It’s a casting director’s nightmare: How do you find a young actress to play one of England’s greatest monarchs, Queen Elizabeth I?
You find a German countess, of course. While the countess part is only a courtesy title from old family ties, German actress Alicia Von Rittberg was stunned when she was cast as Henry VIII’s savvy daughter in “Becoming Elizabeth.”
“When they first asked for a (demo) tape I thought it was a joke because I could never picture myself playing a British queen,” says Rittberg.
“Then I recorded myself and a few days later got a call and I'm invited for the live audition. I thought it was impossible. Also, I looked at that video I’d recorded and it was absolutely ridiculous, it sounded so German. They were really thinking that this could work?”
She showed up for the live audition and flubbed it big time. “ I was so nervous. I’d had one dialogue session before that, and I didn’t get one single scene straight. I didn’t get through one single scene; I forgot the lines. I had to stop myself all the time. It was the worst live audition I’ve ever done. Finally, I thought, ‘This is it.’ ”
She was sure she was on her way back home. “Then I get a call and they tell me I’m invited for a test screening, and when I got there, I think there were three or four girls (vying for the part.) But when I got there, I realized that no one even questioned that I was German! And it seemed like it was possible. So I think that really helped me to believe in it.”
Believe it she did, and landed the role in the series, which premieres on Starz June 12. Even in person Rittberg still sports a British accent. “I always loved speaking English or trying it,” she explains. “So I started very young but my accent is, I think, the work of one-and-a-half years of a brilliant dialect coach.”
She says she researched her English by listening to Kate Winslet read children’s books “to try to get the rhythm and the tone,” she says. “I read a lot of Shakespeare and did a lot of exercises.” She demonstrates an exercise by repeating a tongue-twister at Mach-speed and giggling as she winds down.
The 28-year-old began acting when she was 11 and describes herself then as “extroverted, very active. All I can remember is me dancing. I started with ballet, but ballet was too slow for me. I was bored, so I started hip-hop, and I would start hip-hop all day, every day. And I was out and about playing with the guys rather than putting makeup on dolls. I never really did that.”
Being the only girl with three brothers Rittberg says, “I think it helped me find my way, and I might be less ‘girly’ than people think I am. We shared everything, and we grew up a team.” (Before she landed the role of Elizabeth, Rittberg had not worked for a year. That forced hiatus gave her second thoughts, she says.} “Because you want to choose your projects wisely and you want to wait for the right things to come. I went to London and wanted to give London a chance and not just work in Germany. You keep trying in various locations, and I was still struggling with that ‘non-structure.’ I think it takes a lot of patience, a lot of self-instilled structure. It’s something you (need) to do every day. And it’s helpful.”
Evan so, she says she wouldn’t change her profession. “It’s the most beautiful job if you have something to do and you know what comes next, but it can also be the most painful if you want to create. You want to do something but you can’t because nothing is coming, and you don’t get a part.”
Rittberg, who’s single, is not entirely unprepared for life without acting. She earned her bachelor’s degree with a major in corporate management and economics. “When I was 17 (I realized) I’d concentrated for seven years on acting more than I did on school. But I’ve always loved math and problem solving. I thought there must be something else and what if I'm missing out on something else, if I go to drama school and do that for the rest of my life? Is it what I want to do for the rest of my life? I should study something completely different, study something else for my brain.”
So she did. And though she worked briefly for two startups, she never had to toil in corporate management or sludge through economics. Still sometimes she thinks it might be comforting to have a steady job. “Going to an office every day and having the same people around you seems very appealing at times,” she nods.
“I tried when I finished my degree, but there’s nothing comparable with being allowed to have your favorite hobby as a job. And that’s what acting is. I’m so lucky that I keep on understanding that and that’s what I have to do. I really miss acting as my job when I'm not allowed to do it. But there’s no way around it. You have to learn to handle the downside.”
Rhys Meyers stars in 'The Good Neighbor'
Jonathan Rhys Meyers proves he’s not such a good neighbor in the new feature film “The Good Neighbor,” premiering in theaters and on-demand June 17. Rhys Meyers, who’s best known for “The Tudors” and “Dracula,” says acting for him is just a continuation of his childhood. “As a kid I spent an awful lot of time pretending I was somebody else. I think growing up in the 1980s wasn’t very exciting, so you kind of create this secret life of an alternate person,” he says.
“You pretend to be whatever you need to be that day so you live in that dream world. So it’s very easy to be an actor. I did a lot of acting when I was a kid. Not professionally, just to get myself in and out of trouble.
“You're a kid, you're hanging around. Kids do things they’re not supposed to do. You break a window or you're making too much noise and then you've got to find very quick excuses on the spot. There’s a lot of improvisation when you're a child.’
Rhys Meyers cut a commercial when he was 16 but didn’t start making films until two years later. “It was a good living so it started off by being a job,” he says. “And then, as you become more successful, you start to want the craft a little bit more.”
Hulu is drawing the Pistols
Hulu is celebrating the Sex Pistols with its six-part limited series, “Pistol,” which premiered all at once on Tuesday. The show is about the working class act that put chaos into the lexicon of music.
Danny Boyle, best known for “Trainspotting” and “Slumdog Millionaire,” serves as executive producer and director of the series. The Sex Pistols were pivotable in change, thinks Boyle.
“One of the things that we did when we started was just talk about how incredibly dull Britain-England was (then). I can remember trying to explain, because your lives are so full now, there's so many opportunities — not just you, but everybody, there's so much in the world. And there was so little then. You felt like it was kind of, well, it wasn't just kind of flat, it was kind of timed. You felt like you were young and then you were old, and there was nothing in between.
“And they did something, the Pistols, they were the fountainhead that changed it for so many other people coming after them. And I think what they did is they gave a sense of timelessness. They said, ‘This is yours.’ And what was different about them is they said that you can do whatever the f--- you want with it. You can waste it, be vacant, be futile or not; it's up to you.
“And nothing ever seemed to be the same again, especially for working‑class people, I think. It was like you didn't just put your shoes on and follow your dad into the factory anymore. You could do whatever the f— you want with it.”
Harmon toughs it out again
Angie Harmon, best known as the homicide detective of “Rizzoli & Isles,” toughs it out again as a former hit-woman seeking the quiet life in Barstow, California, in Lifetime’s new film “Buried in Barstow,” premiering Saturday.
Harmon says she discovered the script and shopped it around for three-and-a-half years before Lifetime snapped it up. Trying to find an outlet for the drama was not easy for her, she says.
“There’s a lot of crying and heavy drinking, more crying. There’s a lot of rejection, more crying, heavy drinking. You know, it’s fun, it’s great. It’s just one of those things where you really start to — in all seriousness — see how long it takes to get a project made, especially one that you believe in,” she says.
“ ... There are just so many different facets that go into getting a project done. And this is a real learning experience. To be very honest, I’m comfortable with the word ‘no.’ I’m just not really used to hearing it. ... But it was just like there was a lot of ‘Hmmm, it’s not really for us.’ What are you talking about? It’s amazing, and genius, and these actors are incredible. What do you mean it’s not really for…? OK.
So, yeah, it was a very sort of humbling experience especially when you take it to people that you admire in the business, and people that you love and adore in the business, and people that have sort of shepherded you through different aspects of your career, and then they say ‘no.’
“And you have to learn to just sort of not take it personally. ... I believe in it and I’m amazingly ... tenacious, I believe is the word. Other people would say different adjectives. I’m going to go with tenacious. I believed in this from the moment that I read it. The moment. And so I was just: it has to be made, it has to be done.”
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