NATALIE DORMER: I wouldnt say that I almost didnt do it.
Im gonna have to put a corset back on again!
DORMER: Its not so much about the physical duress, although youre quite right.
I was anti sending that message to the world.
How did that 90-minute conversation with Larysa Kondracki go?
What exactly did she say that really interested you?
Image via Amazon Studios
DORMER: She started pitching how she saw Appleyard and how she needed to be humanized.
Id only read three episodes, so she explained four, five and six, which was important.
She really did have a vision, in the true sense, and I was curious.
Image via Amazon Studios
Add the fact that Id never been to Australia, and I was curious.
We can do what the Americans and the Brits are doing.
This was their offering, which is a national treasure of a story.
Image via Amazon Studios
DORMER: Yeah, I agree with you.
As far as Im concerned, theyre disparate things.
Ours is a re-imagining of the novel.
Image via Amazon Studios
Bea really went back to the book and fleshed out all the hints that Lindsay left.
What was the challenge in finding the humanity of this character?
DORMER: The challenge was in qualifying her actions.
I think shes the least self-aware character that Ive ever played.
She does not want to unlock the box of what haunts her.
You dont need to fill it in because the audience gets it, immediately.
She has everything going for her, except her inability to process her ghosts.
It was a tough characterization because shes broken and shes running, literally and metaphorically, from herself.
Shes also self-medicating with alcohol, which I do not identify with at all!
DORMER: Theres a deliciousness to her.
Its quite a schizophrenic performance, insofar as Mrs. Appleyard is a construct and Hester is the real woman.
It was effectively two roles for the price of one.
Its Appleyard and Hester.
I love Hester, and Appleyard is a construct.
I think Hester hates Appleyard.
She doesnt see Maddies skin color.
She doesnt judge McCraw on her sexuality.
She doesnt begrudge the art teacher for her husband having left her and being shunned or ridiculed by society.
Shes liberal and tolerant in those ways.
Thats what I like about her.
DORMER: Oh, it was horrific!
It was not easy doing that scene with little Inez [Curro], who plays 11-yr old Sara.
That was not a fun day at work.
It was a rewarding day at work, but it was not a fun day at work.
It was hard to dig in and be that thing.
It was a joy to watch those young women increasingly get more confident.
You play such interesting, complex, complicated characters.
What do you look for in a script?
DORMER: Its probably a little bit of both.
Obviously, its different from when I first started out to now.
I can afford to be more discerning now than I could, in the earlier days.
Id done all of my history reading.
I knew she was an Evangelical.
I knew she believed in religious reformation, and that she was an incredibly loving mother to Elizabeth.
I tried to bring those three-dimensional fleshed out qualities to her, so that she wasnt just a villain.
Human beings are contradictory.
Were complex and were morally grey when you box us into a corner.
I find catharsis in exploring that.
DORMER: I dont know if anyone would let me play just a girl next door.
Thats a really good question.
I had a lot of fun, before Christmas, on stage.
I got to doVenus in Fur, which is a dark comedy, but still a comedy.
That was a lot of fun, but I suppose she had an agenda, too.
We all have an agenda, ultimately.
Thats the point of life.
Everyone comes at everything from an angle.
So, thats not really for me to say.
Thats for me to be cast.
Thats a question for producers and directors.
Im quite a silly person, really.
Im quite idiosyncratic and quirky, in places.
I need to put that in my casting.
you’re free to just write it for yourself now!
Picnic at Hanging Rockis available to stream at Amazon Prime on May 25th.
