Olivia rocks her roles
AuSSIE ACTOR jOINS THE TRAIN OF SuCCESS WITH HOLLyWOOd OuTINGS
‘It’s so good to hear an Australian accent, I have to say!” beams Melbourne-born actor Olivia DeJonge over Zoom from Los Angeles, where she’s based. “I’ve been away from home for a long time, so it’s really nice!”
Homesickness aside, the 24year-old is currently in the midst of what Hollywood likes to call a “moment”.
Next up, she plays Priscilla Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, which will finally premiere at Cannes next month after long Covid delays.
In the hotly anticipated film, DeJonge stars alongside Austin Butler’s Elvis and Oscar-winner Tom Hanks as the King of Rock’n’Roll’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
DeJonge says that taking on the role of Priscilla was a “huge responsibility”.
“You’re taking on a real person and I felt that responsibility,” she says. “
But at the same time, I was surrounded by a really great group of people and I felt very supported and loved and very much a part of making something together with a beautiful group of people.”
Now, DeJonge’s star will rise even further thanks to a major role in Binge’s new true-crime series, The Staircase.
The gripping limited series is based on the 2004 true-crime docuseries that explores the suspicious 2001 death of Kathleen Peterson (Toni Collette), a highranking telecommunications executive who was found dead by her novelist husband, Michael (Colin Firth), at the bottom of the stairs at the couple’s luxurious North Carolina home.
He soon becomes a suspect and the story revolves around a did-hedidn’t-he narrative.
So far, so true crime.
DeJonge plays Kathleen’s daughter, Caitlin (Michael Peterson was not her biological dad).
But does she think Peterson did it?
“Of course, I would love to know an answer,” she says with a smile. “And look, there were discussions that we had on set about whether he was guilty or not. I, myself, am neutral on the subject matter because all the theories make sense in one way or another so I don’t feel too strongly one way, which might be the cop out answer.”
The ensemble cast is packed with big names including Oscar winners Firth (in his first lead TV role since 1995’s Pride and
Prejudice) and Juliette Binoche, Oscar nominee Colette, Game of Thrones’ Sophie Turner, Rosemarie DeWitt, Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger, and fellow Aussie Odessa Young.
“Obviously, it’s such incredible company to be in, this whole ensemble cast – it’s a masterclass in acting,” DeJonge enthuses.
“There’s a scene in one episode where there’s an argument between Toni and Colin, and just being around them and watching them do their jobs is incredible. I learnt so much in that regard – watching Toni was a masterclass.”
DeWitt, who plays DeJonge’s aunt, Candace, on the show, agrees.
“For me, the most moving part of the show is to see Toni Collette in it and to see Kathleen brought to life because she was always the person I had no sense of,” says DeWitt, who starred alongside Colette in the TV series United States of Tara.
“Everybody gets drawn into Michael Peterson, you can’t help it. And Toni is such a vital talent that to see her embody Kathleen I think just brings a lot more dimension to the whole thing.”
The Staircase continues the true crime boom that has infiltrated podcasts, documentaries and fictionalised TV adaptations over the past couple of decades.
DeJonge says she’s as obsessed with true crime stories as any of us. “Obviously, as human beings we’re all nosy and we all want to know the truth,” she says.
“But I think as I’ve gotten older – I’m 24 so I still have a little while to go – but you learn that the truth is constructed and there’s a big grey area in life, there’s a big grey area in this case, there’s a big grey area in these people’s lives, it’s not black and white.
“Maybe selfishly as actors it’s almost more interesting to play the grey area with such definitiveness that you are still in thrall no matter what.”
Harking back to a time period (2001) when she was just three years old also had its appeal.
“It was all about the flip phone for me,” she laughs.
“I definitely felt nostalgic when I had my flip phone scene where I got to slam it shut. I remember that being a huge choice to slam the flip phone at the end because I was like ‘I can’t do that anymore with these iPhones’. My parents had flip phones so that aspect of it was very nostalgic.
“And the girls playing cards – no one’s sitting on their phone, they’re playing cards or they’re talking or they’re looking outside. Imagine that?”