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arts and crafts
Unknown actress Lucy Russell tells Anwar Brett how she was
singled out W
end studied part time at The Poor School in King’s Cross.
Eighteen months on, and after a handful of theatre credits and a role in Christopher Nolan’s Following, she spotted the adver- tisement that was to change her life.
“It said they were looking for an ‘Englishwoman speaking flu- ent French, blonde with blue eyes.’ I knew I could fulfil that, but I sort of sat on it when my response probably should have been to get on it right away.
“I took about a week to respond, and in that time I actu- ally found a copy of Grace Elliott’s memoirs in the UCL manu- script library. And I suspect it was helpful that, while I’d heard of Eric Rohmer, I didn’t know how venerated he was because I eventually put myself on tape saying ‘hello, my name’s Lucy, I’m in my kitchen, sorry it’s a bit of a rubbish recording, I’ve just read the book and I think it’s fab’.
“That’s what grabbed his inter- est, because it turned out I was the only person who’d read the book.”
If the 81-year-old French film- maker had thought this was the only thing to recommend his leading lady, he soon realised he had made the right choice. “He’d see the rushes and be real- ly pleased, and come out saying ‘she can act too!’,” Russell laughs.
Coming to terms with the very particular dialogue in a film set in France at the time of the revolu- tion was just one of the actress’s problems though.
“The fact that the film was being made in a foreign lan- guage in a way didn’t matter. When I first turned up on set I did- n’t know what everything was called in English. So I had a dou- ble advantage, I could say ‘I’m
foreign, what’s that?’.”
Having earned the respect of
her director, Russell grew in confi- dence during the course of a film that focused on the plight of her character, a feisty eyewitness to the momentous changes taking place in the heart of revolution- ary France.
This has, predictably, been a target for some commentators, who take the revolution and all it stood for as beyond reproach. “Some people have taken it per- sonally,” she agrees. “But the film is not a balanced historical view, it’s one woman’s view.”
Even those who have con- demned the tone of the film have found praise for Russell, an actress who took her courage in both hands and has seen it pay off wonderfully well.
It all seems a long way from studying acting part time, or even – as she once did – making a few extra pounds as an inter- preter between UK press and French filmmakers during a nation-wide tour of Gallic film.
The last three years have seen her transformed from student to star in the making, a rite of pas- sage that will inevitably change her and has laid the foundation for a fascinating career to come.
“One time on set I counted over a hundred people behind the camera and about a hun- dred extras,” she visibly shudders. “And the first few days I was there on set I was walking round and I’m like an eye magnet.
“The crew were whispering: ‘Who’s that? Kristin Scott- Thomas?’. That was really weird, I found that quite stressful in the beginning, but it was also com- pletely understandable because I’m sure they were wondering: ‘who the hell is she?’.”
Photo top: Lucy Russell in Lady & The Duke
22
for stardom
by a Gallic
legend.
ere it not a true story it might be dismissed as the stuff of showbiz myth. But
English actress Lucy Russell really was plucked from obscurity to take the leading role in a movie, playing Grace Elliott in Eric Rohmer’s controversial but acclaimed, The Lady & The Duke.
Coming to a lead role in a major film for the first time is daunting for anyone, but acting in a language other than your own would seem to be foolhardy in the extreme.
Having studied Italian and Business at University College, Russell was also fluent in French as well as having working knowl- edge of German and Spanish thrown in.
Yet the actress who was born in the London and brought up in the West Country, gives the impression that she still can’t quite believe her luck a year on from delivering a breakthrough performance that has won her much acclaim.
After UCL she resolved to fol- low her dream of becoming an actress – “if I was crap, then at least I’d had a go!” – and to that
french without tears