Just before she falls asleep, Olivia Colman often has the same fantasy. “There’s a phrase in French,” she says, “which is that as you’re going into your slumber, you become your most eloquent. I don’t know what it is, but I love that they have a word for it. Anyway, I have these incredible dreams about seeing a bully. Nowadays I think I could go: ‘Don’t fucking do that!’ But as a younger person, I couldn’t. So in my dream, I stand up and I do a speech and go: ‘Fuck you!’ And the people go, ‘Oh! I’m so sorry for my behaviour!’”
She shivers with pleasure. From the next chair, a great thunderclap of cackles courtesy of Micheal Ward, her co-star in Empire of Light. Colman clarifies: “I’ve never done that, given a speech like that. But to watch someone with no inhibitions, unleashed to say what they want to say … goosebumps!”
