been sick. But many people will relate to it.”

She feels there are often double standards in the way women who have sex are regarded, saying: “If it’s a man, it’s kudos.”

In the film, her character Sam is disillusioned with her dead-end job and arranges a night out with an old school friend who appears to have transformed her life by moving to Paris and working in fashion. Smith said many people understood the envy of seeing friends on Facebook apparently having a life more satisfying than their own. But she went on: “There’s so much heart to the film. The message is be confident, happy and true to yourself.”

Smith said she loved working with a mainly female cast including co-star Jaime Winstone and debutant director MJ Delaney. “We had men in the team but they looked slightly petrified at times,” she added.

The film was shot at Three Mills Studios in east London and on location on Holloway Road with a £175,000 budget. It was the idea of producer Damian Jones who saw the Rachel Hirons play on which it is based at the Soho Theatre. It is released on December 6.

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