Michaela Coel on Hunter Schafer: “She Is a Woman Who Makes Others, Including Me, Feel Safe”

Last March, when designer Gogo Graham asked Hunter Schafer about her career goals, Schafer expressed her wish to collaborate with Michaela Coel, who she called a “genius.” Coel, a British actress and filmmaker, is best known for I May Destroy You, the 2020 semi-autobiographical series that debuted to near-universal critical acclaim—and later won an Emmy and two BAFTAs. She followed that up with a lauded role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and an election to the U.K.’s Royal Society of Literature. Schafer was not out on a limb in thinking that way, in other words.

Schafer, an American actor and model, has a history as a master manifester, and sure enough: She was cast alongside Coel in the upcoming A24 film Mother Mary, which is currently shooting in Germany. The actors bonded through their time on set, and they reunited at GQ’s Global Creativity Awards, where Coel presented Schafer with an award.

“Working with Hunter is truly…‘euphoric,” Coel joked from the GCA’s stage, in reference to Schafer’s role on the hit teen drama. She recounted meeting a tipsy Schafer in the Metropolitan Museum of Art restrooms and later witnessing her wearing Prada in Milan. The pair’s relationship blossomed after partying together in German nightclubs and sharing “full fat” Coca-Colas.

Coel struck a more serious note when she said that during filming they protected each other in a country unfamiliar, and possibly hostile, to them both.

“She is a woman who makes others, including me, feel safe when in a dangerous territory,” Coel said. “She is a woman who shouts for others who can only whisper, she is a woman who advocates for the world.”