MAXINE PEAKE
British star MAXINE PEAKE chooses her roles carefully. In folk horror Fanny Lye Deliver’d, she finds something to get her teeth into
We interview the actor as always in excellent form.
MAXINE PEAKE IS an actor with a nose for a great story. It’s a trait that led her straight into the leading role of Fanny Lye Deliver’d. For this English Revolution-set home invasion drama, Peake went full Puritan, channelling the power of a woman who has seen the atrocities of war, yet refuses to be defeated. Speaking to Empire from her home near Manchester, Peake explains how she stepped into the shoes of a survivor — even if they were occasionally a bit soggy.
The film is set entirely in one location. What was the shoot like?
The set was custom-built, which was something that I’d never experienced before. The crew found a field just outside of Bridgnorth and they built the farmhouse, the barn and the pigsty.
Was that helpful when stepping into the mindset of your character?
It was fantastic to have the house meet all of the specifications, but it kept flooding. Which was a bit of a disaster! The runners had a bit of a time sweeping all of the water out of the house because it was built in a dip in the field.
How else did you prepare for the role?
One of the things that attracted me to this film is the period, which I’m absolutely obsessed with. We’re talking ten years after the Civil War. Years ago I did a TV series called The Devil’s Whore starring Dominic West and Michael Fassbender — where are they now? — and I played a political Leveller’s wife. Because this story ticks all of the boxes politically for me, I really got into the research. It’s my favourite part, doing that investigation, because you end up learning stuff that otherwise you probably would never have delved into.
What drew you to the role of Fanny?
It was about a woman who had survived the patriarchy. You see her with a husband who’s a fair bit older, but then you realise that she’s been a real victim of war. On the surface she’s submissive, but she’s doing what she has to because she’s a survivor. Women in these situations always interest me.
The film has a feel of a 1970s folk horror…
It doesn’t feel like a film that was made now. It’s got kind of a ’70s Western feel to it. The ’70s really reimagined that genre. If you didn’t know the actors, you would think that it was made during the late ’60s or early ’70s. I think it’s a real homage to the period. In the 16th and 17th century there was always a little bit of saucy witchcraft going on, and there was a real zeitgeist for films set in that period, which I think you can feel here.
You seem very particular in how you choose your roles. What is it that you look for?
To me, it’s always the story that’s being told. It sounds terribly ambiguous but I can always tell within six pages into a script whether I’m going like the story or not. I also think there’s a responsibility to myself about the female characters that I play. I get sent a lot of stuff where there’s a woman at the forefront but they’re still getting punished for their sexuality, or they’re trying to find freedom but it’s still very much the male gaze. It is about stories, and asking yourself if you want to be a part of that story. It’s asking yourself if it will challenge you as an actor. Will I learn anything from it? Don’t get me wrong, people aren’t banging on my door to work with me, and as you get older it takes more to put yourself in that position. So you choose more wisely. You think, “What do you want to invest your time in?”
Is it important that your films reach a lot of people?
I love British independent cinema, but they don’t always get a big release. Like with Funny Cow [British comedydrama which Peake starred in]. I was slightly surprised because it didn’t get more attention than expected, probably because of the size of the budget. But it’s not necessarily about the audience scale. If it speaks to a few people, that’s good enough for me. FANNY LYE DELIVERÕD IS ON DIGITAL FROM 26 JUNE