Page 1 of Take Me Away

THE GUARDIAN

FILM | 01 OCTOBER

Isla Quinn Breaks Decade of Silence to Support Actress Who Accused Director Marcus Vale of Sexual Misconduct

Oscar-winner’s statement raises questions about her own experiences working with former mentor during formative years of her career

by sarah mitchell

Isla Quinn has issued a public statement supporting Jemima Collins, the young actress who last week accused acclaimed British director Marcus Vale of sexual harassment, coercion, and abuse of power – a move that has intensified scrutiny not only of Vale but of Quinn’s own relationship with the director who launched her career.

Quinn, who rose to prominence under Vale’s direction and worked with him exclusively from ages 18 to 25, confirmed she had witnessed concerning behaviour on Vale’s sets but stopped short of detailing her own experiences during those years.

‘I stand with Jemima Collins,’ Quinn’s statement reads. ‘Her decision to speak publicly about her experiences has given others the permission to acknowledge their own truths. I witnessed firsthand the culture of control and manipulation that existed on Marcus Vale’s productions. What happened to Jemima is not an isolated incident – it is part of a systemic pattern of behaviour that has been enabled and protected for far too long.’

The carefully worded statement, released through Quinn’s publicist, has sent shockwaves through the British film industry, with many noting the significant gap between what Quinn has said publicly and what she has conspicuously not said about her own time under Vale’s direction.

‘The phrase “their own truths” is doing a lot of work in that statement,’ observed one industry veteran who worked on two of Quinn and Vale’s collaborations. ‘Isla isn’t just talking about Jemima. She’s talking about herself too. Anyone who spent time on those sets knows something was wrong.’

Quinn was 18 when Vale cast her in her first film role in 2014, plucking her from relative obscurity at a London drama school. Over the next five years, she appeared exclusively in Vale’s films, a period during which she gave no interviews, made few public appearances outside of festival circuits, and was rarely photographed without Vale at her side.

The working relationship, which industry insiders have long described as ‘unusually close’ and ‘intensely controlled’, ended abruptly in 2019. Quinn has not worked with Vale since; a professional separation that at the time was attributed to ‘scheduling conflicts’ but which now appears in a different light.

‘Looking back, the red flags were everywhere,’ said a source who worked on The Lighthouse, the 2017 film that earned Quinn her Academy Award. ‘She was never allowed to speak to press without Marcus present. She had no social media. We were told she was “shy” and “protecting her process”, but now you wonder – was that her choice or his?’

Quinn has not given interviews or made public appearances since Collins’s allegations emerged last Wednesday. Sources close to the actress suggest she has left London, though her current whereabouts are unknown. Attempts to reach her have been unsuccessful.

Vale, 52, has vehemently denied all allegations through his legal team, describing Collins’s claims as ‘categorically false’ and threatening legal action. His representatives have not yet responded to Quinn’s statement, though sources suggest Vale is ‘furious’ at what he views as a betrayal from the actress he ‘made’. The allegations have already had professional consequences for Vale, who was removed from the BBC’s upcoming adaptation of George Eliot’s Middlemarch on Tuesday. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has also announced an internal review of Vale’s fellowship, which was awarded in 2018.

For Quinn, the decision to speak publicly – however cautiously – is likely to have significant personal and professional consequences. Vale remains a powerful figure in both British cinema and Hollywood, with deep ties to major studios and production companies. Several industry sources speaking anonymously suggested Quinn’s career may never recover from this public break with her former mentor.

However, Collins thanked Quinn in a post on social media yesterday evening, writing: ‘I am not alone. We are not alone. Thank you, Isla, for your bravery. I see you.’

The phrase ‘I see you’ has particular resonance given the nature of Collins’s allegations, which include claims that Vale took and retained intimate photographs of actresses as a form of control. Collins has not elaborated on this claim, and it remains unclear whether similar allegations will emerge from other women who have worked with the director.

Quinn’s representatives have declined requests for further comment. The actress’s next scheduled public appearance was to be at the London premiere of her latest film, The Turning, on 18 December, though sources close to the production suggest she may not attend.

When asked whether Quinn plans to make a fuller statement about her own experiences working with Vale, her publicist would say only: ‘Isla has spoken. The statement stands.’ But for those reading between the lines, the statement – particularly the phrase about others being given ‘permission to acknowledge their own truths’ – suggests Quinn’s story with Marcus Vale is far from over.

Collins, 22, first went public with her allegations in an interview with this newspaper last week, describing a pattern of inappropriate sexual advances, professional retaliation, and emotional manipulation during the production of Vale’s most recent film, Tides of Change.

Additional reporting by Emma Rodriguez

Chapter One

ISLA

If I breathe deep enough, I can still taste Maggie’s blackcurrant jam. Not the posh Bonne Maman stuff with the checkered lid, but her own sticky concoction that clung to your fingers and turned Sunday toast into a whole damn memory – the kind that settles in your bones long after it fades.

Maggie’s jam clings to memory like it did to Sunday toast. Sticky. Stubborn. Impossible to forget.

I peer through the car window. Peeling paint. Roses that haven’t been trimmed. Maggie loved her roses, always with her secateurs in hand, a little trim here, a little trim there. She used to tell me I was her rose. You have to stand proud, Isla. Like the last rose of summer.

I’m glad she can’t see me here like this, crawling back, swallowed by regret.

Five years ago I was Hollywood’s golden girl. Now I’m radioactive.

I step out of the taxi with all the grace of a woman who’s just climbed out of an SUV at Cannes – then nearly trip on a loose paving stone, because Sea Salt Bay’s roads have turned into a slip-slide of churned-up muck. Welcome home. The driver doesn’t offer to help. Probably still judging me from when he asked if I was that Isla Quinn and I smiled too long without answering.