(energetic music)
- I'm Oliver Travine, In Studio for The Hollywood Reporter
with the lovely Natalie Dormer.
- Hello. - How are you?
- I'm good. - We were just talking
about British lingo. - We were.
- What was it you just said, you just said?
- You were talking about swear words. (laughs)
- Yeah, no, you said fibbing.
- Oh I said fibbing, yeah.
- Which is lying. - Lying, fibbing, yeah.
- You were telling me something truthful
and she pointed out the fact that she wasn't fibbing.
So anyone watching, there's a bit of British lingo for you.
- We might pepper this conversation
with a few British words.
- What else you got, what else comes to mind?
- What else comes to mind, I said wanky yesterday.
- Wanky. - Yeah.
And the interviewer needed to check what I was saying.
- Okay, I know what you're saying.
(laughing)
Let's hope this interview isn't very wanky.
It's going to be good.
- It's not going to be indulgent,
it's not going to be indulgent.
- Yeah, there you go.
- It's good, it's good, I miss it, I miss it.
I miss words like that so it's nice
to have it back for a minute,
no one knows what we're saying.
We'll move on. - We better move on.
- We'll move on to important stuff.
I mean, you're always busy, but extremely busy
'cause this project, In Darkness, cowrote, produced,
starring in-- - Yes.
- That's a handful. - That is a handful.
- Was it a handful? - It was a handful.
- Was it more of a handful than you expected going into it?
(laughing)
- It was a huge handful, but it was a wonderful experience
and I'm really, really glad I did it.
I learned a lot. - I was going to say,
I'm sure there are a few lessons in there.
- Yeah, there really were.
It's a different skill set, writing, taking notes,
being a writer, but it's a beautiful thing then
to get a project together, find producers,
find talent, find yourself on set,
and do the post-production of it as well.
'Cause an actor normally just turns up,
does their bit, and, you know,
"See you at the premiere."
- Right. - Do a bit of PR.
But no, it was great to do it from start to finish,
it was kind of my baby.
- Okay, and going back a bit, 'cause knowing the movie,
it definitely wasn't-- you didn't write this
from personal experience.
- No. (laughing)
- We can establish that much.
- I think Anthony and I wanted to write a movie
the kind of movies that we like watching
and we really like, where-- it was his suggestion
of the genre, actually, Anthony Byrne is the director
of In Darkness, who I co-wrote it with.
And he-- we love thrillers, we watch lots
of Hitchcock movies, and we watch sort of
all those scandy thriller shows and everything,
we love all that stuff from the '70s
some of your viewers might know movies like Klute
or the Conversation, so this is all the stuff that we
like to watch, and we were like, "Wouldn't it be great
to do a contained, contemporary thriller
in London, our home. - Right, right.
- 'Cause you know, when you see London on camera,
you can either-- you normally ever see the council
estate, like the "projects," as you guys would call it,
or you see Downton Abbey. - Right.
- It's candy-box, kind of, period-London.
And we were like, we want to make sort of a film
that's a bit of a love letter also
to the London that we know.
Just London, contemporary London.
And set a cool, slick, intelligent thriller within that.
- It is, it's very edge-of-your-seat, the whole way through
you're kind of like, "Go on, go on!"
- Nice, I hope so.
- It is! It is, yeah.
And Sophia, I mean, she's got a lot--
there's a lot going on with Sophia as well.
- Yeah, she's not exactly what she presents herself to be.
- No. - Yeah.
- That's-- we can't tell too much.
- No, we can't tell too much.
- We can't give it away. - We can't give it away.
- But there's a lot there.
- Yeah, well you think she's a blind pianist who
hears a murder in the apartment above her
and so she gets sort of pulled into
sort of the underworld of London,
but then you realize that she's got her own agenda.
And I wanted to write-- I wanted to explore
the idea about a human being being defined by their pain,
and that their entire identity has been
amassed around a particular want or need and anger,
and then what that does to an individual.
So, without being to wanky, the script is--
- No, I was listening, at no point were you being wanky.
- I wasn't being wanky.
Without being wanky, the script is kind of about revenge,
forgiveness, sort of redemption, facing your inner self,
and letting go, ultimately, I suppose.
- And, Sophia's blind. - She is.
- So how was going into that?
- Hard. (laughing)
- No, it was a great challenge, physical challenge.
We had a lot of help from the Royal National Institute
of Blind People in London.
I had some cane lessons and I talked and met to a lot
of people that are partially sighted and blind,
and that was a real--
that was a very healthy learning experience for me to have,
to talk to people that live with that on a day-to-day basis.
It really stopped you taking certain things for granted.
- Yeah, I was gonna say, after doing a day on set,
being in that-- - Yeah.
- No, you don't, that's the whole point of being an actor,
right, is you're meant to broaden
your perspective about life.
But I met some really extraordinary people
through this institution, through the RNIB,
who are a charity institution that tries to help
people who are losing their sight or lost their sight
when they were younger to navigate the world.
