Cynthia Erivo turns down plenty of projects, but she knew immediately that she wanted to make Prima Facie, a film about a lawyer who’s raped. During a Monday, Oct. 12 Screen Talk at the 70th BFI London Film Festival, the 39-year-old actress said her choices come down to a feeling about whether a role fits, People reported.

“I feel like I have an internal metronome that tells me when something is right for me, and when something is not,” Erivo said.

She’s promoting Prima Facie, her first major role since playing Elphaba in Wicked: For Good. The story’s importance drew her to the project before she could fully explain its pull: “I just knew immediately that I wanted to do this because I knew how important it was. I also I had this feeling that it was more important than I was even aware of, and I wanted to be part of it.”

For Erivo, the film offers a way to talk about consent, particularly how someone responds when another person says no. She wanted the conversation to include how her character’s lack of consent is received.

Filming difficult scenes with co-star Daniel Ings also left her grateful for their intimacy coordinator, who helped both actors feel as comfortable as possible. Erivo said those coordinators deserve more credit: their responsibilities extend beyond planning intimate scenes to helping performers feel safely back in their own bodies after harrowing material.