Ruth Negga was "scared" to audition for 'Loving'.
Ruth Negga
The 35-year-old actress has confessed she wanted the role so badly that she nearly "self-sabotaged" her audition.
She said: "I've done many things. A casting agent, who'd seen me before, put my name forward for 'Loving', this true story of a multiracial couple.
"A few days before I was to audition, they sent me my scenes. I studied. I prepared. The truth is I was scared. I wanted it so badly. What happens is you self-sabotage. You worry you'll mess up."
And Ruth also opened up about how the family scenes included in the movie made the story more than "one-dimensional".
She told the New York Post's Page Six column: "It's because that was Jim Crow time. A different era. People of color knew it was in their best interest to monitor themselves. To survive in an atmosphere of discrimination, you learned to play it down. We knew to be reserved. That pressure makes you a lot less emotional.
"There were scenes where you see the heaviness lift from her. Family, children, brought joy, love. They created laughter and tenderness, which was important so the story wasn't just one-dimensional. The racism problem was not to be the only thing in their lives. It didn't define them.
"And scenes from their home while in hiding got you to respect her attitude toward nature. You see her connecting with sunlight, earth, nature and you sense the heaviness lift from her."
Meanwhile, Ruth previously admitted she feels "very lucky" to be an actress.
She explained: "I feel very lucky to be doing what I'm doing, like all art, there's an unquantifiable aspect to this job, and there is a huge amount of luck involved. But luck is a funny thing; good or bad, it plays an important part in everything."
Asked why she decided to sign up to 'Loving', she added: "As a person of colour, you can't be ignorant of the fact that there are stories about race to be told, and I wanted to be part of that."