Tag: interview

Olivia Colman’s should be a familiar face to any fan of British comedy, particularly the work of David Mitchell and Robert Webb, whom Colman worked with on their sketch show “That Mitchell and Webb Look” and on sitcom “Peep Show,” playing Sophie Chapman, the coworker, object of lust and eventual long-suffering girlfriend of Mitchell’s Mark Corrigan. While Colman’s still doing funny stuff — she plays the supportive spouse of Tom Hollander’s floundering inner-city vicar Adam Smallbone in “Rev.” — the past few years have found her proving her talent for drama in a series of wrenching roles. She won multiple awards as battered wife Hannah in Paddy Considine’s 2011 directorial debut “Tyrannosaur,” acted alongside Meryl Streep as Carol Thatcher in “The Iron Lady” and earlier this year received BAFTAs for both her parts in BBC anthology series “Accused” and Olympics mockumentary “Twenty Twelve.”

In murder mystery “Broadchurch,” which premieres on BBC America tonight, August 7th, at 10pm, after becoming a hit in the U.K., she captivated the country as Detective Sergeant Ellie Miller, a local policewoman reluctantly paired with newcomer Detective Inspector Alec Hardy (David Tennant) who finds herself investigating her friends and neighbors in the small coastal town in which she lives when a young boy, her son’s best friend, is found murdered. Indiewire caught up with the impossibly affable Colman in Los Angeles to discuss her role in the crime drama and not having to choose between laughter and acting serious.

Murder mysteries are hardly new to the small screen. What is it about “Broadchurch” that sets it apart and makes it so compelling?

I think the writing, Chris Chibnall, the writer, the fact that he went in to look at the family, at the fall out — you can picture yourself in the community, if you knew the child, and the awful implications of that. I think that’s why it’s so gripping. It’s just heartbreaking to watch. Whenever those cases appeared in the U.K., the whole of the country is looking for that child, the child that’s missing — they want to find someone and get them back and protect them.

It is an obsession because it’s so horrific, and Chris wrote it so that all of the characters are multifaceted and have a proper arc to follow. He doesn’t patronize you. He lets you work things out, which is why you had to talk about it. He did it very cleverly.

Because there are so many procedurals on TV, it’s easy to get jaded about the idea of murder within a story. But grief and how the community was affected are not neglected in “Broadchurch” at all. How do you see your character as bringing that part of the story to light, as someone who comes from the town?

It really cranks it up to 11, because I think she thought, “I’m a good detective. I’ve worked my way up. If there’s a murder investigation, I’m sure I can handle it.” You just don’t expect it to be a little boy, a boy you knew, a family you know, and in a place you love and trust. The doors have been blown open. Everything has been ruined for her. That was so interesting to play, and I think it made it much more accessible to believe everybody, not to mention yourself, having to deal with something you never want to deal with.

And how would you describe her journey as a police officer over the course of the series? Toward the beginning, David Tennant’s character tells her she has to learn to look at people from the outside, but obviously there’s also a price for that. You don’t want to look at everyone in your community as a possible suspect.

And the reason she took the job in the first place was because she loved where she lived and thought, “This was a way to protect the people I love and to give back to my community, look after everyone.” So yes, when he comes along and he takes her job, which pisses her off, she starts to realize, “He’s right. He had to learn the hard way. He’s really been hurt by his life and job. He’s right.” So slowly she has to start. If they want to get to the bottom of this, she can’t look at anybody with the benefit of the doubt. It really goes against the grain for her.

Can you tell me a little bit about the area in which “Broadchurch” is based?

Chris, the writer, lives there — in Dorset, in West Bay which is where the external shots of the coast are. So beautiful. The last time we were filming there everyone had their phones out, going, “Look! It’s amazing!” And we had to concentrate. So it is based on a real community. He’s so happy there, and you know everybody. Kids are running in the park and you know whose kids they are. So the impact of something like that happening there — it just sort of streamed out of him because you can imagine how everyone is going to react.

So we filmed in Bristol, but it was meant to look like a town in Dorset, which was on the coastal side. I think it does work quite well. You can’t really see the seams where we were filming in the inner city but making it look like the coastal town.

I didn’t know there was that kind of landscape out there.

Jurassic Coast, they call it. The hut we keep going back to, the cliff is very close to the edge. Not that long ago, when [the current owner] bought the hut, she was saying she had a big garden, and it just dropped away because it’s sandy and not very sturdy and quite scary. You can see fossils. Lots of fossils are found on the beaches. And, at night, those type of sea creatures.

I know there’s been a second season approved, and that was a surprise to some people who thought it would be a self-contained story. Is there anything you can tell us about what’s going to happen?

