Don’t call me an English rose – I’m a thorn!
LILy James is no insisted, an Englis ‘I’d rather be an thorn!’ she declared She poured herself cup of tea MEI in a suite at the Corinthia Hotel in Whitehall, a stone's throw from the Embankment, and noted that she was lumbered with the English rose moniker as soon as she began playing Lady Rose in Downton Abbey. Taking the title role in Disney's Cinderella did nothinnothing to dispel the image. `That's not necessarily how I saw myself. I like English thorn better,' she said, smiling. Well, Lily's so full of moxie and ebullience in Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!, the deliciously enjoyable sequel to 2008's Mamma Mia!, she might wind up being billed as the English bouquet (OK, I tried!). The film is happiness in a tin, and is just what the country needs to distract us from bickering over Brexit, and the fact that football's not coming home after all. In the picture, which opens here on July 20, Ms James plays the carefree, university graduate version of Donna, the spirited American who raised daughter Sophie by herself on a Greek island, without being defined by a man.
sophie’s three potential dads — played in both films by Colin Firth (Harry), Pierce Brosnan (sam) and stellan skarsgard (Bill) — famously turned up at sophie’s wedding.
In the new picture, thanks to flashbacks and flashforwards, we see how the young donna was first, the three well, let’s chaps. say introduced, The younge t Harry, sam and Bill are played by Hugh skinner, Jeremy Irvin (War Horse) and Josh dylan ( star in the making), respectively
James, meanwhile, is barely o the screen — she performs in ten numbers and when she’s not singing and dancing, she’s having international relations with Harry sam and Bill. not all at once, I hasten to add. James, 29, admires Donna's 1 stamina. 'I felt one of the most important things was never to I _ apologise for her behaviour,' she told me. She smoothed down her red Emelia Wickstead dress, leaned forward and said: 'She embraces her sexuality, and she's in control of all the choices she makes.' James does concede that when Donna becomes pregnant, the child — Sophie —does 'define her entire life'. But 'even in that she makes the choice to do it on her own, and to be there with her daughter.' That theme, along with a sense of sister-hood, family and friendship, underpins the original stage
in turn. ‘i had Josh, who plays Bill, on the boat. And then i had Jeremy when we were filming in Croatia. And then i had Hugh doing the Waterloo scenes. i’m liking the word “had”. i literally had them all! Or rather, Donna did,’ James said with a wicked grin.
She told me she loved that there was a ‘strong, carefree, brave, fearless young woman at the heart of this story — and knowing that the woman she becomes is Meryl Streep!’ James watched many of Streep’s early films — Kramer vs Kramer, Postcards From The Edge and even the very bad Death Becomes Her — to prepare for the role. She watched the last one to study Streep as a comic. ‘Meryl, like all great actors, is a great comedienne because they see all the quirks of humans.’ She cited two of her former co-stars, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, as examples.
James also paid attention to Streep’s vocal mannerisms. But director Ol Parker told her to stop. ‘He said i was becoming so preoccupied with getting the voice right that it was getting in the way.’
She had no problem with the musical aspect because ‘i always loved singing as a kid’ — although she admitted to being ‘terrified’ when she sang for Benny and Bjorn. She also nearly mucked up her initial meeting with director Parker and producer Craymer.
‘i sang i Have A Dream. i was welling up, really sad, and Ol’s like: “you know that’s a hopeful, optimistic song . . . what are you doing?!” i blushed and said “Oh!” and i redid it.’ Her voice is powerful (even Streep complimented her) and she dances choreographer Anthony Van laast’s steps very well.
As she was playing the younger Donna she clearly never got to do any scenes with Streep. But James said the set really rocked once Streep and Cher turned up three-quarters of the way through filming. SHE
has one more day of shooting left on the new, as yet untitled, Danny Boyle romantic comedy for Working Title. But she has plenty of other work lined up, including starring with Gillian Anderson in a stage production of the film All About Eve, directed by experimental artist ivo van Hove.
‘i’m a huge fan of ivo’s,’ she said, before clamming up about All About Eve, which will open at the Noel Coward Theatre next February. She will be playing the manipulative Eve Harrington in the show. That’s when you could become the English thorn, i suggested. MaMMa Mia 2 has its world premiere in London on Monday.