During a recent press conference in support of FX’s riveting six-part Great Expectations limited series, Oscar winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite) admitted she’s never read Charles Dickens’ classic novel. Despite that, Colman found being offered the opportunity to play the mysterious and manipulative Miss Havisham too enticing to pass up.
“I’d seen adaptations on the telly before, so I knew roughly who she was and everything,” explained Colman. “I thought ‘Oh, she sounds great. I’d love to get my teeth into her.’”
Colman’s been keeping incredibly busy with starring roles in Joyride, The Lost Daughter, and Empire of Light. The latter film earned the Oscar winner her third Oscar nomination. Colman was ready to take some time off until she read the Great Expectations script by showrunner and executive producer Steven Knight (See, Peaky Blinders, Taboo).
“I was quite late on board, I think. It came on the back of quite a long run of work, so I was a bit, ‘Uh, I really need a break.’ But I couldn’t say no,” revealed Colman. “I don’t really think about things terribly deeply. […] I just really saw the script, really liked it, wanted to play her, and wanted to work with all these people, so that was it, really.”
Olivia Colman has played Queen Elizabeth in The Crown, Madame Thénardier in the Les Miserables miniseries, and Queen Anne in The Favourite. Colman knows the importance of the right costume, but in the case of Miss Havisham, the costume is a character of its own.
“I’ve always said good hair, makeup and costume, that’s three quarters of your job already done before you leave the van,” explained Colman. “Verity (Hawkes), the costume (designer), I think she was my big help because she said, ‘I don’t see her as dusty. I see her as rotting from the inside.’
And so I thought, ‘Oh my god, that’s it. That’s great.’ So the costume…it’s a shame you never get to see it really clearly in broad daylight. It literally looks like her. Mold is growing up it and you can see her heart is rotting, and I love that. Rather than dusty, she was dark and rotten. And so that from Verity, that’s where I got my main sort of character, whatever it would be called, work.”
Unfortunately, many of the issues Dickens addressed in Great Expectations, published in 1860, remain relevant including social injustice, poverty, and prejudice. Asked about the continuing timeliness of Dickens’ writing, Colman said, “I’m still struggling with the fact that, you know, it depends on where you’re born very much as to how people will see you. And I think that’s rubbish.”
Colman added: “They didn’t have the opportunities that other people who were born with those different, that were born in a different place, have. That still resonates for me, and it’s still frustrating. And that’s why I think I enjoyed watching it and sort of found it frustrating. You know, this is talked about so long ago and it’s still happening.”
* * * * * *
Great Expectations is the coming-of-age story of Pip (Fionn Whitehead), an orphan who yearns for a greater lot in life until a twist of fate and the evil imaginations of the mysterious Ms. Havisham shows him a dark world of possibilities. Under the great expectations placed upon him, Pip will have to work out the true cost of this new world and whether it will make him the man he wishes to be.
The first two episodes will premiere in the US on March 26, 2023, exclusively on Hulu.
