Interview Key Points

Performance and Emotional Access

The discussion centers on the actress's performance in "Hamnet," specifically her portrayal of loss and grief, and how she accesses such profound emotions.

• Portraying Loss in "Hamnet": The actress reflects on the New York Times' description of her performance as drawing from a "dark place" of parental nightmare.
• Unfathomable Nature of Grief: She acknowledges the unfathomable nature of losing a child and her own limitations in fully grasping such grief.
• Respectful Exploration of Emotion: She emphasizes her commitment to respectfully exploring emotional depths in her roles, guided by her heart, body, and imagination.
• The Challenge of Accessing Emotion: The conversation delves into the difficulty of accessing and embodying such intense emotions, distinguishing it from the internal experience of them.
• Becoming More Human and Curious: The actress shares her realization that with more experience, she needs to become more "human" and "curious" in all aspects of her life, not just in her work.
• Porous Environment on Set: She highlights the "porous" nature of working with director Chloe and actor Paul Mescal on "Hamnet," which allowed her to access deeper emotional places.
• Director's Role in Facilitating Emotion: The actress emphasizes how a supportive director and collaborators who create a nurturing environment make it easier to tap into profound emotions, contrasting it with the isolation of being alone with one's thoughts.

Collaboration and Chemistry with Paul Mescal

This section focuses on the on-screen chemistry between the actress and co-star Paul Mescal, their initial impressions, and their working relationship.

• Initial Acquaintance: The actress mentions they knew each other casually due to being Irish but didn't know each other well before "Hamnet."
• Admiration for Mescal: She expresses deep admiration for Paul Mescal, describing him as a "gigantic human" with the capacity to be both a movie star and incredibly human.
• Pre-Filming Interactions: They spent time together in New York before shooting "Hamnet," getting to know each other and "figuring each other out."
• Respect for Mescal's Work: The actress had a high regard for Mescal's acting before their collaboration.
• Mescal's Ability to Be a "Movie Star": She notes his rare ability to embody the persona of a movie star while remaining grounded and human.
• Significant Collaborator: Mescal is described as one of the most significant and important male leads she has worked with, highlighting his immense capacity to be present, supportive, and challenging.
• The Chemistry Read: The actress confirms the purpose of a chemistry read is to ascertain on-screen compatibility.
• Immediate Kinetic Chemistry: She felt an immediate "kinetic" energy and "crackle of potential" with Mescal during their first chemistry read, indicating a strong on-screen connection.
• Unknowable Element: There was an "unknowable" quality about him and their connection, which she finds exciting as it promises a dynamic and alive on-screen performance.

The Process of Filming and Emotional Intensity

The conversation shifts to the practicalities of acting, particularly maintaining emotional intensity across multiple takes and navigating challenging scenes.

• Multiple Takes and Intensity: The actress acknowledges that achieving the same level of intensity over and over again is not possible.
• No Fixed Routine: She states there's no specific routine or preference for early takes; it varies.
• Trust in the Director: The actress emphasizes her trust in the director's instincts, even when it's unnerving to have very few takes.
• Challenging Scene at the Globe Theatre: She describes a period of being "completely lost" for four days while shooting scenes at the Globe Theatre at the end of filming.
• Articulating the "Lost" Feeling: She explains this feeling as not knowing how to channel the story of a mother who lost her child and to meet "Hamlet" as another vessel of her son.
• Character's Journey Mirrors Actor's: The actress realized that her own feeling of being lost as an actor was precisely what she needed to embody as the character, Agnes, who is out of her element in London.
• Vulnerability and Ego: She discusses how the ego can often prevent actors from showing vulnerability or "lostness" on screen, as they feel the need to project confidence.
• Shared Feeling with the Director: The director, Chloe, also expressed feeling lost, having undergone an "epic journey of her heart" throughout the filming.
• The Power of Ancient Spaces: The Globe Theatre and cinema are described as potent ancient spaces that demand surrender from performers and audiences.

The Lasting Impact of Roles and Character Archetypes

This part of the interview explores how the characters the actress embodies become part of her and the recurring themes she finds in the women she plays.