I should’ve checked what I was allowed to say, because I’m slightly anxious that I’m going to drop anyone in it. We all wondered how it was going to work, but Chris talked us through his idea. He’d always pictured if it were to be picked up again that he would do this. And it’s great. I think you’ll be pleased. He’s writing it, and we hope to film in April or May, but if he’s not happy already with it then I’m sure we’ll shift it out, so don’t take that as gospel that it’s going to be ready.

I became familiar with your work via Mitchell and Webb, and then saw you in “Tyrannosaur,” which was a transition not just to a serious role, but an incredibly dark one. It can’t be easy to initially convince people “I can do this”…

Getting it, that’s the hardest bit. There’s a massive lack of imagination. They forget that you’re an actor. They’ve seen your comedies, and they go, “Ohh, oh.” I’m an actor. I’ll do anything you give me. I’ll do it. I’ll play a bloke if you let me try it. So there are thousands of actors who’ve been stuck in a pigeon hole, so I feel very fortunate hopefully to remind people that everyone can do it.

I know that you’ve continued to do comedy as well. What was that process for you, expanding into this territory?

I’ve always done little bits of drama. It’s where my heart lies, what I always wanted to do — but if you get work, you don’t say no. Also, I loved it. I felt so lucky being with these amazing people in the comedy world and I made some fantastic friends. I just felt very, very lucky to be given the chance. Paddy Considine, for no reason at all, just decided that “I want her for Hannah.” I’m so grateful to him because it just changed everything for me.

Do you find now that people are able to accept that you can play this wider range than you had previously been offered?

They still seem to find it terribly surprising!

But it’s not new.

No, it’s not. And I can give them examples, but it always happens. Why is it always a shock every year when someone does something different? It’s funny. I still get some really staunch “Peep Show” fans, and they clearly know if I booked a comedy — maybe they don’t watch drama. It’s very nice. Some people have never seen the comedy I’ve done. They’ve only seen dramas. So it’s peculiar.

Certainly for me, and I think I speak for most of my actor mates, when you go into it you, the whole idea is to play lots of different people — funny, sad, strong, weak. That’s what you want to do. So, if I’m allowed to, I’d like to forever try to do a different thing each time. That would be great.

Yours was one of the names tossed around in the rumors about who’d play the next Doctor on “Doctor Who” — would that be a role you’d ever consider?

Yeah, of course! It’s a great job. But then everyone would know you, which is a big dealbreaker. I’m not that thick-skinned.

Source: indiewire.com – Olivia Colman on how to build a better murder mystery

BROADCHURCH made its American debut this week on BBC America. The eight-part series, airing Wednesday nights, previously riveted audiences in Britain.

Created by Chris Chibnall, BROADCHURCH shows how the murder of an eleven-year-old boy devastates the whole community of a small English coastal town. The crime takes a personal toll on its two primary investigators, out-of-town transfer Detective Inspector Alec Hardy, played by David Tennant, and local police detective Ellie Miller, played by Olivia Colman.

Olivia is livid when she finds that Alec has been handed the job she was promised, but this is nothing compared to her shock when she realizes the victim is a good friend of her son and that the dead child’s parents are her good friends.

Colman, a native of Norfolk, England, appeared on international theatre screens last year in HYDE PARK ON HUDSON, for which she won a British Film Award for Best Supporting Actress, and as Margaret Thatcher’s daughter Carol in 2011’s THE IRON LADY. Colman has also received numerous awards for her performance in the film TYRANNOSAUR and will be familiar to DOCTOR WHO fans as Mother in the “Eleventh Hour” episode.

Appearing at the Television Critics Association press tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Colman discusses her work in BROADCHURCH.

AX: How did you get involved in BROADCHURCH?

OLIVIA COLMAN: It was very simple – I got sent the script and I said, “Yes, please.”

AX: Do you like murder mysteries as a genre?

COLMAN: I like anything that’s good. If a murder mystery is terrible, then no, I don’t like it, but if it’s not patronizing, if it’s an intelligent script and it’s gripping, then, yes, of course, like everyone else.

AX: How does Ellie Miller differ from other people you’ve played?

COLMAN: I’ve never played a police detective before, so there’s that obvious one [laughs]. I think she’s kind of like a female Everyman. There’s a lot of her which has been in a lot of other characters I’ve played as well.

AX: Without giving away the context, you have one scene of extreme rage in BROADCHURCH. Was that difficult or cathartic?

