Former Love/Hate star Ruth Negga has been tipped as one of next year's Best Actress Oscar nominees for her performance in the new American film Loving, which received its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday.
Written and directed by Mud and Midnight Special director Jeff Nichols, Loving tells the true story of an illegal inter-racial marriage in 1950s Virginia and stars Joel Edgerton as Richard Loving with Negga playing his wife, Mildred.
Richard and Mildred eloped to Washington DC in 1958 but on their return home to Virginia they were arrested. They were sentenced to a year in prison, suspended for 25 years, on condition that they left Virginia. Their case eventually reached the US Supreme Court, which in 1967 overturned the Lovings' convictions and ruled that state laws against interracial marriage were unconstitutional. The couple's story was previously told in a HBO documentary but with Nichols' new film it is now set to reach an even wider audience.
Loving was ecstatically received by many critics at Cannes following its screening on Monday.
"Few films at this year's festival have been greeted with such warmth," wrote The Irish Times' Donald Clarke. "What lingers most is the vista of Ruth Negga's strong, furrowed, defiant face. The Irish actor now has the world at her feet."
US trade publication Variety's Peter Debruge wrote that Loving "features two of the best American performances of the past several years, from Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga (neither of whom are American)".
Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton at Cannes on Monday
The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy said that Negga's work in the film was a breakthrough performance that would put the Irish actress "decisively on the map".
The film critic from British newspaper The Telegraph tweeted that "Ruth Negga is put-a-bet-on-now tremendous", while The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw said the film was "Ruth Negga's movie". "She has grace, dignity, and gentleness," he added.
At the press conference after the premiere, Negga side-stepped journalists' questions about her chances of winning Best Actress at Cannes and at next year's Oscars, but director Nichols described Negga and co-star Edgerton as two of the greatest actors in the world.
"Ruth was the first actress that we auditioned for this," he said. "And she came in and she completely embodied Mildred Loving."
Ruth Negga and director Jeff Nichols at the Cannes press conference for Loving
"I think my agent rang you every week for about two years," said Negga to Nichols. "Because I would not let this go. There was no alternative, really - I just really had to play her."
"This is the most important film I've ever made," she added. "It's one of the most important films in history, I think. I'm kind of overwhelmed by everything."
Negga also discussed Ireland's marriage equality referendum during the press conference.
"A conversation is always good," she said. "I think it's how we learn is by talking and dialogue and discourse. I think that's happening now: people are becoming less afraid to have controversial discussions, and I think that can only be a good thing.
"In terms of my own country, I'm half Irish. Last year we had the referendum on gay marriage and there was overwhelming support for it. I was very proud about that. Having a very, very Catholic history, I think that we showed the world that it's possible to evolve in having discussions about equality. The great thing about this film is that it humanises us. "
Loving will be released in the US on November 4 - a key slot during awards season - with an Irish release date yet to be announced.
Negga's new TV series, the comic book adaptation Preacher, premieres on cable network AMC in the US on Sunday. She is also one of the stars of the upcoming video game adaptation Warcraft, which opens in Irish cinemas on May 30.
