Can you talk about the fight scenes? They were amazing to watch. What was it like filming them?
The stunts were more just fun than anything! Because I was the one pressuring everyone saying, let me do it, let me do it! And they were like, “No, no, no, no!” I was like, please let me do it. I want to fly kick the air, and they were like, but you need to film tomorrow. I’m like, I don’t care. Hi-yah! And I’m like, freaking out. And everyone’s like, chill! So I think the stunts for me was just very, very fun and an experience in itself. I was actually never tired while doing stunts. It was more the emotional scenes and the dialogue that would drain me. Enola never stopped talking, similar to me. And I was always very tired at the end of the day, but the stunts was easy. That was the easy part.
How was it like working with other cast members like Henry Cavill and Sam Claflin?
It was incredible! Henry and Sam are very seasoned actors, they’ve worked in many things that I’ve loved and admired. They’re very funny people. Sam is a very funny man that never stops joking. Until one day we did that, that really intense scene when he says, “You are my ward! You must do as you’re told!” And I was like, oh, Sam. Sam! [laughs] I was like, okay. All righty. Got it. I’ll shut up. [laughs] And then you had Henry that’s like, “Hello.”
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I worked with these very different human beings that are incredibly talented and kind. They really let me talk, they really let me feel very comfortable around them and I definitely gave them ideas on what I think should be funny or, you know, I was always kind of putting my input in and as were they with me, so it was, like I said, a collaborative effort. So working with them was just definitely an experience that I will remember. And they’re very good guys that are successful for a reason.
You mentioned that in this film, you’re pushing for education, to inspire education to younger women. Who are your women inspirations?
I have a mum that is very much like Eudoria. She’s very liberal and laid back and very open and genuinely just one of the kindest people that I’ll ever meet. I tend to find myself looking for friends that are like my mom, you know? Because she’s just so cool. I mean, I literally just want to be my mum. And so, for me, I think she’s the biggest role model out there, and her mum.
My Nan is one of the most important people in my life. As a woman that went through World War II, and lost many, many of her family and friends. Truly, her stories always moved me and inspired me and she’s one of my biggest role models in my whole life. And explaining the plot story to my Nan, who has Alzheimer’s, I would always say “Nanny, so I’m playing Sherlock Holmes his little sister,” and she goes, “Sherlock Holmes has a little sister?” I was like, I know, that’s what I said! I would tell her I was wearing a corset and she told me all about how she would wear those and all about when she was little. “Ah, corset, oh, that’s so uncomfortable!” And so she’d always have something to say about this story specifically, I loved talking to her about it.
She lived in a place called Bethnal Green her whole life, and in the film, we actually said Bethnal Green. Which was the… [anagram] Oh what is it backwards? What is the… The cipher had the ‘Embankment’ which was ‘Bank Man Met’ Bethnal Green was… Ah! I remember now. Entangle Herb. When I saw that Bethnal Green was on there, it felt like my grandma was in the film, so I was very very touched. I have incredible women guiding me through life. Those are my two biggest supporters and the people that I’ve genuinely grown up with wanted to be.