COLMAN: Again, it was so well-written and you’re so involved in the story all the way through, it was easy to do, really, easy to imagine. I don’t think you need to be a mother to imagine [what the characters are going through]. Everyone has some children in their lives that they are related to, or friends’ children that you love. And this is the worst possible thing you can imagine. So it’s very easy to access how awful that is. Personally, I’ve always been a fairly emotional person anyway. Now, with children, I have no armor at all. So there were lots of scenes where it said [in the script], “Ellie doesn’t cry,” and I was kind of, “Good luck with that, because I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop. So I don’t think you have to be a parent to be an actor to perform that upset. And clearly Jodie [Whittaker, who plays the mother of the murdered boy] – I can’t watch those clips where Jodie sees her boy on the beach. I can’t look at her. You just have to know what love feels like in order to experience that pain, I think.

AX: What would you most like people to know about BROADCHURCH?

COLMAN: That it’s gripping and it’s moving and you can’t help but get slightly addicted to it, you can’t help but keep watching.

Source: assignmentsx.com – Exclusive interview with Broadchurch star Olivia Colman on the BBC America series

Olivia Colman is late to our interview.

A nervous publicist explains that the star of Broadchurch, which plunged the U.K. into a full-blown obsession when it aired earlier this year, is making her way on foot to our location, deep within the caverns of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. (Colman is slated to appear the next day on a panel for BBC America at the Television Critics Association summer press tour.) When Colman does turn up, she’s barefoot, clutching a pair of wickedly high-heeled Louboutins in her arms and apologizing for her tardiness.

Apparently, the BAFTA winner — who stars opposite David Tennant in BBC America’s murder mystery Broadchurch, which begins Wednesday, August 7 (it aired earlier this year to huge ratings on ITV in the U.K.), and can be seen in everything from Tyrannosaur to Peep Show — can do comedy and drama well, but finds walking in heels a real challenge. (It may be her rare flaw, in fact.) Hugs, however, are something she excels at. Colman and Doctor Who star Matt Smith embrace briefly as she passes by him, shoes in tow; she appeared in Smith’s very first Doctor Who episode (“The Eleventh Hour”).

“She’s amazing,” Smith tells me. “She’s great fun. Especially when you go and have a beer with her. She’s a riot.” And no one, I say, can cry like her. “Yeah, no one! And as a comedy actress as well, she’s incredible. She’s one of our finest exports.”

Colman is, in fact, a cottage industry unto herself, turning out highly nuanced performances from both ends of the comedy/drama divide. The Telegraph called her “the next Judi Dench.” Meryl Streep referred to her as “divinely gifted.” But Colman doesn’t wear those accolades comfortably. Bring them up and she laughs uneasily.

“It all seems a bit silly, doesn’t it? I did rewind the Meryl bit quite a few times,” Colman says, shifting in her chair. “That was amazing. I don’t know. It’s lovely and I’m aware that I’m lucky and there are many, many people who can do what I do. I’ve just been given an opportunity to do it, and I’m very grateful. It might all dry up. I’m making hay.”

The 39-year-old actress is absolutely riveting in Chris Chibnall’s eight-episode Broadchurch, where she plays Detective Sergeant Ellie Miller, a sunny if harried mother of two who returns to the police force after maternity leave to discover that the promotion she was up for has been taken by an interloper to her sleepy British seaside community, Detective Inspector Alec Hardy (Tennant). But before these two — forced to work together as partners — have a chance to know each other, they’re plunged into a murder investigation when the body of an 11-year-old local boy, Danny Latimer (Oskar McNamara), is found on the beach. The victim is the best friend of Ellie’s son, and investigating the murder of someone in her own life forever shatters Ellie’s worldview.

Which puts Colman in the position of having to portray both the spirit of justice itself while also embodying what Chibnall calls “unfiltered pure emotion.” (“Her responses are human,” he writes in an email to BuzzFeed. “Ellie, hopefully, is us.”)

When Chibnall is asked what Colman brought to the role, he’s effusive: “Genius. Limitless range, between humour and emotion. An absolute inviolable deep humanity. And huge intelligence. She never fails to give the best possible delivery of any line, scene or look. She has an ability to seek out the truest, deepest emotion while also never losing the incredible warmth and humour that Ellie and Olivia share. She also brought a lot of tears. I refuse to say any more good things about her, because if people begin to understand how talented she is, and how wonderful to work with, she will never return my calls or texts again.”

Broadchuch would seem to take some inspiration in part from the Danish series Forbrydelsen (which in turn spawned AMC’s The Killing): a multi-layered mystery that tracks both the detectives closing in on the killer and the family left behind by the victim. With Broadchuch, however, Chibnall goes one step deeper by connecting the victim’s family with Ellie and her own, resulting in a taut thriller that has additional emotional stakes for the detective.

