When we caught up last Spring, Claire Foy was thoroughly engaged and enthusiastic about her work in “A Very British Scandal.” But when I asked her about her then-upcoming role in Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking” her eyes lit up like fireworks on the river Thames. And we certainly know why now. Polley’s critically acclaimed drama has already been honored by AFI, the National Board of Review and will land the Robert Altman ensemble honor from the Spirit Awards next year.
READ MORE: Ben Whishaw’s amazing year continues with “Women Talking” [Interview]
Foy says it’s “very, very rare” that a project comes your way you become this excited about.
“I knew that Francis [McDormand] was producing it with Dede [Gardner],” Foy says. “I had randomly watched ‘Take This Waltz‘ in lockdown. I’d never seen it before, and I watched it. And then, I watched ‘Stories We Tell.‘ So, I knew how amazing Sarah was. The caliber of the film was so extraordinary. And then, I read the book and felt so connected to it and moved by it. So, you’re just worried that it’s not going to go your way basically, but you understand why it wouldn’t because it’s so great.”
Foy continues, “I was so surprised I was being given the opportunity. I really was. Sarah took a massive, not leap of faith, but put so much confidence in her actors that she was like, ‘No, you can do it,’ even if some of us had never played parts like that before. Or she just knew that if we felt connected to it, it would come out. So she, yeah, has a lot of confidence in that way. She’s a very confident filmmaker.”
Over the course of our conversation, Foy talks about the much-needed rehearsal process for a project such as this, Polley’s directing style and ponders the possibilities of once again being asked to return as a younger Queen Elizabeth II for the upcoming final season of “The Crown.”
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The Playlist: Hey Claire, how are you doing?
Claire Foy: I’m all right. Thanks. How are you?
I’m good. Sorry, I’m eating a little bit. Just so you know, this is a print interview. We won’t be using the video.
If you are eating, can I eat?
Yes, please! Dear God. Have drinks! Do whatever you want.
O.K. It’s happening. We’re having breakfast together. That’s what’s happening.
Yes. I’m having a very healthy protein cookie. So healthy.
Oh, dear. I’m about to have some bacon so don’t judge me.
When I caught up with you last spring for Emmy season, and I asked you about “Women Talking” and you were so excited about it. I don’t even think you’d seen it yet. I know you had an amazing experience, but when you saw the final film, what were your thoughts?
I think it’s very difficult. The first time you see something, often you’re very overwhelmed by the experience of seeing something. I think with this, it was more overwhelming than anything I’d ever watched back because I so clearly remembered the experience of making it. And because we were all so close and because it was quite like a play, I remembered everyone’s lines. I remembered being in the moment with everyone and every single moment. So, it was actually the second time I saw it that I was able to absorb it properly, which was at Telluride. It was really special because we were all together. It felt really special that we were all there watching it together and had a really warm, lovely reception at Telluride. It just felt like a really special moment. I think the thing that I already admired and was sort of in awe of was Sarah while we were shooting because she was wrangling a lot of people and a big story. But when I saw the film, I think I realized the mammoth task that she must have had in making all those performances and that story into the film that she had made. I found it pretty extraordinary to be honest, that she managed to do it.
Compared to the other directors you’ve worked with, how would you describe Sarah’s directing style?
Well, Sarah is an actress, so I think she’s someone who has allowed her experience to educate her and also influence how she then directs. I think that means that she directs with a huge amount of compassion and patience and respect for what the actor’s doing. I felt very respected the whole time, and I don’t think that’s always the case. I think sometimes you can feel like you are the instrument of a director, basically. You are there to be manipulated by them as opposed to having your own opinion or voice or point of view. But Sarah made the set, and it was just the most collaborative move I’ve ever made. She’s so humble and open and nonjudgemental. She’s so accepting of everybody’s stance and everyone’s opinion, and she’s able to hold space for a lot of people to have a lot of different opinions, which I think is pretty remarkable. She’s, yeah, like no other director I’ve ever worked with. Incredible.
Obviously, it’s a huge ensemble. Was there time for rehearsals? Was there time to prep? Or was it, “O.K. We’re going to get on a Zoom. We’re going to do a read-through, and then, we’re just going to get on stage and work it out there”?
No, obviously, we’d all spoken individually to Sarah at length about our characters, basically, in the meetings and auditions that we did. I think she knew it takes quite a strong director to see rehearsals as not a threatening thing to the production of the movie but a necessity. I think we had to be family members, we had to have known each other our entire lives. So, if we just met on set, it would’ve been really strange. But yeah, we had one week on Zoom, which is where we basically talked all through. We read through the whole script. We did a couple of read-throughs. And then, we dissected the scenes and talked about things a bit more. And then, we had an in-person week, which was very technical, which was about how they were going to shoot in the hay loft. So, it was very much for Luc [Montpellier], the [directed of photography] and for Sarah to figure out where we were, how we’d light, camera positions, all that stuff. So, by the time we got to shooting, although none of us felt prepared, we had had two weeks of a run-in basically.
What did you learn from those rehearsals about your character? Did you feel like you came out of that thinking, “Oh, I know something I didn’t know before”?
I think I always come out of those things with more questions than answers basically, which is a terrifying thing about my profession because you do have to still be curious and you never have the answer basically. I always go into rehearsals hoping by the end of it I’ll be like, “I’m solid. I know what I’m doing.” But I never do. I come out going, “Oh my God.” I think the thing that I really got from rehearsals was the relationship in our family. Basically the Friesen family, so myself, Ona [Rooney Mara], and Agata [Judith Ivey]. The relationship between the mother and the daughters, and how that differed from the other dynamics in the room and the other families in the room. And our family history, which a lot of it’s not in the movie but was from the book, which helps me to understand why all of these women are coming in at a certain pitch, a certain energy, and a certain approach to what they’re discussing.
How necessary was researching the Mennonite community?
I think in the pre-production stage, the book was it, for me, was the most important part of it. I think because there’s so much information about Salome in the book, which is really amazing, and, obviously, Miriam Toews, who wrote the book is a Mennonite. She lived in a Mennonite community. So, it was really helpful for me as someone who has had absolutely no experience of any sort of religious, any sort of colony like that, I suppose. I’ve never experienced it as being from the UK. It was really amazing to be immersed in it in the book. And then, I did as much research as I could. Obviously, it’s a very closed community, so there’s not really a lot you can do. There are documentaries you can watch, and obviously, ask Miriam questions, and Sarah knows a lot about the Mennonite community. So, we were really supported. But I think ultimately at a certain point, Sarah’s script took over from the book and became the one thing that you focused on and hang your hat on basically.