Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
THEDAYCAREY BURIED RALPHFIENNES ALIVE!
HOW SHE ALMOST CAREY MULLIGAN TELLS MAKING THEIR DID FOR HER CO-STAR WHILE EARTH-SHATTERING NEW FILM ABOUT THE AT SUTTON HOO ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY
Frantically digging away at clumps of mud with her bare hands, Carey Mulligan had one thought in mind. She did not want to be remembered as the person who’d killed Ralph Fiennes. The actor had been buried alive beneath a mound of earth, and Carey knew she had a finite amount of time to dig him out. The stunt was part of a scene for the pair’s new film The Dig, based on the real-life discovery of a buried Anglo-saxon ship filled with treasures in Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, in 1939. Director Simon Stone is renowned for the authenticity of his films, and that meant a scene where Ralph, who appears as amateur archaeologist Basil Brown, had to be buried beneath an avalanche of mud in a trench. ‘It was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done in my career,’ recalls Carey, 35. ‘Ralph didn’t want to use a stunt double, so they buried him body-first with soil on his face and it was terrifying. If we hadn’t got him out quickly he might have choked on the dirt – it felt like tightrope stuff. ‘I kept telling Simon, “I don’t like this!” I didn’t want to be in the newspapers as the person who’d killed Ralph! I had to dig for ages and I still have scars on my knuckles. It felt very urgent and my look of pure fear in the film is very real.’ Carey knew little about the Sutton Hoo treasure until she was sent the script. ‘But then when I read it I found it so moving,’ she says. ‘I’ve done a lot of period dramas and I’ve tried not to get pigeonholed, but this film called out to me because I’d just made a documentary about my grandfather in the Second World War. He went from a tiny Welsh village to seeing the whole world, and his story was at the back of my mind as we made it.’ The story focuses on the relationship between wealthy widow Edith Pretty, played by Carey, and largely uneducated Basil Brown, who she hired to excavate ancient earthen mounds on her land just as Europe was about to go to war. They were to find what has been described as one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the world. Hidden beneath the mounds was a ship, 1,400 years old, the final resting place of what is believed to be an Anglo-saxon king. Replete with treasures that would see him into the next world, it completely redefined our thinking about Anglo-saxon culture. ‘There was a huge amount of incredibly intricate and beautiful treasure that had been buried in this ship,’ explains Carey. ‘Golden buckles and jewels and rubies. It wasn’t only of great financial value, it had historical value too because it shed new light on Anglo-saxon society, which had been seen as bloodthirsty and disorderly. The find showed they had a coin-based economy and were welltravelled and traded with other countries.’ Edith and Basil were the real heroes of the discovery. It was their passion for the project and their belief in it as they fought against museum authorities – who were convinced nothing of note would be found – that led to the discovery of the haul. It had been Edith’s dream with her husband Frank to excavate the mounds, but he died of cancer in 1934 when their son
Robert was four. An auxiliary nurse during the First World War, she was determined to start work on the site even when it looked like Britain might be about to go to war again.
The film shows how, shortly after hiring Basil to start work, she discovers that time is running out in more ways than one as she has a heart problem that cannot be corrected. ‘Edith’s life was tragic in some ways,’ says Carey, who studied some of her diaries before embarking on the part. ‘She’d been all over the world and had lived this exciting, adventurous life. There’s a part of her that still longs for that, which is a huge part of her attraction to the possibility of what lies beneath the mounds.
‘Also, I think she felt her son’s life had become quite small and she couldn’t provide the excitement he wanted. Inviting these people to come into their life and start this adventure opened their world up and created memories for Robert that she could leave behind.’
During the war the land was used as a training ground and the site where the ship had been found was flattened by tanks. Further damage was only prevented after the British Museum stepped in. ‘There’s something very special about them making the discovery at that time, just before the war,’ says Carey. ‘They were maybe six months away from never finding the haul.’
It’s the unlikely relationship between Mrs Pretty and Basil Brown that drives the film emotionally. ‘There’s a moment where they both realise that in lots of ways they’re very similar,’ says Carey. ‘They’re connected in a way that isn’t romantic, it’s about finding a friend. They have a shared passion for archaeology and the bond of discovering the ship together is huge.’
Ralph Fiennes admits he became obsessed with the story of the real Basil Brown after he too had an incredibly emotional response to the script. ‘I remember reading it and I was in tears and I can’t tell you why,’ he says. ‘It was something to do with the integrity of these people unearthing this thing – it’s about nationhood and who you are, the people who are in the earth and what they represent.
‘I was born in Suffolk and I’m reclaiming my Suffolk roots. Researching Basil was a thrill because he was extraordinary. He had this working-class background and left school aged 12. He was fascinated by astrology and wrote a book about the history of astrological charts, and taught himself rudimentary German, French and Latin.’
At first local museum officials try to close down Basil’s dig, thinking it amateurish. But when word of what he may have found at Sutton Hoo gets out, new characters join the film, led by archaeologist Charles Phillips (Ken Stott).
The screenplay is based on a book by John Preston, whose aunt, archaeologist Peggy Piggott, worked on the dig. Played in the film by Lily James, she has her own backstory, as she begins to question her unhappy marriage.
To help create the feeling of wonder that the original archaeologists would have felt, the director ‘hid’ replica artefacts around the makeshift site – created in a field just outside London – for the actors to find. And Ralph Fiennes had done his own research in preparation. ‘I got some experience on a dig,’ says Ralph, who found a real fragment from a ceramic pot during the shoot. ‘I saw the care with which the people excavating cleared the sand and grit away. We hope this will help engage people with archaeology further.’
The story ends with the announcement of the discovery to the world, even as the men are being called up to fight. Gifted by Edith to the British Museum – then its biggest-ever donation – the treasure was kept at London’s Aldwych Underground station in the war and finally went on show in 1946, four years after Edith’s death. Basil’s name wasn’t mentioned and it’s only recently that his contribution has been recognised.
‘I love the way the film honours the memory of two extraordinary people and what they gave to our country,’ says Carey. ‘Of course, there is the sense of wonder and magic – it’s about buried treasure – but it’s something we’ll have forever thanks to them, and as a result we have a greater understanding of our past.’