{"id":9592,"date":"2026-05-21T19:57:03","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T16:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/?p=9592"},"modified":"2026-05-21T22:25:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:55:05","slug":"naomi-ackie-on-i-love-boosters-pushing-her-own-limits-and-going-against-the-grain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/naomi-ackie-on-i-love-boosters-pushing-her-own-limits-and-going-against-the-grain\/","title":{"rendered":"Naomi Ackie On I Love Boosters, Pushing Her Own Limits, And Going Against The Grain"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Naomi Ackie has developed an affinity for going against the grain. In the upcoming I Love Boosters<\/em>, Boots Riley\u2019s extravagant, satirical stab at the fashion industry, she plays noble shoplifter Sade \u2014 who undergoes molecular restructuring and time-travel to invent the perfect outfit. Not a conventional second goes by.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Empire<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

For the past few years, the 34-year-old Londoner has chosen to work with directors who aren\u2019t afraid to confront the darkness of humanity, and who back it up with provocative, daring visions. But her career is about more than just ticking off the likes of Bong Joon Ho (sci-fi comedy Mickey 17<\/em>), Steve McQueen (semi-autobiographical school drama \u2018Education\u2019, part of anthology Small Axe<\/em>) and Zo\u00eb Kravitz (eat-the-rich satire Blink Twice<\/em>) from her bucket list \u2014 she\u2019s worked with enough esteemed directors to know how to sniff out a good one. \u201cIt\u2019s a trend I noticed amongst filmmakers,\u201d she says, kicking back in a London photo-studio after Empire\u2019s shoot in April. \u201cThe more open they are, the more curious they are, the better the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Ackie has dabbled in franchise fare: she wielded a bow and arrow on furry-alien horseback in Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker<\/em>. She delivered full-bodied commitment to the Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody<\/em>. She picked up a BAFTA for her breakthrough as a repressed murderer in Channel 4\u2019s The End Of The F***ing World<\/em>. But of late, she has been pushing more and more against convention.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

This October, we\u2019ll see her in DC\u2019s Clayface<\/em> \u2014 a comic-book film, but one written by Mike Flanagan and directed by Speak No Evil<\/em>\u2019s James Watkins. And with I Love Boosters<\/em>, Ackie could shape-shift under costumes that grew more elaborate with each passing day, and deliver an anti-capitalist rallying cry all at once. It was just what she needed to feed that hunger for rebellion.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

EMPIRE: You work with filmmakers who have a lot to say and have singular ways of expressing those ideas. Is that something you\u2019ve felt drawn to?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

NAOMI ACKIE:<\/strong> The thing is, I love talking about big ideas. I come from a family [where] around the dinner table, we always end up talking philosophy and politics and religion and faith and the world. That feels like a really natural part of the way that I communicate. And then when it comes to projects, I think big concepts allow me to be way more specific about performance, because if you\u2019re working with someone who\u2019s like, \u201cHey, here\u2019s the entire world \u2014 this is going to be your specific task, to build this world out,\u201d that feels way easier for me than being part of a story where I can make any decision I want about who the character is. When it\u2019s a very specific [world] with a very specific message and the message matters more than the character, that\u2019s when I know exactly what I need to do.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Empire<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

That aligns with I Love Boosters<\/em>, where your character has a very specific role in a very specific world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I was like, \u201cThis is a bit of me!\u201d Boots is so incredibly specific [in] his world-building. All the films and projects he\u2019s made belong in the same world, and yet tell different stories. There is this element of magic realism and absurdism that I\u2019m really in love with. I like to play on that scale. If I think about Mickey 17<\/em>, that has a level of surreal absurdity to it. Strangely, I even think about The End Of The F***ing World<\/em>. The message sits stronger, I think, when the world is more specific. Those big-question ideas like I Love Boosters<\/em>, which is essentially about people coming together to fuck up shit.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
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I Love Boosters<\/em> is essentially about people coming together to fuck up shit.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