• Roles Stay with Her: The actress believes that "everything stays with me" from her roles, and she can't dislodge herself from what she learns by inhabiting these women.
• Lighthouses and Education: These characters have become her "lighthouses" and her "education," shaping who she is.
• Women Seeking More: She identifies a common thread in the women she plays: a desire to live something more than what they are allowed.
• Personal Growth Through Roles: Playing these women allows her to grow as a woman by understanding their experiences and incubating their insights.
• Letting Go of What Doesn't Serve Her: The "shadows of what they are" have helped her let go of things that no longer serve her as a woman.
• Exploring Rage and Hunger: She touches upon universal human emotions like rage, hunger, and desire, highlighting the potential of women when given space to live fully.
• Embracing "Too Muchness": Agnes is seen as a force for being "uncompromising" in a world that might fear women's "too muchness." The actress feels these roles have allowed her to embrace what is deemed "too much" as being "full and alive."
• The Illusion of "Too Much": She questions the concept of "too much," suggesting it's about being fully alive and that women's experiences are often not fully recognized or given the truth they deserve.
• Complexity of Motherhood: Using "The Lost Daughter" as an example, she discusses the complexity of a mother's desire for her mind alongside her love for her children, challenging the simplistic "Madonna" ideal.
• Preference for the "Unappealing" or "Honest" Woman: The actress clarifies that she prefers playing the "honest woman" and exploring the complexity of being a woman and a human, rather than focusing on "appealing" traits.
• Invigorating, Not Draining: She finds playing these intense roles to be "completely invigorating" rather than physically draining, likening it to "massaging out the knots" and finding catharsis.
• Breaking Through Facades: The roles help her "crack something through" the "curse" of projected ideas about what it means to be a woman or human, revealing a messier, more complex truth that leads to life.

The Role of "The Bride" and Performance Techniques

This section details the actress's experience working on "The Bride," her unconventional preparation methods, and her approach to inhabiting characters.

• Intense and Transformative Role: "The Bride" is described as a film that requires the actress to go to many different places, sometimes within a single sentence.
• Initial Reaction to the Script: Reading the script felt like being "plugged into an electrical socket," a "whole new language" that left her feeling "pulsating, terrified," and unsure how to begin.
• Lack of a Defined Process: She doesn't have a rigid process, instead "following her nose" and allowing her imagination to guide her.
• Gathering Images as Ingredients: Her preparation involves collecting images that represent the "texture" of the characters (Mary Shelley, Ida, the Bride).
• Working with Movement and Dialect Coaches: She collaborates with coaches to find singular physical and vocal characteristics for each role.
• Collage and Dance: The process is described as creating a "collage" and a "dance" that culminates in a performance.
• Surrendering Control: The goal is to "take my hands off the steering wheel" and experience the performance as a "roller coaster," avoiding conscious thought.
• Staying in Character and Accent: In "The Bride," she stayed in the accent throughout the filming, even off-set.
• Multiple Accents: The complexity of the accents in "The Bride" is acknowledged, with multiple accents sometimes occurring within the same sentence.
• Inhabiting the Unconscious: She aims to "live in an unconscious place" when working, absorbing "ingredients" from dreams, observations, and even by observing people's walks on the street.
• Modeling Characters: She models characters on people she observes, citing Orietta Mayflower in "Fargo" as having a "birdy" quality.
• The Challenge of Accents: Accents are seen as a "muscle" and like "music" to learn, requiring understanding of rhythms and tonality.
• Warm-up Rituals: Her warm-up for "The Bride" included reading Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" for its rhythm and listening to Barbara Stanwyck for a 1950s vocal texture.
• Finding Character Texture: The focus is on finding elements that give a "texture" to the character.

Wild Animal and Evolving Self

This section explores the perception of the actress as a "wild animal" and her view on personal transformation.

