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We know Olivia Colman is a great actress from her performances in everything from Broadchurch to The Favourite, but director Sam Mendes has just offered a little bit of insight into her process.
Mendes, who directs Colman in the upcoming movie Empire of Light, told Deadline that she definitely isn't a method actress – apparently, she'll be talking about other things right until he says "action!"
"She doesn't love rehearsing but she wants to know everything you can possibly give her, so you tell her stories, history, memories, thoughts and it all goes in and she soaks it up," Mendes continued. "It's like having a Ferrari…she's like a Ferrari dressed like a Mini, you know what I mean? Then you turn the key in the engine and this engine just roars into life. She's just got this power."
During the interview, he also compared Colman to another British acting great, Dame Judi Dench, whom he directed in his Bond movie Skyfall. "Olivia's like Judi in that she’s accessible and yet also slightly mysterious," he said. "She’s very friendly, always delightful to see her, but there’s something held back, too. A little core is very private. She’s not an extravert, not an exhibitionist; she's very guarded, actually."
Colman stars opposite Micheal Ward, Colin Firth and Toby Jones in Empire of Light, a romantic drama revolving around a movie theater in an English seaside town in the early 1980s. It's set to premiere on December 9 in the U.S. and then on January 13 in the U.K.
Are you looking forward to Empire of Light?