(Photo credit: Anne-Marie Johnson/IMDb)
Anne-Marie Johnson is exploring the complexities of aging and finding yourself in her new film, The Addiction of Hope.
As she told me a few weeks ago, The Addiction of Hope draws on some of her experiences with aging, especially aging in the public eye.
“A lot of people get older, and only their friends and family, you know, go through the process. But when you’re a public figure, you’re getting older in real time with people who publicly watch you on a regular basis,” she said. “They’re also watching your old stuff on a regular basis, and they want you to remain in that box of your previous work. So it’s a very unique experience for people who are in front of the camera.”
“It’s not an experience filled with grace,” she continued. “This is a tough business. No one forced any actor to be in this business, but it is a tough business, especially for women, and especially for women of color.”
The Addiction of Hope is written and directed by Johnson’s husband and fellow actor Martin A. Gottlieb. The film follows Jo, an actress who feels like her best days are behind her. Now in an industry she hates, she struggles with self-worth. At the same time, Jo’s sister asks her to come back home to help her deal with a health diagnosis. Jo is forced to reckon with her family trauma and her future.
Johnson said Gottlieb was inspired to write the film after talking with Johnson about their shared experiences of getting older in Hollywood.
“He has been with me through this aging experience in the industry. He is a former actor himself, and it’s no joke–when you get older, the jobs just disappear. No one’s interested in you once you hit a particular point,” she said.
“So during the pandemic, Martin sat down to share his experience, my experience, and our peers’ experiences, whether they’re actors or not, about becoming irrelevant, about having the desire to find happiness no matter what you’re doing, and finding your strength, finding your hope, finding your faith and finding your family,” she added. “That really is what The Addiction of Hope is about. Even though it focuses on an African-American woman of a particular age who’s an actor, it’s relatable to anyone who’s facing those crossroads.”
A “love-hate-relationship” with Hollywood
Johnson’s career includes many credits, such as In the Heat of the Night television series, Hollywood Shuffle, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, Strictly Business, The Five Heartbeats, That’s So Raven, Days of Our Lives, Smart Guy, Ally McBeal and many more. In recent years, you might have seen her on How to Get Away with Murder, Raven’s Home, Cherish the Day and NCIS.
Her character in The Addiction of Hope, Jo, is alluded to have some of the longevity Johnson has. But, unlike Johnson, Jo is cynical, self-loathing and hurt by the industry and her family. Johnson made it clear she’s none of those things.
“I had to remind myself that I was playing a character because Anne-Marie handles things different than Jo, which is great when you have those types of challenges in the work that you’re doing because it’s not that often for the types of roles that I get,” she said.
“Now, truth be told, my career has had wonderful highs and terrible lows,” she continued. “There were periods where I went without work for two to three years in a row. Or you get a ton of work and you do this work, but it never airs. Or you’re cast in a TV series and you’re thinking, ‘I finally made it,’ but it doesn’t get picked up.”
She laughed, calling Hollywood “a stupid business” that she chose to get into. But, she said, she always wanted to act since she was a young child.
“I used to be the vice president of the Screen Actors Guild [SAG], and actors are perpetually unemployed,” she said. “…Every job here is your last job. You have to keep the momentum going. You have to be prepared and you always have to look for those open doors and open windows. It’s exhausting for the people that do it. So I related with Jo definitely on that aspect. She wore a chip on her shoulder and I always fought very hard not to have a chip on her shoulder.”
There are also other aspects of the acting industry Johnson relates with Jo on, such as how hard it is to actually find your next job, even for established actors with legacy careers.
“It’s a love-hate relationship,” she said about her view of Hollywood. “I’ve been at this for a long time, but 99 percent of my jobs come from auditions. I’m not offered roles. I’m always having to prove myself over and over and over again,” she said. It really doesn’t matter how many credits I have, I’m always meeting new people who absolutely have no idea who I am or the work that I’ve done. So I’m always having to prove myself.”
“And you know, at some point, if I allowed it, I could become very bitter and not care anymore and just throw up my hands and say, ‘I’m done. I’m better than this.’ But I’ve worked very hard not to ally my ego to take over my confidence muscle,” she continued, adding that for Jo, staying in the industry might just be out of spite.