I don't really know how else to say it.
And it debunked a lot of my theories, like,
you know, people might be watching the film
are like, "Well, why does a blind person turn a light on?"
And actually, a lot of blind people are light sensitive,
and they turn lights on for either security reasons
or just reassurance, or stuff like that.
And I met partially sighted and blind women
that did their own makeup, that was fascinating as well,
that they still take this pride in styling themselves,
hair and makeup, and talking to them about that.
So I really healthily had a--
and I met some lovely guide dogs as well. (laughing)
- Guide dogs, aw.
You really learned a lot, it's safe to say.
- I did, I did learn a lot.
In front and behind camera.
- And you were behind camera, so you mentioned
the casting process as well, Emily Ratajkowski and Ed--
very ugly cast, by the way. - Yeah, very ugly cast.
- Very ugly, extremely ugly.
- And the wonderful Neil Maskell, and James Cosmo,
and Joely Richardson, really great cast.
They all did it for-- out of the passion,
it was a small budget, so I'm very--
- Right, you've got to touch base on that,
before the interview.
- I'm very grateful.
- People sleeping on sofas, and parents' house, and--
- Yeah, exactly, our crew was sleeping in parents' houses
and sofas to help us, so we really appreciate that.
And Ed, I don't know what I would have done without Ed,
because there was never a plan B in my head,
it was like, "I want this role to be Ed Skrein,
and if it's not Ed Skrein, then I'm in trouble."
- Thankfully he said yes, then.
- Thankfully he said yes.
- Okay, let's talk about another project
another very happy project--
- There's a theme there. - Yeah, there's a theme there.
- I pick light, light material.
- Yeah, it's good to smile.
- I do say that, but actually Picnic at Hanging Rock
is quite funny in places.
It is laugh-out-loud funny in places
that people might find peculiar,
but there's some real good--
- I feel like that might just be you though.
(laughing)
I feel like you're the kind of person that does laugh
at those really dark, weird moments.
- Wry, wry jokes. - Yeah.
- No, there's a lot of comedy comes from Yael Stone,
that people will know from Orange is the New Black,
she's-- her character can be extremely amusing at times.
And a very up and coming, incredible young Australian
actress called Ruby Rees, also adds a lot of levity
and a few laughs to the process.
But other than that it's kind of in the thriller
gothic, surreal, girls go to a picnic,
three girls go missing, and a teacher,
and the ramifications of that, what happens to the school--
this is all in 1900 Victorian Australia,
so what happens to the community and the school
when these girls disappear, are they murdered--
- And you're the headmistress? - I'm the headmistress.
- Mrs. Appleyard. - I am, yeah.
She's a bit of a bully, so I'm playing against type there.
- Totally, I can see you as a headmistress.
(laughing)
I don't know why, I'm just like--
- I'm not bossy at all. - No, you're not?
- No. - No, okay.
How was your headmistress at school?
Or did you have a headmaster?
- No, I had a headmistress. - Headmistress, okay.
- Yeah, like Appleyard, a bit repressed, a bit tight--
- So that helped. - A bit closed.
What about you, headmaster or headmistress?
- Headmaster, very angry man, he used to hit the desk.
I'm bringing stuff back now, I'm getting anxious.
He didn't used to just hit the desk.
No, I'm just kidding, terrible joke.
But it's based off the classic--
- It is. - Were you familiar with that,
or did you have to go delve into that a lot?
- I didn't know the famous Joan Lindsay novel
from the '60s, no I didn't, I was aware
of the Peter Weir film that was made in the '70s,
'cause it's obviously a milestone for a lot of cinephiles.
But when I read the novel, I was amazed at actually--
there's so much subtext, there's--
Bea Christian, the writer of our show, she was really able
to flesh it out 'cause there's kind of a nod and a wink
to lots of things, but the book doesn't go there.
So she was able to fill in all that stuff,
and there's so many characters,
there's so much opportunity for backstory lines,
and Hester's being case in point, you know she's had some--
she knows she's not quite telling the truth about
who she is, she's traveled to the other side of the world
to Australia, in the late 1800s, to re-invent herself.
And it's funny, as you go into those six hours,
you see more flashbacks and you see who
this woman really is, and she is a--
she's definitely selling herself as something
more than she once was.
- Which I can just see in your eyes, you love playing it.
- I did. - You loved it.
- I did. - Which is good,
because Larysa, the director, really wanted you
for the part, right? - Yeah.
- She actually wrote you a personalized note, right?
- She did, she wrote me this long-ass letter, saying--
- I said "personalized note," she said, "long-ass letter."
(laughing)
- Very, very well written, lots of good words.
- Right, right.
- And basically, she was just like,
"No one can play this other than you, it's gotta be you."
And I was like, "I don't wanna get in a corset again,
it's too soon."
