In Bloom

Ireland’s pre-eminent blonde bombshell (with apologies to Mr. O’Driscoll) is bustling – and that is, I’m certain, the appropriate term – around her London residence in search of pacifiers and Bear In The Big Blue House videos to appease her glorious one-year-old daughter, Phoebe.

“I’m really sorry,” she giggles, “this is so not Hot Press material’. Heavens, if Angeline Ball only knew how infantile the viewing habits around here are…
Admittedly, it is a bit peculiar speaking to Ms. Ball in her mommy incarnation. I had imagined that with those goddess good-looks and curves in places where most girls don’t even have places she would spend her days reclining decadently amidst sequins and silks, pausing only for champagne and massages in the manner of Dietrich or De Lempicka. No such luck it would seem. Not that she’s dwarfed by domesticity just yet. Most recent Dublin-based sightings of the actress saw her glittering her way through the premiere for Bloom, director Sean Walsh’s ambitious adaptation of James Joyce’s Ulysses. It recently hit cinemas following ten years of painstaking research (50 readings and 800 drafts of the screenplay – ouch, synaptic meltdown alert) and pre-production angst.
“The Dublin premiere was the third time I watched Bloom,” explains the sunny Irish actress, “so that’s it now – I’m putting it to bed. But I’m really pleased that it’s such a good film and that the reaction has been so positive – particularly when you consider how small the film is.”
Though Molly Bloom is a dream-role for any girl – just think of all Fionnula Flanagan’s ecstatically yelped affirmations and you’ll understand why – Angeline was somewhat daunted by the prospect of essaying such an iconic literary lady – “I couldn’t predict what kind of reaction she’d get. It’s great that she’s sensual, but professionally that can be unfortunate when you’re taking a role on. I mean, Molly can be interpreted as being a free-spirited, freethinking modern woman, or you might find her just too full on. So it really pleased me that so many women responded positively and came up to me after the film was screened. I was glad they identified with her. And I was just happy people didn’t think she was threatening or perverted.”
Angeline need not have agonised over the collective female response to Molly’s morals. She skilfully tempers the character’s cuckolding carnality with tenderness, and her (deservedly) much-praised rendition is invested with far too humanity to be remembered simply as the sick puppy who gets off watching canine sex.
Inevitably though, Bloom’s sexually charged material did entail much onscreen friskiness, and the film’s feline back-arching content has worked to earn Angeline’s rear a potentially J –Lo-bothering rep (I’d sleep with one eye open – Jen’s not one to be trifled with). Ms. Ball claims to be taken aback by the news that she’s considered to have the cri dernier among derrieres, but states that no lunges down the gym were involved.
“Well, I can’t take any credit because I have my pregnancy to thank for my roundness,” she smiles, “and I’m shocked because I thought if anything the boobs would be getting the attention.
“When I was doing those shots I just kept thinking – Oh God, let’s get this over with as quickly as possible, but I didn’t mind not being my lowest weight because I wanted her to be realistic. And I also remember thinking about that billboard poster of Sophie Dahl – the one where she’s naked except for high heels – the one that was banned. I remember seeing an interview with the art director of that shoot where he explained that he wanted her to look like she had too much of everything – like she had too much sex, too much bed, too much chocolate. And I think that’s what I wanted to portray with Molly – that sense of being a woman who’ll deny herself nothing.”
As someone who dabbled briefly in Hollywood before deciding that body fascism and slapper roles weren’t for her thank-you-very-much, Angeline had no problems disrobing despite her condition.
“We did some nudity, but we didn’t use those shots in the end. Not that I had a problem doing them. There’s so much pressure on actresses to basically be anorexic but I’ve reached a stage in my life where I’m happy, and when we were making Bloom I was delighted to be pregnant, so if anything pregnancy made me feel more confident about my body. I wasn’t worried about my size or my image. I was revelling in it.”
She may have been thrilled with her new voluptuousness but she wisely decided to keep her pregnancy secret on set.
“It was quite hard to conceal sometimes because I was sick as a dog and so, so tired, but I just didn’t want people treating me like an invalid, especially considering the scenes I was doing. It was just lucky I had my mammy around to make me tea and toast.”
Though she’s getting ready to go back out looking for acting jobs, Angeline has been keeping busy with her new maternal duties and by doing some voice-over work for animated projects.
“It’s lovely doing voice work for stuff like that when you’ve just had a child,” she coos, “and you don’t have to hit the gym first. I have done that kind of work before, for The Pebble And The Penguin and so on, and it’s fantastic because you get to sing which I love. I actually got doing stuff with Barry Manilow before so I was thrilled about that. Oh God, I know that’s going to look really uncool in Hot Press, but I was.”
Another fortunate by-product of playing Molly Bloom is that the actress feels she can finally lay the ghost of The Commitments’ teen temptress Imelda Quirke to rest.
“A part like that is wonderful, but it’s a mixed blessing. I mean, I played Imelda fourteen years ago and people still think of me as being her. Sometimes they come up and say ‘Oh, you’ve gotten older!’ and I’m like – of course I have! What did you think? It’s as if they expect that the film would stop time or something. And because Imelda was the ‘glamour’ role, people also assume that I’m like that. I’m not. I don’t put on a show when I go out, I don’t crave attention. But now I’ve done Molly, it’s probably a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire. Oh no – I’m going to end up being a pin-up for all those Joyce men in white, canvas shoes!”

Bloom is on selected release as part of the Bloomsday celebrations, June 16