W: Delia Owens, the author of Where The Crawdads Sing, has said that when she visited set
she said there was something magical about seeing the characters that she'd written
and the scenes that she'd written come to life. For you as an actress,
did you feel a certain responsibility towards such a popular book to kind of get things right?
DEJ: Definitely, definitely, because you know it's such a beloved book and you know that so
many people have sort of connected with that character in particular,
in such a kind of deep way and they've realised her in their own head. So it's definitely,
definitely feels like a responsibility when you then are so sort of given the task of trying to
find a way of bringing them to life for sure. W: That connection must be tricky because
obviously Kya's life is so different to yours or indeed anybody,
most people living in North Carolina even at that time. What did you find to connect
with Kya and to help bring that character to life? DEJ: Well, I think what I loved about Kya, she's a
very complex person you know? She is very strong and very resilient but she's also very gentle
and I think that complexity was something that I really loved in her. Because you know we are all
very complex, we aren't all just one thing. And so I think in particular her resilience was something
that I found very admirable because you know I think we are very resilient as a species and you
know at the time of reading it, it was during Covid so I had an awareness I guess of the fact
that we'd all sort of had a collective knock back in some way or had gone through something quite
tough and that we were all able to adapt and find our way of kind of getting through it. And I think
for Kya, you know, she does have a lot of knockbacks, but she's so
resilient and she bounces back. So I think that aspect I really found admirable.
W: All actors of course have to be expert at non-verbal communication...
DEJ: 'Face acting'
W: That interior life. And obviously for Kya so many of her early scenes
she doesn't have any lines at all, it's all done with the face.
That is hard, but was it useful to have something like the book to draw from,
to have that sort of richness of interior life? DEJ: Yes and so you know, you're you're able to
kind of just think the thoughts and you have your characters inner life mapped out for you
in a really beautifully written book, it's very helpful. But also you know what I love about
filmmaking is so much of it is a collaborative, like a collaborative process. And so, you know,
you do your acting but it's also imbued with such meaning by the choice of soundtrack underneath or
the score or the the angle that they've chosen to film that's like up here so your character
is feeling small and vulnerable. And I love that collaborative process of something. And so you
know those non-dialogue scenes I think are some of the funnest to do because also you're accepting
and also encouraging an audience who - we are all very much empathetic creatures and so you're
allowing an audience to, sort of, trusting them to fill in the gaps really of what the character's
feeling. And I think that's really wonderful. W: And with Reese Witherspoon on board as a
producer, I just wondered whether there's any sense that having somebody who understands
what you're doing in front of the camera because they've been an actor, is it helpful to have them
also on the other side of the camera, producing? DEJ: Yes, I think so. And, you know, Reece,
she really is about finding characters that... she really wants to put women in the forefront
and like I said before, create characters that are complicated and complex. Yeah it was amazing to
sort of meet her because I've grown up watching her work and been a fan for a very long time so
it was very cool to sort of meet her in person and like you said because she does understand what it
feels like to be in front of a camera which is you know a scary thing sometimes you know
you're vulnerable it's very exposing. It means that when you have someone behind the camera
who's coming from a place of understanding and kindness it really helps to give you confidence.
W: This is another role where you're not using your natural accent, you continue
to expand your CV of accents but obviously with the North Carolina accent that's very,
very specific. Did you have to work very, very specifically on getting that right?
DEJ: Yes I work with an accent coach and it was really important to get that right because
you know you want that to sound authentic and we wanted to kind of create a particular quality to
Kya's voice. And I find accents to be so revealing about a character. I think we can't help...
perhaps with our sort of British accent to sound, you know, automatically a little sort of sarcastic
or a wee bit self-conscious. And it really is funny that it really does affect your physicality
too. And I find with, when I was doing the North Carolina there's a real lyricism to the quality
of that sound and gentleness that really actually helped me to sort of access I guess a part of Kya.
It just really helped me to get there you know? W: Obviously Kya has a very deep connection to
the natural world around her, as does Delia the author. Obviously this is set in a very different
period to our own but we're living through a climate crisis right now; what do you think Kya
would make of the world that we live in right now? DEJ: Yes well I think that's something that
I also found very compelling about the story is that it really is a love letter to nature. And
I think during, you know I read it during Covid and we had our one daily walks and I
became very appreciative of of the wee patch of green near me and I think she would be
terribly upset I think and anxious about you know our sort of disservice to nature. And I think this
story really does celebrate it. And when you see that environment, and Polly, our D.O.P.'s
incredible sort of cinematography, you can't help but not ignore how beautiful it is. And
how important it is to preserve it you know. W: A fantastic note on which to end,
Daisy, thank you so much. DEJ: Thank you nice to meet you again