British talent Michael Coel is a vision of beauty as she graces the cover of Variety — donning a breathtaking Kente-cloth attire.
Coel is one of six creative influencers in comedy honored in the 2021 Power of Women issue.
Coel’s 12-episode HBO series, “I May Destroy You”, received critical acclaim following its June debut.
In the series, Coel’s character Arabella experiences flashbacks from the night she was drugged and raped in a bathroom stall of a club. Arabella tries desperately to recollect the pieces from the night, leading to her track down and confront her rapist.
Many viewers resonated with Arabella, and Coel thinks she knows the reason why.
“Even though it’s fictional, there’s something very transparent about the show,” Coel tells Variety. “I know a lot of people will say, ‘You think you know me, but you have no idea.’ And I feel like, ‘No. You probably do have a pretty good idea.'”
She added, “I think that this is the tip of the iceberg in terms of using fiction to really bring audiences to quite personal, challenging and dark places and asking audiences to question the world around them. The way people received the show, as we would say in London, gave me vim.”
Coel is not afraid to speak on the hard issues. Last week, she publicly applauded the 20 women who stepped forward to accuse British director and screenwriter Noel Clarke of sexual misconduct and bullying.
Coel worked with Clarke on his 2008 movie, “Adulthood.” The flick was a follow-up to his breakout film, “Kidulthood.”
Coel had retweeted The Guardian article, later adding that she had “great support for the 20 brave women who have come forward”.
“Speaking out about these incidents takes a lot of strength because some call them ‘grey areas’. They are however far from grey,” she said.
