Challenges can reveal who people really are. That's as true of Abigail, the breakout character of Ruben Östlund's first English-language film, "Triangle of Sadness," as of the actress who plays her, 53-year-old Manila native Dolly de Leon.
Abigail is what Filipinos call an "OFW": an overseas Filipino worker, someone who takes work abroad, usually menial, often to send money home. She is a "toilet manager" on the opulent cruise ship in the story's middle chapter. Especially considering the film's now-infamous seasickness sequence, that's not the most delightful labor. Like many Filipinos, De Leon knows OFWs personally.
"I only put their nurturing side, taking care of other people" into the role, she says in this fancy — but cold — dining area in the back of a downtown L.A. hotel. "They're compliant and obedient and hardworking. If you ask them to do something, even if they think that it's not part of their job description, they'll go beyond.