“The Killing was a huge hit in the U.K. and everywhere around the world, and I know Chris, our writer, was a big fan of it as well,” says Colman. “I think it paved the way for us. There was nothing about The Killing that patronized its audience, and it was quite slow and detailed, all of the things which, for a long time, people had been nervous of making. It showed that audiences want that; they don’t want to be patronized. They want to be able to work things out for themselves and talk about it and have a fight about it. Chris delivered all of that because he’d written such clear multifaceted characters as well. If it was the boy next door, in your community, how would it feel?”

And yet Colman’s Ellie isn’t the type of female detective we normally see on these types of shows, but that is part of what made the character so appealing to Colman in the first place: she’s not a Sarah Lund-type, all dark and tortured, or a Saga Norén (from Broen/The Bridge). Ellie, when we meet her, is frazzled but perpetually cheerful, a working mother looking to juggle all of the demands in her life. She appears ill-equipped to handle the rigors of an investigation like this one, much less the murder of someone close to her, a crime that rips open the placid town of Broadchurch.

“I loved her for exactly those reasons,” says Colman. “That she’s a mum and a wife and a friend. She has this job, which has never really tested her up until this point… I love the fact that she’s a normal woman who’s dealing with something horrendous with no training on how to deal with that sort of thing. When you’re training, you imagine, ‘If there’s going to be a murder, it won’t be someone I know, and it won’t be a child.’ Yet all the worst possible scenarios happen.”

And while chalk-and-cheese detective pairings are far from a novel occurrence on television, Ellie and Alec’s working relationship pushes that now-familiar dynamic into some uncharted territory, setting up the two as polar opposites on an unseen moral compass.

“She assumes everybody is good and she gives everyone the benefit of the doubt,” Colman says. “He does the opposite. She’s always in demand, she’s got a family; we don’t know about his. But as more is revealed about him, you realize he might have been hurt at one point, but so much as happened and so much has hurt him and he’s had his fingers burnt that he’s had to build up this armor. She learns from him so they become closer and closer. Because I think he does understand where she’s from, but he’s trying to protect her.”

As the animosity between Colman and Tennant’s characters transforms into something resembling friendship, there is also a naturalistic quality to Ellie and Alec’s interactions, according to Chibnall: “Look at any scene with David and Olivia — they contain multitudes. You can play two minutes off them eating fish and chips and chatting. They are playful, precise, technically gifted and instinctively brilliant performers.” And it helps that the characters weren’t devised as archetypes. “I wrote the characters I wanted to see as people — we researched with the police and both characters seemed credible to me,” he adds. “Only later did I think, oh, he’s the hard-bitten cop from the city, she’s the country mouse. Sometimes, just doing the simple things well, works.”

It also helps that the two coppers are played by actors as beloved as Tennant and Colman. “He’s the sweetest man in the world, an absolute joy to work with,” says Coleman of ex-Doctor Who star Tennant. “Everyone keeps asking me what it’s like working with him, and I wish there was something that I could make up as he’s so nice. He’s awful! Very rude!” She laughs. “He’s a really lovely, funny, witty, gentle man… After a day’s work, I’ll go, ‘Shall we go and have a beer?’ and he’ll go, ‘No, no, no. I’m going to learn my lines and then I’ll have a cup of tea.’ …I’m forever trying to get him to come out and have a drink! But he’s such fun. A giggler.”

For her part, Colman might have been best known for her roles in such comedies as Peep Show, Rev, Green Wing, Twenty Twelve, and That Mitchell and Webb Look, but dramatic turns as Hannah, the abused charity shop worker, in writer/director Paddy Considine’s bleak 2011 film Tyrannosaur and as hard-bitten Carol in Channel 4’s current drama Run (not to mention a memorable turn as Margaret Thatcher’s daughter Carol in The Iron Lady and as Queen Elizabeth in Hyde Park on Hudson) have quickly transformed the overall perception of the hard-working actress, who cut her teeth on comedy. Just don’t call her characters downtrodden.

“Hannah was a soldier, the strongest character in that film,” says Colman of Tyrannosaur’s heartbreaking female lead. “She suffered torture every day and she was impenetrable. She was extraordinary. Somebody once said in a Q&A, ‘she’s like a doormat.’ Oooh! They didn’t think it again afterwards.”

That spirit of conviction — and of commitment — is what powers some of the best of Colman’s performances, including Broadchurch’s Ellie Miller. “Ellie probably became stronger because I realised that whatever I wrote Olivia would deliver beyond my expectations,” writes Chibnall. “So that then becomes a challenge: how far can we go with this? How funny can we make her (I love the deftness of her performance in the dinner scene in episode 4)? What reserves of anger and toughness can this character have? Olivia understands the contradictions in characters and reconciles them. She can play loveable and selfish, calm and furious, funny and broken-hearted all at the same time. Ellie has those facets because I had a performer who could bring them.”

