ComingSoon’s Jonathan Sim recently spoke with actors Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie about their new movie Eileen, which is out now in theaters.
“In the 1960s New England, Eileen Dunlop is working at a prison when a captivating, glamorous counselor arrives and helps her access new facets of her personality but may be drawing her into something more dangerous,” reads the official synopsis.
Jonathan Sim: Anne, your character, Rebecca, is a mysterious force throughout the entire film. What was your process like for getting into Rebecca’s head and deciding how much of her you wanted to reveal to the audience and how much you wanted to keep hidden?
Anne Hathaway: I mean, so much of it had to do with talking about it with Will and talking about just what you were saying about that balance between mystery and information and making sure that underneath that layer of glamor that she has, which is very, very intentional and which is a huge part of how she moves through the world, that you get the sense that there is a human being under there. And my hope was that it was that sort of vulnerability that’s underneath all of that, you know, kind of confidence and power and bravado. That would be the sort of thing that would pull Eileen in more and maybe pull the audience more.
I love that. Thomasin, when playing the character of Eileen, where did you look for inspiration? How much of your process was finding her through research, and how much was finding it through just collaborating with [director] William Oldroyd?
Thomasin McKenzie: I was lucky enough to have the book as an amazing reference for the film. Like everything I could possibly have needed to know was answered in the book, so if ever I was unsure about something, which was quite often, or just needed to feel grounded again in the character, I’d open up the book and be able to reassure myself in those pages. So yeah, I’d say the book was a massive inspiration and tool for me.
And I did something before we started filming, which was pull[ing] hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of quotes from the book. Everything about what Eileen looked like, how she felt about herself, her relationships with Rebecca and Jim and her mom and her sister, everybody, her environment, her relationship with religion, with food, with her body, everything. I collated all of that information in a document, sent it off to a clinical psychologist who’d also worked as a psychologist in prisons, and asked her what she thought and what she got back to me with was really valuable. And [that] just kind of was able to wrap Eileen up in a nutshell for me. Also sometimes if you’ve got an entire book, if you’ve got all that information, it can be a bit overwhelming, and it can get a little bit messy. So it was nice to have it all kind of summed up.
Anne Hathaway: That’s amazing. No, when Thomasin came into rehearsal and she mentioned that she met with a psychologist and had done all that work, my jaw hit the floor. I mean, I was just like, “oh yeah, I’m working with a proper actress. Yes! This is so exciting.”
Thomasin McKenzie: Just a bit of a nerd and it kind of like—
Anne Hathaway: Great. More of that. Yes, please. Forever.
You’re both two of my favorite actresses and I’ve followed your work for a while. Are there any movies or shows that you think are underrated that you’d love for more people to watch in your filmography?
Anne Hathaway: Oh. I made a film called Colossal that I’m really, really proud of. It was directed by a wonderful director called Nacho Vigalando. And we were also a NEON film, actually. And yeah, it’s co-starring Jason Sudeikis, and I’m really proud of it. [Thomasin], how about you?
Thomasin McKenzie: This is a really fun, fun question about you. I’m gonna say a series I did called Life After Life because I’m incredibly proud of it. It was directed by someone called John Crowley and he’s amazing and the kindest person. So yeah, Life After Life, which is also based on a book called by Kate Atkinson. Really proud of that.