• "Wild Animal" Description: Maggie Gyllenhaal's description of the actress as a "wild animal" is met with a positive and accepting response.
• Truth in the Description: She acknowledges having a lot of life and energy within her, possibly more so now after embodying various roles.
• Becoming More Herself: The actress believes that through her experiences, she is becoming "more like myself" rather than a fundamentally different person.
• Thrilling Collaboration with Christian Bale: Her work with Christian Bale is described as "wild petrel," "incredibly alive and fierce and intense."
• Mutual Intensity: She appreciates working with someone who is "equally as muscular and provocative and intense" as she is, making work enjoyable.
• "The Bride" as Punk: The film "The Bride" is characterized as "proper punk" for its boldness, new language, and disruption of form, especially concerning female characters.
• Rare Boldness in Filmmaking: She feels it's rare today to find scripts, sets, actors, and languages that are as bold and original as what she experienced with "The Bride."
• Maggie Gyllenhaal's New Language: She credits Maggie Gyllenhaal with possessing a "very new language" and "messing with form" in her filmmaking.
• Cracking the Ceiling for Female Directors: The actress feels proud to have collaborated on a project that allows female directors to "play in that sandpit" and "crack the ceiling a little bit."
• Raw Intensity on Screen: Her on-screen intensity is noted as something that isn't apparent "walking through the door."
• Post-Childbirth Rawness: She feels raw in a "refreshing way" after having a child, leading to more honesty and focus on what's important.

Motherhood and Authenticity

This part of the interview delves into the profound impact of motherhood on the actress's perspective, vulnerability, and desire for authenticity.

• Heart Cracked Open by Motherhood: Motherhood has "cracked open" her heart in a way she hadn't fully understood before, leading to an embrace of vulnerability.
• Desire for Unmasked Humanity: She now desires this humanity and the "strength and vulnerability" of being a mother, wanting to be seen without any "mask."
• Living More Fully: Motherhood has instilled a desire to "live more" and experience "more life."
• Excitement and Fear of Self: She admits to feeling "scared of myself" due to the sheer excitement and thrill of this new phase and the realization of a "whole other world."
• Waking Up to Awe and Life: Motherhood has reawakened her sense of awe and a profound appreciation for life.
• New Perspectives: Her identity, perspective on the world, and relationships have all become "new" and fresh.
• Fragility and Strength of Life: Motherhood serves as a reminder of both the fragility and strength inherent in life.
• Artistic Upbringing: She reflects on an upbringing where "expression and experience" were highly valued.
• Musicality in Childhood: Music, including playing the harp and piano, and singing, was a significant part of her childhood.
• Continued Creative Pursuits: She continues to sing and write music, often engaging in "making things" with musicians as a "dirty little secret" between jobs.
• Joy in Creating and Artistry: She expresses a deep love for creating, being an artist, and being part of an artist community, finding it beyond her wildest expectations.
• Early Encounter with Theatre: Her first experience with theatre at age seven was magical, revealing the power of storytelling to make things feel real and transportive.
• Film as an Unexpected Path: She never imagined making films, partly because she didn't have a television until she was 15, making movies seem exotic and distant.

Early Career and Finding Her Path

This section traces the actress's early career decisions, including her struggles with depression, her unconventional path to acting, and her resilience.

• Teenage Move to London: She moved to London as a teenager after taking a year off school due to depression and not being ready for university.
• Auditioning for Theatre School: Her initial goal was to study musical theatre, leading her to audition for schools in London.
• Rejection and Open Audition: After not getting into theatre school, she stumbled upon an open audition for the reality TV show "I Do Anything," seeking a Nancy for "Oliver Twist."
• Practicing for Another Audition: She joined the queue for "I Do Anything" primarily to practice for a future musical theatre school audition, not expecting to get on the show.
• Raw Passion and Ignorance: At 17, she was driven by "raw passion" and "ignorance" of the industry, which allowed her to push through.
• Bravery of Her Younger Self: She looks back on her younger self from that time with admiration for her bravery, stating she wouldn't do that now.
• Not Meant for Musical Theatre: She believes she wasn't destined for musical theatre and needed to "get to know myself" before pursuing acting seriously.
• Period of Exploration: After not getting into theatre school, she spent three years pursuing various experiences, including singing jazz, working in charity shops, and selling cereal.
• London as a Place of Freedom: London represented a place where she felt she could "be anything."
• Dealing with Depression: She discusses her experience with depression at 15, feeling a lack of place for her intense feelings and hunger for life, which led to her becoming unwell.
• The Weight of Not Cracking the Ceiling: She describes feeling the "weight" of not being able to "crack the ceiling."
• Seeking Help and Expression: She found solace and healing through therapy and singing, emphasizing that "expression has saved me."
• Finding Her Voice: She feels that something that wasn't alive then is now, suggesting a significant personal and artistic evolution.