What was it like being privy to Boots Riley\u2019s creativity, which seems so boundless?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Some parts of the script, I was like, \u201cI don\u2019t know what it\u2019s going to look like.\u201d There are images within there where I was like, \u201cI guess I\u2019m gonna have to just go with it.\u201d You can\u2019t quite visualise some of the stuff and yet it really works. In my career, I really trust whoever\u2019s leading. Luckily for me, the people I have been able to work with I really respect, and I think if you surrender to someone\u2019s vision, and you say, \u201cOkay, what do you need [from] me to help flesh out this idea that you have?\u201d, then the acting becomes in service to a story, and less about you. It\u2019s an important tool so that you can hold onto your ego and constantly remind yourself that this is not about you. This is about a character, supplying something to the story and to a message that could possibly enlighten people down the line.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Empire<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

What did you see as your character\u2019s function in this story? In this world, the \u2018boosters\u2019 (shoplifters) are rebelling against the system but are also attracted to it.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Sade is the grounding force. [Keke Palmer\u2019s] Corvette is a big dreamer and we need big dreamers in the world. Much like myself when I was younger, sometimes dreaming big makes you very individualistic and selfish. That\u2019s why you need really important grounding forces in your life to remind you that it\u2019s not just about you. Your special talent isn\u2019t there just to show off. It\u2019s useful for potentially building community, and I think my character\u2019s influence in the film is this reminder that community is the most important thing. What is the point of being celebrated as the best fashion designer in the world if you\u2019re fucking people over? There\u2019s no joy in that. I think she\u2019s the one who delivers that message to Corvette.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\"I<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Mickey 17<\/em> also has a very specific world that you got to play around in. (Set on a planetary colonisation mission, Ackie plays the loyal partner to Robert Pattinson\u2019s Mickey and his numerous disposable clones.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Bless Rob, I think he was knackered on that job! He did not get an easy time. There were details within those sets and within the costumes that I don\u2019t even think people really got to see. You know when our characters get arrested and they get put into the prison cells? There were these water bottles that were shaped like [the ones for] a gerbil in a cage. I revel in people\u2019s creativity.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Mickey 17<\/em> is funny and ambitious, but the most moving thing about it is that it\u2019s actually really romantic. Your character Nasha finds her person and loves every version of him, even the parts of himself he doesn\u2019t like.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I love the fierceness of the love. I love how brash Nasha is and how much she will fuck a bitch up to protect that love. I might do it in the future, but it doesn\u2019t feel like me to do a really classic romantic film, because that\u2019s not how I see relationships. I think romantic relationships are beautiful because they\u2019re quite messy and visceral. It\u2019s got its own complete DNA structure that can\u2019t be replicated. The thing that another human being brings out of you is so specific and it can be just the most wonderfully eye-opening experience. Mickey 17<\/em> is probably the most romantic I will ever get.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Empire<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

You also mentioned The End Of The F***ing World<\/em>. Was it tricky to find your character, Bonnie?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

That was probably the hardest to find. Once I did, it clicked, but I remember getting the breakdown for Bonnie. It said something like \u201codd\u201d. I remember that key word. Playing odd is not possible. It\u2019s so subjective that you have to try many different things. With Bonnie, we actually did get rehearsals for that one, and that was really helpful because I needed to figure out how she moved in the space. I realised through rehearsal that if I placed my energy backwards, so, like, energetically I\u2019m trying to move away from everyone that I see, it did something to my eyes. I could pretend to try and be a human being and everything was kind of dead. So really, instead of her being odd through other people\u2019s eyes, she feels odd in her own body.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

At one point you had considered giving up on acting, but then you won the BAFTA for The End Of The F***ing World<\/em>. Did it mean something to you to win at that point in your life?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

It was transition time. I won the BAFTA during Covid. The laptop was on a cardboard box because I was moving house. The thing about awards is they are always so subjective. It\u2019s a group of people in a room who might all happen to agree that this is their favourite performance, but that doesn\u2019t really mean much. It\u2019s a great compliment and it\u2019s an amazing message of, like, \u201cYou\u2019re doing something good.\u201d To be honest, that validation happened when I got nominated, not necessarily the winning. It gave me a bit of a confidence boost when I needed it.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

