The difference between British and American TV: the US does things more on the fly
MillenniumSteph asks:
You are so brilliant and bright. Do you have limits as an actress? What do you do to cry when acting? Is it easy or painful?
Guardian contributor
Limits? You tell me! I'd like to think I don't. If anything, I haven't got a limit when physically in front of a camera or on stage, but I do draw a line at having to take too much of work home with me.
As for crying, I try to keep an arsenal of reliable memories that'll get me going, or clips on YouTube from songs or films or shows that have made me cry in the past. Bit like emotional masturbation, to be vulgar and honest.
Do you think Amazing Amy [in Gone Girl] is essentially a bad person?
Guardian contributor
No. I don't think she's good or bad – she's operating on a different plane entirely. To categorise her as bad would be to oversimplify, and to categorise her as good would be a joke. She's neither.
If you could crossbreed two animals, what would they be?
Guardian contributor
A wolf and a shark. Somebody get me royalties if a terrible B-movie about this ever gets made.
GeorgeGr11 asks:
In my opinion you are one of the best active British actresses. I have read your statement that Crimson Peak left you "the loneliest [you've] ever been". What (mildly) traumatised you when playing that role?
Guardian contributor
Firstly, thank you! That's really sweet. And yes, it was intensely isolating playing Lucille, though interestingly the cast was one of the most fun groups of people ever, and Guillermo del Toro is a wonderful friend now. I think it was terrifying because I've always considered myself a bit of a loner, I think a lot of artistic types do, but when you're playing someone who is so intensely lonely like Lucille, and when the preparation is so lonely too (I learned to play piano, so when I wasn't working I was basically by myself doing scales), you're suddenly confronted with what it REALLY is to be lonely, and it's startling and scary to realise it. And so much of that character is her pain, both physical and mental, and you realise how isolating it is to be in that kind of pain, and it makes you question how you treat yourself and others when you're suffering. That shit is hard.
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Islam Khaled asks:
I think you gave one of the greatest TV performances as Morgan in Camelot. What influenced you to play this part so perfectly?
Guardian contributor
There are a lot of versions of the Arthurian legend and thus a lot of takes on Morgan, who she was, what her role was in his life, who else she influenced, and so on. There's too much to ever read it all, so I started with what the writers of the show did with her, and then worked backward, and looked a lot at Vita Merlini and Le Morte d'Arthur. The most important thing to me was that she not be an arch-villainess, because I think we've seen that before and it wouldn't have been as interesting. And just from a performance standpoint, working with people like Joseph Fiennes and Sinéad Cusack and James Purefoy makes you up your game, you can't half-arse it when you're standing next to them.
amylouise1910 asks:
What were you planning to pursue following your degree? Also, it seems to be the decade of the remake – is there a character from your childhood that you have always admired?
Guardian contributor
I was always going to be an actor. It's not some big secret that every drama school I applied to rejected me, and even when I pursued my Classics degree I was never not convinced I'd end up an actor, which I'm not sure was smart but sometimes bullishness works out.
My favourite movie growing up was The Sound Of Music, but not only can't I sing but I never want to see it remade. I'll forfeit any rights to do a remake of anything if the world can promise me they're never remaking it as a film.
amylouise1910 asks:
How important do you believe NT Live and the ultimate exposure to theatre will be? I know many people, including myself, admire the intimate and raw experience of watching a play or musical, but it is a privilege that many do not [get to experience]. With the deserved hype surrounding Hamilton and National Theatre productions, when ticket prices soar and seats are sold in seconds, how would you feel about live-streaming theatre productions, or the inevitable integration to TV theatre channels?
Guardian contributor
I think it's wonderful. As a medium it's still quite new, but I would be really pleased to see things like NT Live screenings expand. It's daunting for us, because we've spent months performing for a live audience and suddenly have to consider performing for them but also, in a way, to camera, and manage to make that experience as worthwhile for the people in the Lyttelton as the people watching elsewhere. But I think it's fantastic, I think everybody should have the opportunity to experience live theatre, and in the absence of more or cheaper tickets I think it's brilliant that we've found a way to fan it out across the world anyway.
Sara Elisabeth asks:
Your characters are all very different. How do you achieve such a level of emotional intensity with all of them? Your face is very expressive and you’re amazing at conveying emotion. Do you look at it from a superficial perspective as in body language and movements, or do you work on empathising with the character?
Guardian contributor
I always start with a lot of research about all aspects of what could be influencing the character, and that plus whatever I've learned from the writer and director start to create a skeleton for me to fill. For me I can't have one without the other – I want to know how she'd move and why, how she'd think and why, and how it'd ultimately come together to make a living, breathing person. It's a bit like a mathematical equation, in a way, but a complicated one.
DWFan1 asks:
What’s your favourite Pixar film?
Guardian contributor
I actually love one of their shorts, For The Birds. For any kid who's ever been bullied, or felt like an outsider, and stood your ground, it's incredibly satisfying.
Frankly, we're probably a bit cheaper, and on the whole I think we're a disciplined bunch, which helps when new shows are expensive to produce and have a lot of variables. And we've grown up watching American telly, so most of us have a good sense of the accent to start.
I find that UK productions are really invested in development before greenlight, whereas the Americans tend to give the go-ahead for a big concept and then pump a lot of money into making it the best it can be but the actual creation of it is more on the fly. I mean, look at Westworld; they had to stall production so their development team could catch up, because the cart had got a bit before the horse. (Full disclosure: I LOVE Westworld! It's just a good example of the production difference.)