Colman is clearly attracted towards playing complex characters in the throes of some dark matter, and in her late thirties has tapped into something primal and powerful in her performance.

“To play something which is a big spectrum is so much more fun, so much more of a challenge,” she says, “and also because I think I spent so many years doing comedy, which I fucking love. But when you’re given a chance to do something different, I think maybe I’m going a little bit nuts with it at the moment. I’m loving it, playing all these different things.”

Which means that there is still a chance of seeing her reprise her role on the popular comedy Peep Show as the long-suffering and posh Sophie opposite Robert Webb and David Mitchell, whom she met when the threesome attended Cambridge University.

“Oh, I hope so,” Colman says, smiling. “I couldn’t do Series 8 because I was doing Broadchurch. But Series 9? I really hope so, because they are my favorite people in the world — Rob [Webb] and David [Mitchell]. I love them. I hope so.”

Whatever she opts to do next, Colman will continue to ricochet between comedy and drama, a trajectory that she genuinely loves. While some actors might experience psychological whiplash from such a constant shift between genres, Colman is resolute about leaving her roles at the dressing room door.

“You don’t take it with you,” she says. “I know some people do. I really don’t. It’s all pretend and by the end of a filming day, whatever you’ve done, it’s the end of the working day. Hopefully, you’ve done it justice and you’ve told someone’s story well, committed to it. But it’s gone.”

Source: buzzfeed.com – Broadchurch Olivia Colman is Britain’s finest export

British actresses Olivia Colman and Jodie Whittaker are currently in the states promoting their latest mystery drama series, Broadchurch. Yesterday they were on a panel discussing their roles during the BBC America portion of the 2013 Summer Television Critics Association tour in LA, which aims to showcase the latest British dramatic offerings.
Heart-wrenching

The pair will appear alongside Doctor Who star David Tennant in the eight part series which tells the story of detectives hunting the murderer of a little boy in a small coastal town in England.

The heart-wrenching story gripped UK audiences when it premiered here in March. The producers took an unconventional approach to filming it, in that none of the cast members knew who the killer was or if it was going to be them. The show caused a Twitter frenzy when it was aired in the UK with viewers debating who they thought the killer was.

“We had bets going on all the way through. In our makeup van we had everybody’s photograph up and you put a sticker on who you thought it was,” Olivia, who plays a detective, explained.

“I only got one and I was disappointed.”
Who did it?

The producers are hoping that it will have a similar impact when it premieres in the United States on 7 August.

“If I put all of my effort into watching a show and I get no reward at the end, it annoys me,” Olivia admitted during yesterday’s session. “Chris wanted to conclude it and wanted to reward people who went on this honest journey.”

So while she didn’t reveal the killer’s identity American viewers can be safe in the knowledge that the case will be solved.

Olivia has already blown British audiences away with her compelling performances. This year alone she has bagged two BAFTAs for her roles in The Accused and Twenty Twelve and no doubt she will win over US audiences too.

Source: celebrityredcarpet.co.uk – Olivia Colman talks Broadchurch at TCA tour

Plenty of people think actress Olivia Colman has one of the most coveted jobs on the planet. But her children, Finn, seven, and Hal, five, aren’t among them.

“My sons are too little to get wrapped up in the fame side of things and I keep reminding them that being an actor is nice but it’s not impressive. Saving lives is impressive,” says the Broadchurch star, punctuating her sentences with a flash of her dimpled smile.

“Their mates go, ‘Your mum’s famous’, and my sons go, ‘Yeah but that’s not cool. It’s cool to be a nurse’.”

Colman and her sons may be modest but with Bafta wins for her performances in Olympic parody Twenty Twelve and BBC One drama Accused this year, the Norfolk-born actress has entered the big leagues.

After a string of roles on the big and small screen established her as an acclaimed serious actress from her comedy roots, her status as national treasure was perhaps cemented with her role in Broadchurch.

In ITV’s smash crime drama she played tough cop Ellie Miller opposite former Doctor Who David Tennant.

And Colman was tickled when press reports suggested she could be cast as the first female Doctor.

“Maybe I can start rumours about all sorts of roles,” says the actress, giggling.

“I’ve done loads of jobs that are under the radar, so it’s funny when you do a programme or film that more people watch. It’s lovely but it’s scary when people know your name and they throw it into the mix of things you don’t know anything about.”

