FEATURE | Anna’s red carpet journey: Durbanite’s dream becomes reality

It’s not often that childhood dreams morph into adult reality but given Anna Ballantine’s dogged determination, it was destined to happen.

For many years, a secret desire sustained her youthful whimsy of being an actress and one day making the red carpet at the premiere of a movie in which she starred. 

Now, for Anna, 28, who grew up in Durban and set off for London in 2015 with a suitcase, a small sum of money and loads of ambition, it’s all about to become real. 

She walked that red carpet on Thursday for the premiere in Ghent, Belgium of The Last Front, a feature film set in Belgium, during World War 1 — her first major movie, with a stellar cast including Iain Glen from Game of Thrones fame. 

Anna plays the role of Camille, a young mother who, with her husband and baby, joins a  group of villagers, under the leadership of Glen, that flee their homes and ultimately confront the invading German forces. 

The movie is not Anna’s first but as she says: “It’s definitely the biggest I’ve ever done — in terms of scale, budget, reach, and with the biggest actors.” 

So where did this all begin? 

Growing up in the suburbs, Anna’s first recollection of acting was weekend afternoons spent playacting with her sister and children of her parents’ friends, from which numerous home videos ensued.

“At school, I was always very academic. Acting was far removed from what people expected of me, and so I kept that part of myself hidden. However, when I look back, I was constantly creating characters and putting on accents for my friends as an outlet, in a school environment where I sometimes felt trapped,” she said.

“So when I did reveal my ambition to act professionally to my family and a small group of close friends, they weren’t surprised.” 

Another way to keep her desire to perform alive was through figure skating, which “always felt to me like an extreme sport of the performing arts”. 

“I would often choose the music for my routines from films, and my costumes would reflect the characters I was portraying, which helped nourish my need for performing and storytelling.” 

It was tough. I was so removed from the world I wanted to be a part of and living pay cheque to pay cheque. To save bus fare, I would leave home at four in the morning to cycle across the city for work by five.

—  Anna Ballantine, actress 

Eventually, it was at the auditions for the school plays in Anna’s matric year for which she ended up winning the best actress award, that she finally felt she could own that part of herself. 

“After school, I spent a gap year working in a local pizzeria, saving every cent I could to fund my trip, all on my own, to London where I found  a house share and another service job at a coffee shop.

“It was tough,” recalls Anna. “I was so removed from the world I wanted to be a part of and living pay cheque to pay cheque. To save bus fare, I would leave home at four in the morning to cycle across the city for work by five.” 

It was about that time when she met “red carpet groupies”. 

“It’s a thing in London — people camp out overnight before premieres, waiting for the stars to arrive. We’d stand for hours in the cold, hoping to get close to the people who’d inspired us for so many years. 

“I met actors I’d admired all my life: Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Jennifer Lawrence, Matt Damon, Nicole Kidman, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Fassbender, Woody Harrelson and many more. 

“This was the 19-year-old me. Fresh off the boat, and desperate to have some link with the world of acting! It was a way to feel part of that movie magic and it really kept me going.” 

She attended the premiere of Burnt starring Sienna Miller and Bradley Cooper, produced by Harvey Weinstein’s company, when she had a brush with the man whose sexual predation was then not public knowledge. 

“I cringe when I think of it now — I gushed, ‘I’m such a fan of yours. I just love your work and I want to be an actress!’” 

So ... how did Anna’s career path pan out from there? 

“I auditioned for and got into the Identity School of Acting, a part-time drama school in London. I would work during the day and train as an actor in the evenings. My time there was fundamental to my growth as an actor.”

Anna found an agent and secured her first leading role in an independent feature film about Vikings, Loki’s Game. 

“I learnt so much, seeing how everything works, getting advice from actors who had been in the industry their entire adult lives.” 

She started landing more roles, including as one of the leads in You Eat Other Animals? alongside Evanna Lynch of Harry Potter fame, and another main role in Leader directed by Academy-Award winning director Chris Overton. 

And then came The Last Front. 

“When I received the script I instantly knew it was something special. I put everything into my self-tape audition. The next day my agent told me that the director loved my interpretation of Camille and wanted to see a second scene. So I taped again. I waited in anticipation and then got the call to say I’d got the part. I immediately called my parents and cried! 

“The first day of filming was a total whirlwind. I went down to breakfast at the hotel and there was Iain Glen, this actor I’d admired for so long, suddenly in the same room as me ... 

“I just remember going up to him and saying, ‘Hi, I’m Anna and I’m playing Camille’, and noticing that he had the kindest eyes that put me instantly at ease. 

“In the film, Iain is our leader, Leonard, taking us to safety. He was also like that in a lot of ways, off screen. He was someone I looked up to and I have such fond memories of working with him.” 

“I got to know Iain well. My character is strongly connected to his, so we’d be filming together most days and during the breaks, we’d all have meals together. It turned out that he knew Durban well, having spent a few months there.” 

Anna says that “working with an ensemble of actors for weeks on end forces you to become very close, very quickly — also because you’re having to be so vulnerable in front of each other”.

And what of the craft of acting? 

“Well, in terms of preparation for a movie, obviously having a deep understanding of the script and learning your lines is essential. Then you start creating the interior life of your character. Building a back story. That’s the job of an actor. You have to feel those words, not just say them, to breathe life into your character. 

“Then it’s getting the technical things right — how does the character sound, how does she move, what is her accent, her appearance. Then, once all the prep is over and you’re on set, it’s all about letting go of everything and being totally in the moment and allowing your character to take over.”

Asked what she believes is needed to succeed, Anna says: “Actors need resilience and self drive more than anything else. And a visceral love of storytelling. You need to have empathy as you really need to care about the character you are playing and find a way to connect with them. And unending perseverance is essential as you get a lot more ‘Nos’ than ‘Yeses’.” 

When recording a tape for a role she usually ropes in her fiancé Bradley or mother in South Africa to read the other character’s lines.

Back to those ingredients necessary for success as an actor. 

“You need talent, skills and dedication, yes, but perhaps more than anything, there’s an element of luck ... Out of the people I met at drama school only a few are still acting. The others found it too soul crushing. I think it’s because I left South Africa with the declared goal of being an actress that I felt I just had to keep going.”