MELROSE’S MUM!
Jennifer Jason Leigh inherits the role of a badly behaved aristocrat
Get ready for the lowdown on the British upper class. Patrick Melrose
is a new five-part series about an outrageously funny aristocrat, played by Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch.
Twin Peaks star Jennifer Jason Leigh, who plays his mother Eleanor, tells Woman’s Day all about the new drama.
How did you get involved?
I’d already read the books – I loved them but thought they’d be impossible to make into a movie or TV series. They are so dense and brilliant, and they just cover so much ground. Two years later, I got the call and they sent me David Nicholls’ screenplay. It was a great adaptation.
I was in.
What impact does Eleanor have on Patrick’s life?
There’s a phrase “goodenough mothering”. She’s not good enough at mothering, but there’s some good to her mothering. Also the fact that she doesn’t leave him anything in her will or give him any money is actually a sign of love, although it’s not seen that way. She didn’t want him to become an inheritance brat.
How would you describe your character?
She’s a complex and deeply flawed character. She’s very much a woman of her time – she comes from new money and as a result, she has an odd relationship to money. She doesn’t like seeing what it does to people.
What was the biggest challenge in portraying Eleanor?
Physically, it was very challenging. She’s a different age in every episode, but I had the flexibility and desire to make it real. The whole thing was challenging in the most exciting way – the way you really want to be challenged as an actor.