AS POPPY, the fluttering, free-spirited elementary school teacher at the heart of director Mike Leigh's new film, "Happy-Go-Lucky," British actress Sally Hawkins glows like a miniature sun, radiating an infectious sense of joy and a ravenous hunger for life.
But as Hawkins has recently learned, unchecked eagerness can be a dangerous thing. While shooting a romantic comedy over the summer, Hawkins thought she'd have a go at doing her own minor stunts; the result was that she arrived at the recent Toronto International Film Festival with a broken clavicle and her right arm in a sling.
"I was in high heels and a wedding dress, and I was on somebody's back at the time, and I had to propel myself through the air," she says with a laugh. "I was a bit Buster Keaton-esque, and slightly enthusiastic."
There's nothing slight about the enthusiasm Hawkins brings to her character in "Happy-Go-Lucky," which opens in theaters on Friday. Poppy approaches each new experience with childlike alertness and an almost pathologically upbeat nature. When she discovers her bicycle has been stolen, she reacts not with shock or anger, but a kind of wistful disappointment. "I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye," she sighs.
The loss of her bike brings Poppy into contact with Scott (Eddie Marsan), a driving instructor whose volcanic rages are the flip side of Poppy's aggressive optimism. The more he seethes, at her and at the world, the more she laughs. Although Poppy sometimes comes off as a blithe spirit, she is no credulous Candide, oblivious to the world's darker side. Her pointed good-naturedness recalls the watchword for John Cusack's character in "Say Anything": "Optimism as a revolutionary act."
"She definitely loves to tease, and provoke and push," Hawkins says. "She's a teacher. She challenges people."
As is Leigh's custom, Poppy was built from scratch, created out of conversations with Hawkins over several months. "You talk about people you know, or people that you've seen on the street or on the train, and he's taking notes all the time," Hawkins says. "You're pulling together all this information, he's sort of sucking it out of you, and he then focuses on something that he obviously likes. It's like going through a filing system in your brain."
