It’s not often you come across a comedy as wickedly smart as Chivalry. Created by Aram Rappaport (Syrup), the enjoyable #MeToo era tale, which recently debuted on free streaming platform The Network, is written by Sarah Solemani (Bridget Jones’s Baby) and Steve Coogan (Philomena, I Am Alan Partridge). The story finds a critically acclaimed female director, Bobby (Solemani), having to doctor a troubled production run by a seasoned male producer, Cameron (Coogan). She’s also speaking up while several privileged white males around her play #MeToo catch-up and reconsider their motivations and actions.

It's all brilliantly executed, but the underlying tone illuminates the immense transition the film industry and society, in general, is moving through as more individuals speak up about onset injustices. To which Solemani told MovieWeb about an instance from her past.

“I'm an open book,” she said. “I mean, I was physically assaulted on the set by a man who wasn't well and really should have… not just removed from the set, but maybe institutionalized. But again, it was the sort of notion of the ‘artistic genius,’ the method actor. It was a fight scene, and he just put his hands on my neck and just started squeezing, and I couldn't breathe. And the only reason we cut was because I couldn't stay in my line… Then the makeup [person] came and just sort of painted the hand marks over my neck, so we could go again. And no one really cared. I wasn't very high up on the call sheet, so I didn't feel like I had a lot of power.”

Solemani decided to talk to the props person, telling them, “’I need something to spit in his face.’ And it was an ancient show,” she went on, “which might give you a clue what it was. And they would eat dates. So, I just ate dates. Then, when [the actor] came to attack me, I just spat this mouthful of dates in his face. And he got really angry, then went for me, and we just went out of shot, and I could kind of gargle and die off-screen. And the director loved it and we moved on. But [the actor] was really, really angry. But I was quite proud of myself.” We are too, and happy she got through it.

Has Hollywood Changed?

Things may be less intense on Chivalry, but Solemani culls from her own unique experiences as an actor and writer. When asked how she feels the tone is in Hollywood during the #MeToo era, she said:

“I mean, it's night and day really. When I was working, things like intimacy supervisors… you know, we were being asked to roll around futons doing improvised sex scenes in men's flats on camera… kissing and fondling in auditions and things like that. I think that stopped, which is great. There’s a huge respect for, especially actresses' bodies. Women's bodies aren't just sort of warm props. They are recognized as bodies with history, with stories, with pain."

“An intimacy supervisor will find that maybe the neck might be very triggering for someone or... I mean, even just sharing that anecdote, I'm like, ‘Yeah, go easy on the neck, mate,’” she added. “So that's changed. I still think studios are more comfortable asking for money for their stuff. So, what needs to change is, I think women, or anyone who struggles with knowing their worth or believing in their art should be encouraged, to say, ‘This is what I want to make, and this is why you should invest in me.’ And I think the more confidence you have in asking, the more likely it is you'll get your stories told.’”

Related: Chivalry Review | Steve Coogan & Sarah Solemani Charm in This Wicked Comedy

Speaking Up Is Vital

Several years ago, in an interview with The Guardian, Solemani shared she had long been frightened to talk about “female stuff” in scripts. Not anymore. “I've spent years and years and years writing,” she said. “I've been doing live comedy and writing my own shows… I always thought I could maybe transition into television, and every time I wrote something, it would always get rejected. I remember one producer saying, ‘You know, I know we asked for female, but this is a bit too female.’ So, when the culture is giving you all those messages… you just internalize that limitation.”

Related: The Best Feminist Comedy Movies

Solemani eventually moved from England to Hollywood to write for the hit show Barry with creator Bill Hader and Alec Berg. She and Hader shared a commonality on internalizing limitations brought on by the entertainment industry. Then the #MeToo movement arrived.

“In any kind of social movement, there's a moment of consciousness where you go, ‘Wait a minute, what happened to us wasn't cool,’” she shared. “And that's what #MeToo felt like — this explosion of confession and realization and reassessment, maybe fear for some people, and a kind of liberation for others. So, when me and Steve [Coogan} started talking about writing a show about it [on the set of the film Greed], it really did feel like, ‘Okay, so that wasn't all in vain — that struggle, that journey. I can actually use that to talk about how hard it has been to be a woman in the business.’”

How Solemani Collaborated with Steve Coogan

Chivalry tackles those challenges to winning ends, in fact. The character of Bobby has worked much harder to prove her worth than many of her male filmmaker colleagues. Solemani and Coogan wanted to capture that dilemma, but also give Coogan’s character a story arc that would invite him to grow.

“We'd obviously had very different experiences in the industry, especially being in comedy,” Solemani shared of the brainstorming sessions with Coogan. “He'd become very famous, very successful, very young. I'd kind of… always get rejected. And my experience as an actress would be different to his experience as an actor. We would… throw about our opinions, our experiences, but we'd also make each other laugh. We were also just aware that everyone was being a bit cautious and being a bit frightened, especially in Hollywood, where there were financial consequences to not taking this new movement seriously.”

Related: Best Steve Coogan Performances, Ranked

Settling on writing a series in the new #MeToo landscape, they still wanted to make it funny and perhaps toss in a romantic through line. Off to work they went. “Well, my joke with [Coogan] as a writer is that he brings a lot to the table, but sadly not a pen or a laptop,” Solemani said, smiling. She continued:

“So, I'm the typist, and he hooks his legs on the table and spouts funnies. Then there's an actor, I mean, he's an actor. I think he's an actor that can write, and I'm probably a writer that can act. And that’s the sort of dynamic that worked. He wants to say out the lines and feel out beats as an actor would, rather than sweating over a laptop for hours and hours — that was left to me.”

Sienna Miller and Intimacy Coordinators

If there’s a scene-stealer in Chivalry, it’s Sienna Miller, playing a seasoned, and perhaps burnt out, megastar. Suddenly, an intimacy coordinator is brought in to work with Miller’s character and the young shirtless hunk standing in for the main star. A new love scene must be shot, and it’s played out brilliantly, to which Solemani noted:

"That was a great scene. We wanted to move away from the idea that all women would benefit in one direction and all men would benefit in another direction. I mean, we're slightly satirizing the intimacy supervisors, which were not a thing when I was coming up as an actress. And like any new department or any new profession, some are better than others. And some intimacy supervisors are fantastic."

"We actually had one who was fantastic on Chivalry," continued Solemani. "And there are some that might make actors feel more uncomfortable. Some actors just want to get on with it. They don't want to talk about it. We wanted to do that contradiction. Bobby thinks that she's moving the needle forward for feminists or for women. When it comes to her work, she's finding it kind of frustrating.”

On Bridget Jones

Meanwhile, the buzz continues to build on the next Bridget Jones movie, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy. Solemani joined the franchise with Bridget Jones's Baby, playing the titular character's friend Miranda and her co-worker at Hard News. “It's so moving,” Solemani shared of the film that reunites her with Renée Zellweger and Hugh Grant. Emma Thompson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Leo Woodall also star. “We did the read-through and there were genuine tears and heart-stopping moments,” she added, “then incredibly funny [moments]. I mean, Renée really is just… such a goddess.”

Speaking of Hugh Grant, in a recent MovieWeb interview, the actor shared that upon reading the script, he was, “properly crying” over some of the more heart-tugging scenes. “I'm hoping any Bridget Jones fans will be absolutely thrilled,” Solemani went on, “and maybe we'll even collect some more along the way, who knows?” Well, you can bet on it. Meanwhile, catch Chivalry exclusively on The Network app.