Olivia Colman, known for her roles in Netflix hit series The Crown and film The Favourite, has revealed the conversation she had with a much younger actor while filming a love scene. The actress is appearing on The Graham Norton Show on New Year's Eve to promote the new romantic drama she is starring in, called Empire of Light.
While chatting to Graham about Empire of Light, Olivia spoke about filming with Micheal Ward, who appears beside her on the orange sofa.
Empire of Light follows an interracial love story in the 1980s. Olivia plays Hilary Small and Micheal plays Stephen, with their characters falling in love with each other. At one point the pair with a 23-year age gap had to film a romantic scene.
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Olivia, who celebrates her 49th birthday in January, says: “There was one particular moment when I was astride Micheal in a compromising and slightly embarrassing situation and he said, ‘It’s my mum’s birthday today.’ When he said she was 43, I was like, ‘Okay, stop talking!’”
Micheal was full of praise for Olivia saying working with her was "an amazing experience". He adds: "It was incredible just to share the same space. I learnt so much about being a real person – everyone had a real sense of humanity. If Olivia had been rude I might have thought that’s how I need to be to reach a certain level of success but the fact she is so lovely showed me I can be a good person and still be successful.”
The film was written and directed by award-winning writer and director Sam Mendes. Olivia was told that the role of Hilary was written especially for her by Sam.
She says: “Apparently it was. But Sam is so nice he would say that anyway. He was watching The Crown at the time and thought of me. We had a Zoom conversation during lockdown and I said ‘okay, yes’ before I even knew what it was. It is an incredible accolade for him to write something for me.”
Among the other New Year's Eve guests are Welsh It's A Sin star Callum Scott Howells who, alongside and Madeline Brewer, performs Willkommen and Don’t Tell Mama from the hit West End revival of Cabaret, before joining Graham for a chat. The Graham Norton Show will air on BBC One on Saturday, December 31 at 10.25pm.
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