Being completely naked in the Welsh countryside meant you didn’t have to fake anything ... it was quite amazing
The Crown’s Emma Corrin and SAS: Rogue Heroes’ Jack O’Connell talk about their new adaptation of the classic novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover
EMMA CORRIN recently spoke about the “amazing” feeling while filming scenes for Lady Chatterley’s Lover “completely naked in the Welsh countryside”.
The 26-year-old The Crown star, who won a Golden Globe for their performance as Diana, Princess of Wales in the Netflix drama, plays the lead role in the re-telling of the story, based on D H Lawrence’s classic novel.
The latest version of the muchadapted tale, is written by Oscar nominee David Magee and directed by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre.
Emma, who uses they/them pronouns, was speaking on The Graham Norton Show on BBC1 and was asked why they wanted the role.
They said: “When I got the script, Laure, our director, was already attached and she is incredible, and there was a crazy scene where they both dance naked in the rain.
“For some reason I was like, ‘Yes, sign me up’.”
Talking more about that scene, Emma added: “I think certainly that it was the most exhilarating thing I have ever done in my life.
“In film-making it is pretend, so it’s rare that you are actually in a situation where you are literally thinking and feeling exactly as your character would be.
“Being completely naked in the Welsh countryside meant you didn’t have to fake anything, you were just feeling it and it was quite amazing.”
The story follows the life of Lady Constance Chatterley (played by Emma), a woman born into wealth and privilege, who eventually falls out of love with the man she married, Sir Clifford Chatterley, played by Matthew Duckett.
She embarks on an affair with their estate’s working class gamekeeper Oliver Mellors (played by Jack O’Connell) and breaks all the conventions of the 1920s to try to be with the man she loves, despite their different social classes.
D H Lawrence first published the novel privately in 1928 and, due to its explicit descriptions of sex, an uncensored version was not widely printed in the UK until
1960.
French filmmaker Laure,
whose debut feature was 2019’s The Mustang, was gripped by David Magee’s script when the project crossed her path.
She explains: “I immediately felt connected to the scenes of imprisonment and nature and connection, and I thought it was a very timely story to tell about human connection and, most importantly, about the freedom of a woman who can control her body.
“Those scenes resonated with me in a very strong way.”
Given the nature of some of the scenes, leading film, TV and theatre intimacy co-ordinator and movement director Ita O’Brien, who previously advised on projects like the TV adaptation of Normal People and Sir Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel was also integral to the cast.
Laure explains: “I thought it was such a great help to be able to approach the scenes with someone that can choreograph it and talk about it without it being invasive.”
Emma, who was recently seen in the movie My Policeman alongside Harry Styles and is starring in the West End production of Virginia Woolf ’s Orlando, says of Laure: “I think that she films through such a nuanced, sensitive lens that really gets in under the skin of the characters she’s filming.”
On being able to tell Connie’s story, Emma says: “I think it says so much about what it is to be a woman needing sexual pleasure and intimacy and the legitimacy of that need and that want.
“It is not something that you should be ashamed about. It is not something that you should deprive yourself of. It is something that we all need. And I think that Connie’s journey is one of realisation – she needs to embrace that side of her.
“To really foreground this in this film has been really important to both Laure and I, to really make sure that the journey is really Connie bringing herself alive in that way.”
Jack, 32, reveals he was a fan of the book, describing it as “probably one of the best pieces of writing I’ve certainly ever encountered”.
The actor, who rose to fame playing James Cook in hit coming-ofage series Skins and more recently featured in the BBC war drama SAS: Rogue Heroes, says: “I think it’ll be a constant book that I keep going back to.
“I think the author... he writes very deeply about a topic, I think, that involves us all really.
“And that’s a question mark over what love might be, the different versions of love.”
Actress Joely Richardson also stars in the new adaptation as Mrs Bolton, a carer hired for Sir Clifford.
The Nip/Tuck star, 57, is no stranger to the famous text, having played the title role in a four-part BBC mini-series in 1993, starring alongside Sean Bean and James Wilby.
Joely says: “What I love about this interpretation of Mrs Bolton and why I wanted to be part of it now is that I thought, ‘Gosh, I’m still part of propagating the story of Lady Chatterley and Mellors and D H Lawrence, who’s a writer that I absolutely love, always, since way back.”’
Joely, the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave, says Mrs Bolton is a character who “really believes in love”.
“I think that’s such a beautiful thing, especially since she had lost her own husband and she wants others to love, and she wants to believe and support,” she says.
“So she’s both on Clifford’s side and she’s on Connie’s side and she’s on Mellors’ side – and I love people like that.”