Before Lupita Nyong’o was the award-winning actress we all know and love, she was a production assistant trying to pick the brains of Hollywood stars so she could learn more about the industry.
Nyong’o took a job on the set of The Constant Gardener in 2005 and was assigned to escort actor Ralph Fiennes to the set, reports E! News. The actress, who covers this month’s Rhapsody Magazine, tried to use that time to ask him questions and try to learn as much as she could.
“I was on a mission to talk to Ralph, but he was talking to some man,” she told Rhapsody. “I went up to them, and suddenly the assistant director was white in the face with rage. He said, ‘You never interrupt the director!’ I didn’t even know who the director was!”
She went on to say that she watched Fiennes closely and saw that he was a “very still man on set.”
“I’d try to make chitchat, asking, ‘What’s your favorite film? Of all the films you’ve been in, which have you enjoyed the most?’ He was so polite, and he responded to me. At one point, though, he just said, ‘Lupita, give me my space.'”
Of course, now Nyong’o is a big star, with her latest movie, Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens, coming out this month, so now it’s Fiennes who might have a hard time talking to her!
You can read more of Nyong’o’s Rhapsody cover story here.