Tough character

Next be seen in Channel 4’s gritty new drama Run, as Carol is a down-on-her-luck single mother who’s struggling to keep her errant sons on the straight and narrow.

To be shown over four consecutive nights, the series weaves together four seemingly unconnected people who each face life-changing decisions.

“Carol’s doing what she can,” explains Colman. “She’s trying to keep the family together and she’s doing it in an unconventional way.”

Colman, who greets everyone with the same warm smile and encouraging pats on the arm, is the antithesis of her tough character but, as an actress, she relishes playing against type.

“I like the fact that some people might find Carol unlikeable,” she says. “I like that she’s not all smiley and sweet.”

The actress, who befriended her fellow stars from offbeat Channel 4 comedy Peep Show, David Mitchell and Robert Webb, while at Cambridge University, has a very different home life from Carol.

Happily married to writer Ed Sinclair, she loves spending time at home. “My husband’s amazing,” she says. “I get homesick and I’ve never been away more than four nights on the trot.”

Gritty role

Colman’s co-star in Run Jaime Winstone plays a stripper called Tara who learns the man she’s been having an affair with has been killed.

It promises to be another landmark role for the rising star, but she admits to sometimes growing frustrated with what’s on offer.

“I find there’s a lack of material or a narrow-minded view where you’re only getting certain roles or just not being put up for things because you sound like this or you’re a working-class actor,” says the 28-year-old, who doles out plenty of ‘babes’ and ‘darlings’ but refrains from anecdotes about her famous friends who include the likes of Pixie Geldof and Kate Moss.

“I’m a young British actress, so you do get a lot of scripts for prostitutes and strippers, which shows there’s a lack of material but also that there are a lot of strippers and prostitutes,” she says with a shrug.

Killing zombies

Having dipped her toe into film-making for the gothic horror Elfie Hopkins, which she co-produced, Winstone’s currently working on a short film.

“I love film, I grew up on it,” she says, although she doesn’t know what her dream role would be.

“Killing zombies is cool,” she says, and London-born Winstone should know. In 2008, she starred in Charlie Brooker’s critically-acclaimed Dead Set in which zombies attacked the Big Brother house.

“Yeah, you want to do serious drama but you also want to carry around massive machine guns,” she says with a chuckle.

One person who’s sure to be watching Run is her actor father Ray. “My parents are very proud and they’ll definitely be watching,” she says.

“They definitely tell me what they think and they’re very critical, so they keep me on my toes for sure.”

Source: home.bt.com – Olivia Colman and Jaime Winstone talk Run

Unless you’ve been living under a rock – and a rock with very, very poor TV reception and no Broadband – for the last few years, you’ll be well acquainted with Olivia Colman. One of the finest actors to emerge in years, she is equally adept playing knockabout comedy as heart-rending tragedy. Indeed, she won BAFTAs for both drama and comedy at this year’s awards, as well as starring in the drama hit of the year so far, Broadchurch.

Today, Colman is talking about her latest role, in Channel 4’s brilliant new urban drama Run, a series looking at four seemingly unconnected people facing life-changing decisions. Here she explains more about the project, talks about THAT evening at the BAFTAs, and reveals how Broadchurch has changed everything.

You get offered a lot of roles – what was it that made you say yes to this one?

I loved the role as soon as it came through. It’s unusually written, but it’s a story that’s clearly straight from the heart. It’s written by these two fantastic young guys, and the role, Carol is a great part to play. You don’t often get scripts this good through the post, they are few and far between.

Can you describe Carol?

I like Carol, she’s ballsy, a tough old bird. She hasn’t had it easy and she’s trying to do her best against all the odds. She’s a really strong woman who loves her children, but maybe in what some people would term an unpalatable way – they’re not what you’d call a classic rosy family by any means. But she’s doing what she has to do. She’s not an angel, but a lesser being might go under, and I like her for that. I never like playing doormats, and she’s certainly not that. She really feels for other people and although her moral judgment is slightly clouded, she does have it.

As you say, the writers are two young men – it’s quite an achievement for them to write a role like Carol with such skill, isn’t it?

Most of the parts I’ve played have been written by men, just because there seem to be more men writing. Men can write brilliantly for women. But they often don’t. Carol is based on women in their lives, strong women that they’ve known – mums, aunties and so on – and those women had a big influence on them and meant a lot to them. All of the characters in the whole series are people that they know, who they’ve seen and lived next to, so that’s why I think it’s so beautiful. It’s from the heart, and from something that they’ve known. I couldn’t believe how young the writers were when I first read the script; it’s so exciting to think about where else they’re going to go.

Looking at your body of work, you seem to either star in comedy or quite bleak dramas. Do you quite like the contrast between the two?

