After Helen Mirren and Noomi Rapace, too Emily Blunt you give to western, gender historically declined to the masculine. In the series The English (March 8 on Paramount+) plays a late 19th century noblewoman who takes up a rifle as she rides into the sunset.
Cornelia is not an elegant lady Downton Abbey. Is that what won her over?
“Exact. AND naive and innocent when she wears a baby pink dress full of lace, she looks like a kind of Alice in Wonderland in Wild West sauce! Instead of her the soul of her desire for revenge for the death of her son. You understand this better as the story progresses and explores the vastness of the loss, the root of so much violence ».
Are you a fan of the genre?
«My parents raised me on bread and westerns, starting from Yellow Fang: as a child I liked the idea that a character surprised the other from behind to steal something from him. Today I capture more: the honor, the sense of justice, the solitude of the protagonists framed in epic landscapes».
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What distinguishes The English
from a classic western?
“There isn’t a damsel in distress here who needs to be rescued. In addition, a pinch of thriller is planned ».
How did he fare with the horse chases?
«I took riding lessons for months, two or three times a week: I practiced with eight different specimens before assembling Ethos on the set».
In her career she has played various heroines, including Mary Poppins. Who do you feel closest to?
«Walt Disney’s nanny is perfect, I’m not: I’m a juggler who tries to keep everything together, despite her super-organized reputation. She is the adventuress Lily from the film Jungle Cruise with whom I have more points of contact: we are two tomboys ».