It was your first major villain role right
so did that come naturally to you, being evil?
It was relatively easy which is worrying but um
Yeah, it's great fun to play the villain these fantastic lines
and these moments. Especially in this heightened reality there's something kinda arch about
it and exciting so I loved it, I loved that she was a villain with this empathetic back story
something so awful that happened to her.
The reason why she becomes a villain was the appeal, cos I think often you're presented
with this rampaging lunatic of a person and you're just supposed to accept them for who
they are but you really saw the origin of the character as this very normal girl that
was a big appeal for me.
Obviously you're playing alongside fellow
Hollywood heavy weights Charlize Theron, Jessica Chastain that must have been so much fun..
It's such a rare thing to find a film with three female roles in it but let alone three
really empowered ones, and really layered and different and that was a huge part of it for me.
Wanting to sign on, just to kind of breathe the same air as those power
house women. I should say Chris as well, let's call him
a power house woman as well.
I was going to say is it the beginning of a new girl's squad or is Chris involved?
Chris can be involved, cause, you know, he's a bit of a girl. So yes he can be involved.
He is the ultimate man. The ultimate dream man, as we call him.
Just the other day actually you said in an interview that you didn't want to do nudity in film anymore..
I said it quite lightly, I mean it's not something I wouldn't do like I've just done a semi-nude thing.
Girl on the Train. But I don't think I, I'm not like looking for that.
Do you feel that nudity is ever really necessary to drive a narrative?
Yes I do and you know sometimes can be really
effective if it's shot correctly if it's not gratuitous.
Another thing you mentioned also was that you think we should stop talking about sexism
in Hollywood. Can you tell us a little bit more about this, why you think talking about it..
Well I actually don't believe in stopping talking about it, I think that sometimes we
can but a finite stamp on it by talking about it excessively and in the wrong context. I think
that.. I think it's important to keep the conversation going. I think that there's a momentum happening
right now. But I also feel there's a shift happening so we've got to sort of
embrace that and put a stamp on THAT as opposed to keep talking about the differences, there's
this new wave of fantastic roles for women, is happening. It is starting to happen
and it's now just about maintaining it, so it think we've got to start really talking
about things in a positive way. But I know I've done films where I've been
paid considerably less than the men but at the same time you want to work you want to
play these roles, you want to have an opportunity that you're given in a great film. And now
I feel like I've been doing this a long time and now I feel like I've got more of a responsibility
to fight for what my male equivalent would be earning, you know.
Since having Hazel, your daughter,
do you find things have changed in the way that you approach roles?
Yeah.
And how so?
I think you become a bit more practical about
it, um not only the about the time frame of how long you'll be working for and how long that
means you'll juggle being a mother and being an actress for.
But also really what I'm putting out there into the world has become important to me and I want to play
people that inspire me and therefore can inspire other people including my daughter
And what has she visited you on..What films has she come to visit you on?
This one and.. The Girl on the Train!
Both inspiring!
She's seen me play really inspiring people just the ice queen and then a raging boozer.
And how did she react to seeing you?
She had no reaction whatsoever to the ice queen,
it was like how I dressed on a Friday night to her. No reaction to the white skin
and white hair, which was quite moving cos it's like she accepts you for being you
are rather than some superficial facade.
And then the Girl on the Train she was a bit put
off by my rosacea face like probably wondering why..she was like ooh red when she saw my
face, so red.
I'm looking forward to that now actually especially that now!