Yes, I do, suppose. I don’t know if it’s on purpose, or just by accident, but the difference is so vast. They’re more interesting to play, I suppose, those two ends of the spectrum. Comedy is obviously brilliant fun to do, and I feel very fortunate to be allowed to do the drama, because for a long time, people can’t see you as anything other than the thing they’ve seen you in before. So it’s lovely to do something you can really get your teeth into.

Is it quite draining, filming something like Run?

No. I’m not method, and you know it’s pretend. So you do it in the moment, and it’s really cathartic when you get to do it, and then you finish, and it’s not you, and you get to go and have a beer with everybody and have a nice time.

So you were able to enjoy the filming, in spite of the tough demands?

Yeah, definitely. Because of the constraints on time and budget, TV work tends to be quite quick and I like that. In the films I’ve done, I’ve found it quite hard to sustain interest for six hours, so I much prefer this. I love the way Charles [Charles Martin, the director] works. He uses the people around him, it’s really immediate, he understands how actors like to work and doesn’t rehearse everything to death. So by the time you come to do it you’re not bored with it and it’s natural, I like the way he does that. It makes your job so much easier, and it’s so much more enjoyable. He banishes ‘marks’ which is lovely. You just do what feels real and you get a better product that way. There’s a lot to cover every day but I’ve really genuinely enjoyed it.

You’ve filmed in some of London’s livelier communities. How’s that been?

Where we’ve been filming – Brixton, Peckham – contrary to the assumption some people might have about those places, I have to say they’ve been the friendliest. We’ve been on the street filming with real people. You go to other parts of London and people are really put out that you’re on the pavement. I’ve loved it. If you saw the characters you’d presume things about them and almost invariably you’d be wrong. I like that. They look hard because they’ve come from a hard place, but they’re good people.

The guys who played your sons are brothers in real life, aren’t they?

Yeah, JJ and Billy are brothers. And that tattoo on Billy’s arm that says ‘Mum’ is a real tattoo. So that was perfect. Billy had actually been in an episode of Rev – I don’t know if he had a speaking role, but he was the one that Tom accosted when he’d stolen a bag – except he hadn’t really. I think that was him. He was certainly playing a ‘toerag’ in one of them. They’re fantastic in it. And all the way through, in Carol’s eyes, Billy was being led astray, and then when I finally saw the fight scene, you see Billy push his brother aside and absolutely go quite psychotic. The way it was done, it was so nice not to have seen that til afterwards. And I thought “Oh my God, I was protecting the wrong one all this time.”

You also star opposite Neil Maskell. He’s something of the man of the moment just now, isn’t he?

Quite right, he’s absolutely brilliant. It was an honour to work with him. It just makes your job very easy when you’re playing against people like that. His face in repose is such a sweet, gentle, twinkly face. It’s amazing to watch – he just goes into character and suddenly becomes quite chilling. It’s similar working with Eddie Marsan as well – that little, sweet pixie face can suddenly become something terrifying.

Along with Neil, you seem to be the busiest actor in the country right now. Do you work ridiculously hard?

No, I think part of that is an illusion because schedulers put everything on at the same time. I don’t think I’ve worked any more than I’ve always worked. You get big chunks of weeks when you’re not doing anything. When I started out, I didn’t have a job for a year, and luckily for me the gaps have got smaller between jobs, but I think that’s just because I’ve now done jobs that more people have seen. But I still have lots of time at home, and from that point of view it’s perfect for family life. The longest I’ve ever been away was for Broadchurch. I’ve never done a really long job away from the family. Normally it’s six weeks tops, and I get to go home at weekends.

You recently won BAFTA awards for both comedy and drama. That must have been an incredible experience.

Yeah, that was a bit bonkers. Every now and again I’ll ask myself “I wonder if that really happened or not.” I can’t really put that into words. I still haven’t really registered that it happened. It was all a bit overwhelming, so straight after dinner I asked my husband “Can we go home? I want to put my socks on.” So we snuck off.

That’s so not showbiz of you. You should have been falling out of a limo at 4am.

Once upon a time I would have been. And my mates know I’m the last one to leave a party. But stuff like that is just a bit too much, a bit too overwhelming.

Where are the BAFTAs sitting?

If I was really cool, they’d be in the downstairs loo, but I’m not that cool, so they’re in the sitting room where everyone can see them.

You mentioned Broadchurch, which was a massive drama juggernaut this year. Did you have any idea, when you were making it, that it was going to turn into such a behemoth?