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Do I want to do a kick-butt film? Yes.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Did Star Wars<\/em> come at that transitional time of your life?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I filmed it before [The End Of The F***ing World<\/em>], but The End Of The F***ing World<\/em> definitely came out first. That was so funny because it\u2019s like, the movies! People are like, \u201cWe\u2019re gonna make you a star!\u201d I was 26 and I was thrust into this giant world where they were like, \u201cYour life is going to change,\u201d and it didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a mad story. I had done Star Wars<\/em>, [but] it hadn\u2019t come out yet. I had auditioned and gotten one of the main parts for the Game Of Thrones<\/em> prequel, \u2018The Long Night\u2019. I did the pilot, and I had a great time and my part was really cool. I was like, \u201cWow, now I\u2019ve got Star Wars<\/em> AND Game Of Thrones<\/em>.\u201d And then a Marvel audition came along and I was in the last round for that. I was talking to my family, like, \u201cGuys, this could be it for me. I\u2019m going to be some sort of Comic-Con legend.\u201d And within the same week, I found out that I didn\u2019t get the part in Marvel and the Game Of Thrones<\/em> [show] wasn\u2019t going ahead. My dad had to take me on a drive around London because I was crying my eyes out. But I think back now and I\u2019m grateful, because I wouldn\u2019t have the career I have now. I have so much freedom. I\u2019ve just been a part of a DC [movie]. It comes around.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Jannah<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve mentioned before that you grew up watching Marvel movies, hoping you\u2019d be in them one day.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve gotten older, the things that I want to do or express have changed. Do I want to do a kick-butt film? Yes. All I want to do is play a role where I get to wear something really cool and kick people\u2019s arses. It\u2019s a goal and I want to achieve it. I don\u2019t know when in my life, but I want to achieve it. I have huge respect for those films. I adore doing combat stuff.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

You were able to do combat in Star Wars, at least.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

God, that was fun. There was even more \u2014 I think they cut some of Jannah\u2019s (Ackie\u2019s character) stuff. But all of that was a huge lesson for when you\u2019re approaching physical work. I just finished doing a boxing film (Ruth Greenberg\u2019s sports drama Sugar<\/em>, co-starring Eve Hewson). It was eight months training in boxing. It\u2019s exciting stuff. The beginning of those skills that I learned in Star Wars<\/em> have paid off ten years later.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Empire<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The DC film you have coming up is Clayface<\/em>. On paper, it sounds like something really different because you\u2019re working with director James Watkins and screenwriter Mike Flanagan, who both have horror backgrounds.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

This is what I mean \u2014 the right things find you. My love will always be smaller films. I really love genre films, and I love acting in genre films. The fact that it\u2019s the DC world with this indie influence and this genre-led influence feels like the world I belong to. This project was so much fun to make and the community there was incredible. It was the same kind of deal with Rob on Mickey 17<\/em>. Tom [Rhys Harries, who plays Clayface] went through a lot more than I did. The thing I love about genre work is that you know what the criteria is, and your job is to push it to its furthest limit. So this mash-up [between] a horror film and a comic-book film is interesting. I think it\u2019s really smart of DC, because it brings in horror lovers, comic-book lovers. We\u2019ll see what happens.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