“She maybe staying in a business that she hates for the wrong reasons. I’ve remained in this business because I also spend a good chunk of it helping other actors, being with the Screen Actors Guild,” said Johnson. “My specialty at the Screen Actors Guild was diversity and affirmative action programs, what we now call DEI. That’s all I did at the Screen Actors Guild. So keeping on learning and working outside of myself kept me from being so focused on my career and becoming resentful and jealous. So that’s what I can recommend to a lot of artists out there–don’t get consumed. Avoid self-consumption because it’s not a good smell. It’s not a good look. It only makes yourself miserable.”
While the grind might be hard, there are aspects of the industry that Johnson says have changed since she started her career, such as the opportunities for people of color.
“I would be less than honest if I said, ‘Oh nothing has changed.’ Let me tell you something. In my short time on this earth, I’ve seen extreme changes in the positive,” she said. “When my peers and I sit around and talk about the ‘good old days,’ we all admit that the opportunities for people of color are [astounding]; I don’t even recognize it compared to when I was starting. So the advancement of work for people of color and for women has been absolutely incredible.”
But, even with the opportunities, studios are making the grind even harder. Johnson talked about how some actors are getting other side-hustles to support themselves since acting jobs aren’t paying what they used to. She said that according to SAG stats, 97 percent of actors are unemployed at any given time.
‘What I have realized… is that even though I may have more work opportunities, I’m making less than I did 30 years ago,” she said. “Even though I may be working more, it may appear to the audience that I’m working more, I’m nowhere making the money I made when I was starting.”
“When I was starting out and when I was really in the peak of my career, I never thought about getting a job because my salaries allowed me to live a very comfortable, middle-class living in Los Angeles. Now that’s impossible,” she said. “So the advancements have been incredible, but the financial harm is undeniable, and it’s sad. People can’t afford to live here in LA. …Actors can’t sustain a middle-class living any longer being an actor. You have to have other jobs. So our opportunities are everywhere, all the type of content we create, but the trade-off is you just don’t get paid.”
A “thinking person’s film”
Even though The Addiction of Hope focuses on the acting industry, Jo’s frustrations with herself and with life are universal. Anyone can find themselves at a crossroads, not sure what they want or who they want to be.
Johnson said that so many people who viewed the film during screenings identified with the film, “regardless of their age, race, socio-economic situation, gender identity.”
“A lot of it came from loss, whether it’s loss via death or divorce or children moving out of the home…loss of oneself, loss of family, identity, loss of relevance, loss of agency,” she said regarding the viewers who felt kinship with Jo. “When we were traveling the country, we were really happy that people were connecting with it on that level. But it is quite painful, you know? Getting older is painful. There’s nothing easy about it. And I think what our film does is allow people to actually think about it and talk about it.”
Jo’s relationship with her mother is one aspect that brings up a lot to discuss. Johnson is proud of the fact that the film focuses on a mother and daughter relationship, cutting through the sheer number of father and son stories out there.
“The industry likes to concentrate on father and son relationships, you know? I cannot tell you how many films there are about the father and son dynamic. And when they do a film about daughter and mother dynamics, it’s either a comedy or the most tragic, depressing story to tell,” she said. “What we wanted to do was show how your relationship with your parent, even beyond a parent’s life, [affects] your life. And if there is trauma, either you choose to hold onto it, or you choose to understand it and move on. And I think what we see is we finally see Jo finally find empathy and grace [for her mother], even though her mother has [passed].”
What happens in the film, said Johnson, “releases something in Jo that she’s been holding onto for quite some time, and will be better for it in the long run.”
The Addiction of Hope can bring out some difficult emotions, but Johnson said that for her and Gottlieb, the film is “very inspirational.”
“You have to go through the depths of anger, realization, honesty, honest vulnerability. Ultimately, it really is an inspirational film. We hope to keep encouraging people just to keep at it and find a path to happiness,” she said.
“We like to call it a thinking person’s film because the response we’ve gotten throughout its release, people tell us that they’ve been thinking about the film days after seeing it,” she added. “…There [are] certain things that stay with them and they want to talk about it. They want to share their personal experience. And isn’t that why we do what we do? Because you want people to actually learn something for find something relatable or both, and to be entertained.”
You can stream The Addiction of Hope on Tubi, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play and Amazon Prime.