No! Lots of times I’ll read a script and think “This is great, I’m going to enjoy doing this,” and you hope people like it. But I’ve never read a script and thought “This is great, it’s going to go nuts.” I don’t know if you can tell or not. But it did go completely bonkers. A lot of people watched it. It was extraordinary.

Do you get recognised a lot more since Broadchurch?

Yes. Previously I’d normally get somebody every day going “I like Peep Show” or something. And now that happens quite a lot more, to the extent that I get quite embarrassed. I only do journeys that I really have to, because I don’t know what to do. I’ve never had a bad experience, it’s just funny. Someone knows your face, but you don’t know theirs. It’s a bit peculiar, and I’m sure I’ll get better at it. But if I need to get a pint of milk, I’ll wait until I really need to go. Where I live, actually, everybody knows me, so that’s all fine, but when you’re away from home, it’s slightly daunting, and I’m a bit of a chicken.

Lots of people will first have seen you in Peep Show. Do you see that as your breakthrough role?

I don’t know if there was one breakthrough. I’ve been working a long time, it was a sort of slow burn. I’m really grateful that it’s been like that. Peep Show is a show that people took to their hearts, but even then it had relatively small viewing figures. So the word breakthrough sounds a bit “Ta-Daa!” and it wasn’t like that. But it’s a show we’re all incredibly proud of. I think it’s great, I’ve always loved it. I’m so grateful I was in it, and working with some of my favourite people in the world.

What roles have meant the most to you over the years?

Tyrannosaur, easy-peasy. Until I die, I can’t imagine any role being more important to me than that one. And actually, I have to say Run was one that I absolutely loved doing as well. It’s about the environment that you’re working in as well. Lovely Charles Martin, the director of Run, really understands actors and lets them do their job. It felt like a really lovely, collaborative project, telling a good story with a good script. Tyrannosaur was like that too. And the other role I really loved was in The Accused.

An indication of how crazy your life has become is that you’re among the favourites to be the new Doctor Who. What’s it like to read stuff like that about yourself?

It’s all on Twitter, isn’t it. I don’t have Twitter. It is all on Twitter, isn’t it?

No, it’s been in the papers as well.

Oh, has it? I didn’t know that. MY brother sent me a text saying “Congratulations, they’ve released odds on you being the new Doctor Who.” Which we thought was very funny. No-one’s ever asked me about it. I wouldn’t put any money on it. I assume they would have to ask me for it to be true.

Source: channel4.com – Olivia Colman Interview

Olivia Colman, 39, was born in Norfolk. She studied at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and then played Sophie in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show. She appeared in Shane Meadows’s film Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee and was Carol Thatcher in The Iron Lady. In 2011 she starred in Paddy Considine’s directorial debut, Tyrannosaur, and won a special jury prize at the Sundance film festival. Her latest film is Hyde Park On Hudson and her recent television roles include Rev, Twenty Twelve and Broadchurch. She stars with Considine in the ITV period crime drama The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher II, which begins tomorrow.

When were you happiest?
When my husband and I first said we loved each other, in our student flat in Cambridge.

What is your earliest memory?
I think I remember being held by my mum as a baby.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
I get cross and shout.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Being impolite and unkind.

What was your most embarrassing moment?
When I wet myself on stage – it’s in David Mitchell’s book. We were doing The Miser and there were a lot of quick changes and David never quite managed to get his bow tie in the right place. It became too much to bear, wondering what he would have under his chin each time I turned round.

What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My eyebags and the middle bit between knee and armpit.

What would be your fancy dress costume of choice?
Superman – but he doesn’t have a mask, so Batman.

Who would play you in the film of your life?
If I am allowed to pick someone much hotter and taller than me, Phoebe Waller-Bridge. She is one of the funniest women I have ever met.

What is your most unappealing habit?
I don’t know. I’ve been with my husband and friends for so long, I’ve forgotten what is unappealing to new people.

What is your favourite smell?
First smell of spring and my children’s faces.

Which words do you most overuse?
“Um.”

What is your favourite book?
The Time Traveller’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger.

What is your guiltiest pleasure?
Booze. My favourite is gin, tonic and elderflower cordial. It’s summer in a glass.

What does love feel like?
Proper love should be utterly supportive and comfortable, and it feels like a raincoat or a jacket potato.

What has been your biggest disappointment?
As a child, I thought, “Once I am a grown-up, there will be no more fear, no more worries”, and it turns out that’s not true.

What keeps you awake at night?
Worry that I am not going to work.

What song would you like played at your funeral?
Summer Breeze, by the Isley Brothers.

How would you like to be remembered?
As a good egg.

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Don’t take anything for granted.

Where would you most like to be right now?
Actually, having a wee.

Source: guardian.co.uk – Olivia Colman Q&A