Diane Lane has been acting for decades but in her latest film she’s taking on a role she has never played before – a grandmother.
In Let Him Go she plays Margaret Blackledge, a woman trying to find her grandson after her son dies and her daughter-in-law re-marries.
The actress told Sky News’ Backstage podcast that the character is one that will stay with her: “She moved into my heart, I think she’ll always be with me in a way, because she’s my first grandmother.
Diane Lane and Kevin Costner are reunited in the crime thriller, playing grandparents searching for their grandson. Pic: Focus Features
“Strong women come in surprising packages, and when I say strong, I mean not just wilful, but we have three mothers in this story and we see what motherhood is to different women and how they handle that responsibility and how they interpret their role.”
The movie sees the Unfaithful star reunited with Kevin Costner.
The pair have played Superman’s adoptive parents in the recent DC movies and Lane says they knew that they wanted to work together again.
“It was just a little bit too brief on the Superman films and we just knew we had to find the right material and I was grateful that it [Let Him Go] came my way and I could present it to Kevin.
“He knows a good screenplay when he reads one, he’s certainly a man of taste and accomplishment, so he’s not going to mince words.
“When he signed on, I knew we were going to have a good time because of our chemistry. And because the story has so many different elements coming together that Kevin can embody with just his presence – he brings so much to a character.”
Kayli Carter (left) with Lane and baby Jimmy on set. Pic: Focus Features
The film, an adaptation from the book of the same name, is not dialogue heavy but it’s clear from the start that Lane and Costner’s characters have been married a long time.
Lane says that’s one thing that drew her to the story.
“It’s a 30-year marriage that we’re thrust into and as people who can vouch for long-term relationships, it becomes less and less without lengthy dialogues and more about, you know, corner of your mouth goes up and the other ones like ‘What? What?’
“Because you can read each other’s mind and body language and you know each other’s history so well and you know how each other thinks.
“It allows more room for chemistry to fill in the blanks.”
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The film also stars actress Leslie Manville as the cruel matriarch of the family who now has the grandson the Blackledges are trying to track down.
Lane is so keen to talk about her British co-star, who will star as Princess Margaret in the fifth series of The Crown, that she asks during the interview if we can discuss her.
“Oh, I adore her, she is a formidable actress, world-class, the fact that I got to work with her in this and the scenes that we got to do together were enough for me to want to be in the film anyway.
“She’s just such good energy and we did manage to have a coffee here or a glass of wine there, and it’s so nice – I certainly miss that type of opportunity now with our global predicament.”
Lesley Manville (right) with director Thomas Bezucha (left). Pic: Focus Features
With face to face meet ups off the cards for now, Lane is relieved to have shot Let Him Go last year, before the coronavirus pandemic took hold.
“I call this a good gift from 2019, good memories – even though it’s a difficult film.
“It’s a smart movie I think, it combines elements – you have the family, you have the relationship, and you have this road trip of course that’s heading towards a kind of doom.
“It’s not a fairy tale version of a movie… The way it ends, you’re just saying, ‘wow’, and you think things are going to be wrapped up a certain way and then it’s not that, it’s something else, so it lingers with you in a way that is more interesting, I think.”
Let Him Go is out in UK cinemas now
Hear more from Diane Lane in the latest episode of Backstage, the film and TV podcast from Sky News