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Some spoilers below forThe Favourite.
Weisz, meanwhile, is the very picture of devastatingly chic British restraint and intelligence.
Rachel Weisz suffers no fools.
If she disagrees with your interpretation of her character, shell tell you.
The tone for a Yorgos Lanthimos movie is so specific.
Theres absolutely no discussion.
I dont know how he does it.
I thinkThe Lobsterwas more deadpan.
Did you find this deadpan?
Id say it was more wacky and satirical thanThe Lobster, with deadpan moments.Yeah.
Thats just his direction.
Somehow or other I dont know how he does it.
Im not sureheknows how he does it.
He doesnt ever say, Say it deadpan, or, Say it flat.
He might say, Say it quicker.
He almost doesnt really direct at all.
And yet hes directing very meticulously.
Its a very hard thing to explain.
Theres never any discussion.
So how does he communicate what he wants from you, if not verbally?
[Long pause.]
I really dont know!
I really dont know.
Somehow he just its like putting a needle on vinyl.
He just makes you do it again and again and again until he finally gets you in his groove.
What sort of preparation do you do with him?
Are there exercises, rehearsals?We do a three-week rehearsal.
We did horse-riding, we did excuse me, Im eating a mint gun-shooting, costume-fittings.
We also played games together.
So wed do things like trust exercises.
What was the weirdest game he had you play?Oh God, they were all so weird.
Is that unique to his sets?Ive done that in theater, but never on a movie.
Your character in this movie is so fascinating because shes pretty impossible to read.
How do you play somebody whos essentially playing somebody at all times?
Is that not how you saw it?No.
But thats an interesting interpretation.
How did you see their relationship?Oh, I think she loves the queen.
But she also loves England.
But the queen is England, and England is the queen, which is handy.
Theyve been friends and lovers since childhood.
Shes protecting the queen from embarrassing herself in front of Parliament because the queen doesnt know whats going on.
Youre alternatively in love, slapping each other across the face, choking each other.
You cant really do anything to build chemistry.
You either have it with someone or you dont.
All those really weird trust exercises that we did, they built chemistry.
So I guess we all built chemistry together at that time.
I built chemistry with Nicholas Hoult, even though the characters hated each other.
But thats a form of chemistry.
I dont know if you’re able to exactly work on it, its a sort of alchemy.
But you could build trust, though.
And trust is really important.
Even if its adversarial, and the characters dont get along; its good to have trust there.
Were all of you hanging out off set?We didnt really hang out at all.
I think everyone was just tired.
It was a long, really fun shoot.
That was really sweet, that one really nice dinner.
Can you walk me through the incredible dragged through the woods unconscious on a horse while puking scene?
But my arm was still dragging.
The riding scene before that, I did lots of galloping, coming to a stop, then puking.
It was quite fun.
Did you seeThe Lobster?
Yeah.InThe LobsterI was all covered in mud, and I very much enjoyed that.
Its quite fun getting mucky.
Do you see yourself that way?I like this kind of comedy absurd, ridiculous.
And that comes quite naturally to me.
Very broad [comedy] doesnt Yorgoss style of comedy comes very naturally to me.
But Im not a natural comedian, inSaturday Night Liveterms.
Its my sense of reality.
I think life is pretty absurd.
People behave very absurdly, even when theyre trying to be very serious.
The human condition is pretty absurd.
Wed try it again; it was always a work in progress.
Then we had to do it with the costumes on the headdress, corset, the long train.
And some of the moves became physically impossible, like, I cant do that with this dress on.
Yorgos said, Okay, then, try something else.
So it was pretty scary.
Neither Joe or I have ever danced professionally.
So we had a crash course in avant-garde period dance.
But it was fun.
And kind of a relief to stop talking.
Thats why I like watching dance its a physical vocabulary.
It was lovely to spend so many days not speaking.
Its good, isnt it?
I loved that scene.
This is your second movie, afterDisobedience, with queer overtones that youve made this year.
But this was just a story that came my way.
Im really interested to play films with female friendships, not necessarily being queer.
So its really refreshing.
Whats particularly refreshing about it?Throughout history, men have owned women.
Women have been chattel to men.
So youre just free of the history of ownership.
Women have never owned each other; men have owned women.
The history of that is always there.
When women are together, theres a lot of freedom.
Along those lines, Im curious how youve experienced the #MeToo movement, on a personal level.
Have you seen things change over the course of the year?
Its not just the movie industry, its gymnastics.
Im sure things are heading in the right direction, but its baby steps.
That takes a year.
Nine months to get one going, and then you have to look after them 24/7.
So whats next for you?
Are you looking exclusively for stories about women relating to each other?I dont know, actually.
I dont have a job!
Im just looking for a good female role.
If theres more than one woman, thats wonderful.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