And then I talked with her on Facebook,
and I just loved her so much.
And when you start watching Picnic, you'll see
how surreal it is, the supernatural elements to it,
the fun she has with lights and crystals and water,
with the lens, and I was like,
this woman's got a vision. - Right, right.
- And when you know your director's got a vision then--
- That's always good going into it.
- Then I'm all in. - Right, right.
And it's quite collaborative, right?
Didn't she let you-- - Yeah.
- And I might be wrong, but-- she'd get wine
for anyone that came up with good ideas?
- Yeah, you've heard the story.
- I've heard the story, yeah, yeah.
- She's a very, she's like, there's no prejudice,
anyone can have a good idea, cameraman, grip,
catering, head of makeup or whoever.
So she set the bar early on by going,
anyone that comes up with a good idea that gets used
on camera, that actually gets shot,
gets a bottle of wine.
I mean, you're in Australia, so it's a good place
to be throwing wine around.
Yeah, she shouldn't have said that,
she gave a lot of wine away.
- You can notice actually,
if you watch the show very carefully,
people walking a little bit off.
- Yeah, that's why the camera starts--
- A little bit off-balance, yeah.
- Talking about corsets, we can't not touch base
on Game of Thrones. - Sure.
- Who's your money on?
How's it gonna end?
Give us something.
- I can't. - You can't?
I knew that was gonna be the answer,
but I have to say it. - Oh, come on.
- I know, but I don't know, you might--
you have to give us something.
- I'm really excited to see the next season,
I'm on the edge of my seat like everybody else is,
but I can't-- I know--
I know A to B, I know what B is,
but I don't know how--
- You don't know how it gets there.
- I don't know how they get to B.
- But you do know B. - I do know B.
- Got ya.
Okay, it's all we're gonna get.
Nothing, nothing, I give up there.
We're gonna wrap this up then with a THRs Top Five.
Five easy questions.
Movie you watched as a kid that you wish you were in.
- Oh, that's great.
I don't know... Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
- Ah, that's a good one.
If you could turn any TV show into a movie,
what would it be?
- Any TV show into a movie?
- Any movie into a TV show. - Any movie into a TV show?
- Let's reverse it.
- Reverse it-- can we come back to that?
That's a really important question.
- We can come back to it, of course.
Have a think, we'll come back to it.
We're taking this very seriously.
You're not going to win anything, just so you know.
(laughing)
There's no prizes, it's a very wanky quiz.
- Do I get a bottle of wine?
- No you don't, stop thinking about alcohol.
It's an interview. - I'm British!
- Be professional.
Describe your journey as an actress so far in one word.
And no, you can't say, "That's a tough one,
can we come back to that."
You have to answer, but you can think.
- Multi-faceted.
There's a hyphen in there, but it's still one word.
- It's still one word, we'll let you take it.
I might know the answer to this,
if you weren't an actress you would be...?
- When I was a little girl, I wanted to be an air hostess.
- Yeah, that's what it was, right?
- But then when I was in my teens I wanted
to present Time Team. - Okay.
- I wanted to-- it's a history show,
it's probably on some random channel here.
- You can find it online.
- Find it online.
- Do you, when you you're flying-- 'cause you fly a lot,
obviously, now -- do you imagine it from time to time?
- I'm really glad I didn't do it.
(laughing)
- It's a tough job.
One random fact that we don't know about you,
that comes to mind.
One random fact.
- One random fact?
- We know that you love wine, after this interview.
- Well, that's not really a random fact, is it?
What's a random fact?
I was obsessed to dancing to Madonna and Michael Jackson
in my bedroom when I was a little girl.
- Me too.
- Oh yeah, so now I gotta ask you,
now I'm gonna ask you about your British band.
- No, we'll just get back to this, we'll ask the very end.
- What movie do you wish you could turn into a TV show.
- What movie do I wish I could turn into a TV show.
One of the old classics, like one of those, I don't know,
I was talking about His Girl Friday the other day,
it's about a newspaper in New York in the '40s,
or Philadelphia Story, or one of those great--
I love that era, and I love Katharine Hepburn--
- 'Cause you can do this now. - And Rosalind Russell.
I love those women.
So grab one of those 1940s, fun-- I need to do some comedy.
Don't I? - Yeah.
- Alright, so one of those, like--
- Well, I'm thinking about you,
you're in a very dark place if you carry on doing--
- Yeah, I need to do one of those light, Philadelphia--
something along the lines of a light, '40s, funny drama
get made into a TV show.
- Well, now you're producing-- - Yeah.
- You can do that. - Okay.
- Next up. - Okay, find someone--
Yeah, I'll start pitching.
- Yeah, go ask all your friends again.
I'm sure they'd be like,
"Yes, we'll definitely do it on that budget."
Check her out, Natalie Dormer, such a pleasure.
We could just go on and on.
But we're not allowed. - Okay.
That's a shame.
- (whispering) It's over.