In the past you\u2019ve talked about the difficult journey you had with I Wanna Dance With Somebody<\/em>, but what were the lessons you took from that experience that informed your choices moving forward?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The most positive thing about playing Whitney was I realised that I love getting very specific about the body. I heard this song the other day, and it really made me want to learn how to do samba. I was like, \u201cOh, maybe I\u2019ll tell my agents I want to do a film that centres around dance so that I can learn how to dance.\u201d With Whitney it was like this crash course into a skill of how to be a superstar singer. But there was so much joy in the time it took to do it, in the same way that there\u2019s so much joy in the seven months of horse-riding training I had to do for Star Wars<\/em>. Or the eight months of boxing training [for Sugar<\/em>]. There was a lesson there of letting go of the idea of perfection and also digging in, getting your hands dirty, and doing the work. You can\u2019t shortcut those things and the result always ends up on camera. I remember feeling certain things, and the body\u2019s starting to do it before your mind does it. It just feels like magic. My boyfriend said that when we first met, I was still dancing like Whitney.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Empire<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve worked with so many incredible, experienced directors. Where does Steve McQueen rank in that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Very highly, and I hope he hires me again. I was on that project for, like, two days. (Ackie plays a child psychologist in Small Axe\u2019s \u2018Education\u2019, McQueen\u2019s five-film anthology centred on the lives of West Indian immigrants<\/em>). It was a really quick thing for me, but I got to observe him and he\u2019s so encouraging and specific. I think that\u2019s my favourite quality: if a director is specific, I feel like I can do anything, because all I need is a good note. Steve McQueen is incredible. He has the power to access these worlds that not a lot of people get to see and he expands it. He\u2019s just so sensitive to story, and what he was doing was a huge feat. The fact that this was a world that was real, for one. It\u2019s historical, and it is a culture that not a lot of people get access to. It\u2019s a really hard thing to pull off, and he pulled it off incredibly.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Empire<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Conversely, you\u2019ve also worked with a number of first-time directors. Recently you starred in Zo\u00eb Kravitz\u2019s Blink Twice<\/em> and Eva Victor\u2019s Sorry, Baby<\/em>, which overlap slightly in themes around power and sexual violence, but they also bring levity in their own distinctive ways. How did you find walking that tightrope of joy and darkness in both films?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m always attracted to things that can hold many things in the same space, because that\u2019s what life actually is. Sorry, Baby<\/em> feels extremely grounded and extremely real, and then obviously Blink Twice<\/em> is a little bit fantastical, but only a little bit. But even so, the world that Zo\u00eb created within Blink Twice<\/em> was extremely vivid and very visceral. The thing that actually makes it easier to access the tougher ideas, the darker elements, is that you have this brightness, because it gives you somewhere to go. It\u2019s what they say about Shakespeare: don\u2019t play the tragedy. And sometimes there\u2019s a mistake made with these really dark things, that you have to hold that atmosphere constantly. The most effective thing for an audience, I think, is when they are able to slightly forget that things are maybe going to go a bit wrong. Those things feel more real than just staying in the darkness. Or doing comedy. I don\u2019t think I\u2019d do well in a comedy.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

No?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Not without it having some level of something else to it. Some people can do it because they\u2019re funny. I\u2019m not funny. I did Blink Twice<\/em> and then Sorry, Baby<\/em> came up and I remember talking to my team and being like, \u201cDo I want to do another film that covers this subject?\u201d Because the subject means a lot to me. Would it cross the same lines? And it just didn\u2019t feel like it did, partially because my character [in Sorry, Baby<\/em>] was there to support Eva\u2019s character and that felt different. But it also felt like [Blink Twice<\/em>] is about the trauma and what happens immediately after. Sorry, Baby<\/em> is about the healing process. It felt like looking at the same thing from different perspectives. Those are cool projects. Who knows what I\u2019ll be up to next time?<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

This article was originally published in the Summer 2026 issue of Empire Magazine. Naomi Ackie was photographed exclusively for Empire at Loft Studios, London, on 13 April, 2026. I Love Boosters is in US cinemas from 22 May and arrives in UK cinemas later this year.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Naomi Ackie has developed an affinity for going against the grain. In the upcoming I Love Boosters, Boots Riley\u2019s extravagant, satirical stab at the fashion industry, she plays noble shoplifter Sade \u2014 who undergoes molecular restructuring and time-travel to invent the perfect outfit. Not a conventional second goes by. For the past few years, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-47"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9592"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9594,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9592\/revisions\/9594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}