Ormond’s fashionable second act
The star of Sabrina, First Knight and Legends of the Fall is now busier than ever. James Croot reports.
Almost 25 years after she became Hollywood’s It girl, Julia Ormond is back in vogue. With a string of movies in the mid-1990s – First Knight, Legends of the Fall, Smilla’s Sense of Snow and most notably Sabrina – the Surreyborn actress was compared to acting royalty like Audrey Hepburn.
But although they both went on to roles in the UN, Ormond, unlike Hepburn, appears to be headed for a second act when it comes to work on the screen.
While she’s never been truly away – and indeed a 2010 Emmy for Temple Grandin confirms that – the 53-year-old has suddenly found herself back in hot demand.
A hilarious performance as French cyclist Adrianna Baton in last year’s mockumentary, Tour de France, was followed by her turn as Ruth Wilcox in the most-recent mini-series version of Howards End. And this week, Ormond is back on the big screen in the Aussie period dramedy Ladies in Black.
Based on Madeleine St John’s 1959-set best-selling 1993 novel The Women in Black, it focuses on the lives and loves of the staff at Sydney’s FD Goodes department store. The English actress plays recent immigrant Magda, the stylish, no-nonsense boss of the modern gowns section, who takes new recruit Lisa (Angourie Rice) under her wing.
Speaking on the phone from Hertfordshire, Ormond reveals that relationship was what particularly attracted her to the script. ‘‘I loved that it was this coming-of-age story, which was superficially about saving enough money to buy the dress that she has set her sights on, but it was really about the women who help her find herself on a different level. They are the ones who help her grow into the dress so she can carry it off.
‘‘I also love how it focuses on migrants’ influence on a culture,’’ she says, adding that this has also made the movie timely. ‘‘Because it is set decades ago, it allows us a little distance to see how resistant people were then to immigrants. They were different circumstances then, but I do believe the movement of people is something we’re just going to have more of, from here. And how those people are treated, how they are welcomed, I think, is very important.
‘‘I loved the way the women in the store iced my character out, before she and this young girl begin their friendship. She gets under her skin and she brings her into her home and it helps her [Magda] kind of move more happily with the rest of them.’’
Fortunately for Ormond, the foreign interloper among a cadre of Aussie actresses, including Noni Hazelhurst and Rachael Taylor, the reception she got couldn’t have been more welcoming.
‘‘We had a really good time and it was good fun. There was something nice about a femaledominated cast, although it was wonderful having Vincent Perez as my husband. However, I think most of my stuff was with Angourie and I just thought she was very, very special. She has a wonderful quality – she’s kind of an old soul – and obviously Rachael’s very stunning and she brings a lot of heart.’’
Ormond admits one aspect of her Ladies’ character was a bit of a stretch for her – Magda’s flair for fashion.
‘‘I think I just lack that gene. I was always quite a tomboy when I was younger and had to be dragged kicking and screaming into a dress. I guess I’ve been very lucky as an actress, in terms of creating characters, to always have been surrounded by great costume designers.’’
Magda is also a far cry from when Ormond appeared to make a career out of playing women who were ‘‘stuck between different men’’.
‘‘I sort of feel that, as I’ve got older, the parts have actually been more varied. You’re allowed a certain level of freedom.’’
Ormond will next be putting that to the test in the hotly anticipated BBC drama Gold Digger.
Although she describes it as ‘‘another Granny role’’, the six-part series about a 60-year-old who falls in love with a much younger man (played by Prince Caspian’s Ben Barnes) has already generated plenty of British tabloid headlines because of its premise.
For her part, Ormond says it ‘‘really touched me because it’s about the invisibility of women and explores dysfunctional family dynamics’’.
‘‘It is really, really well-written, has impressive actors in it and is just a fascinating look at our take on older women once they’ve gone through family life and their children have left.’’
Surprisingly, Gold Digger also marks Ormond’s British television debut. While her project choices have ‘‘always been about the writing’’, she says there is something about really good writing that ‘‘you can find only in television’’ at the moment.
‘‘There is good writing in film, but you can’t get into the same kind of detail in just an hour-and-a-half.’’
Having sampled Australia as a filming destination, could Ormond now be tempted to come and work on this side of the Tasman?
‘‘Oh my God, yes. New Zealand is somewhere that I have had on my bucket list for a very long time and is globally renowned as being this jewel on the planet and just stunningly beautiful.
‘‘I do refuel from nature. I think I’ve discovered I’m less of a city girl than I think. But I would love to take on a Kiwi accent.’’
Ladies in Black (PG) is now showing in cinemas.