Vanessa Kirby Opens Up About Her ‘Night Always Comes' Netflix Film

Forbes

2 days ago

It is not hard to see that 2025 has already been a 'Fantastic' year for actress Vanessa Kirby. Following her memorable introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe this past July as superhero Sue Storm in Fantastic Four: First Steps, Kirby, 37, is now showing, yet again, her versatility as an artist in her new Netflix film, Night Always Comes. She plays Lynette, a devoted sister to a brother with Down syndrome and the daughter of an unmotivated mother, who will do anything to keep her family from losing their longtime home.
Inspired from the book The Night Always Comes: A Novel by Willy Vlautin, this on-screen storytelling, streaming August 15, is directed by Benjamin Caron, known for directing multiple episodes of The Crown alongside Kirby during her two seasons playing Princess Margaret. Now, Caron and Kirby have teamed up again for this emotional roller coaster of a film, with Lynette going to unfathomable lengths to protect her family's future.
I sat down with Kirby and Caron over Zoom, wondering first what it was about Lynette and this Night Always Comes film adaptation that initially interested Kirby to make this the next project in her career.
Kirby said, 'Well, we had such a good time on The Crown and it was such a journey for every character in that series. Every character just changed so much, and we had such an amazing time because the episodes we did together. Margaret was really transitioning - it was a real inner-journey for her and a transformation by the end. And so, I think we've been looking for another female protagonist who has to face all of her inner-conflict and then change by the end of it, for better or worse. We were looking for that everywhere for a long time, for ten years or so - and then Lynette appeared for both of us, and I think what appealed to us was that she couldn't be more different to Margaret, really. Just like completely different life and I think it would have been easy for us to go for something like Margaret. Then, we found Lynette and we thought - This is going to be really challenging in a different way. It represents a completely different part of society. We thought it would be the same kind of challenge in just a completely different way.'
With Caron bringing his filmmaking eye to tell this beautifully gritty tale, I wondered what his top priorities were in the process of making Night Always Comes, and how collaborating with Kirby perhaps helped him to achieve those.
Caron said, 'Well, I guess when we worked on The Crown, we were director and actor working with Peter [Morgan]'s brilliant script - but on this, it really was very much a project from the ground up, that we were both sort of actor-producer and producer-director - developing Willy's great book into a script and then realizing that onto screen.'
He added with Kirby in mind: 'You know what was great? It was really to have a brilliant dance partner to go from the beginning of that, all the way through to the script development to the pre-production, and then making it. So, it was just a great creative collaboration, and that's what you really want - and because we had that history together, there was a sort of trust and an understanding of each other, and a willingness for both of us to push each other into taking risks.'
Also known for her Academy Award nominated performances in Pieces of a Woman, as well as her appearances in the Mission: Impossible films, Kirby not only stars in this Netflix film, but also serving as a producer. So, I was curious of her greatest priorities within her evolving career today, when selecting a script and choosing to put her time & energy towards a given project.
'I think if something scares you, it's a good sign,' Kirby said. 'This really scared me and I think it scared us because it was really hard. It's not an easy story - and actually, what I realized was when we were in Portland [filming], I went to see a women's shelter and spent some time with women there who had been homeless, because I wanted to understand the real reality of being one paycheck away from losing your home and then not having anywhere to live - and then not having an address, so you can't get a job. Then, you're in the system and you're reliant on a system that doesn't support you. I hadn't really seen anything given voice to that experience. And so, I spent loads of time with women who told their stories to me, that were even harder than the next. I thought - No one wants to go and put that on-screen because it's so hard to look at and it's painful to look at, and it's really challenging. Willy did that in his novel - and so, when we read the novel, I think we thought - Okay, this is really hard - this is really challenging.'
She added: 'It might be really difficult for people to watch, but it felt like it had a real meaning and real purpose to being. We read books by Matthew Desmond, who's now one of my favorite authors, and titles like Poverty, by America and the disparity between people that have and people that don't, and how hard it is to make a life for yourself. Even homeowning in itself is so challenging and there are so many things that have to go right, in order to achieve that. So much of America in our Western society is about you own a home and then you do this, and then you can do this and then you matter. It's so materialistic and we all live in it, and it just felt like - Yeah, we were given it. So, that was scary because it almost felt like it's a hard thing to do - it's a hard thing to represent, and Willy's book is also a thriller, so we had to kind of put it into that genre, too. So, there was many things that were challenging about it, but I think that's what made us want to tackle it, rather than something easy. It felt like a sort of unique, modern tragedy - the idea that you can be doing two or three jobs and still not be able to afford the home that you're living in. What I loved about it was Lynette is representative of millions of not just Americans - I think it's a universal issue, who are genuinely one paycheck away from collapse. I think that it's a story of those nurses, those single moms, those caregivers who are basically being priced out of the city that, actually, they helped to run.'
After telling this elaborate Night Always Comes story for the screen, what would these two filmmakers say to the real life 'Lynettes' of our world, people who are hanging on by a thread, just to get by?
Caron said, 'Well, I hope that this film shines a light on those people who are struggling and shows sympathy towards those people in the country who are struggling. They are seeing that we are shining a light on how difficult it is in these current times.'
Kirby added: 'I was just so honored to listen to those people's stories and in every chapter of the books that I read, there would be another person's story and it was such a universal voice, really. I just felt them so deeply. I was so living in it. I just couldn't - unless you're in that position, I don't think you can fully understand it - and it was just a real honor for me to try and embody it, and actually imagine what that's like because it's more people than we even realize. We're so privileged and so many people are in a daily struggle, and they're not represented. So, I just cared about her story so much.'
While concluding my conversation with Kirby, I left her with my signature, original interviewing question in two parts - First Vanessa, what would you say to your character Lynette, after embodying her on-screen for the Night Always Comes film? Also, what would you say to Sue Storm in Fantastic Four, if you could speak to your Marvel superhero character?
Kirby said, 'I'd say to Lynette - Put the oxygen mask on first. I think that's essentially what the story is - is just look after yourself first. And Sue, I would say - Oh man, the fact that she goes through a birth experience and a death experience - I would say what an amazing spiritual journey you had. I'd want to ask her those questions about that - dying and coming back to life like that. I think that was really cool. So, I think I'd want to ask her questions, rather than tell her what to do. I don't think I could tell Sue Storm what to do.'