Until Mr Right happens to come along,
actress Miranda Richardson says she's quite happy with
her pets
Daily Mail - Published Date: 7 March
2009
By Jenny Johnston
She's best known for her ditsy Queen
Elizabeth I in Blackadder, but actress Miranda
Richardson, 51, has two Oscar nominations under her belt
and once beat Meryl Streep to a Golden Globe. Now she is
back in period costume, playing Queen Victoria's mother,
the Duchess of Kent, in new biopic The Young Victoria.
Why did you turn
down the lead role in Fatal Attraction, the role that
turned Glenn Close into a household name?
I genuinely can't do crap. If I don't believe in
a role, I can't pull it off. There have been people who
have wondered why on earth I would not do that role, but
I felt so strongly that it was demonising women. It was a
case of, 'Let's present the female character not as a
person but as a representation of what women are capable
of.' I thought it was hideous and didn't want to have
anything to do with it.
Do you ever wish
you'd made different choices? You might have won an Oscar
by now and have a Hollywood lifestyle to boot.
Maybe, or I might have come a cropper and be
back at square one.
Does the red carpet
scare you?
I have learned now, pretty late in the game,
that the way to survive those things is by going with a
group of friends and having a laugh. I wish I'd
discovered it earlier.
Would you hate to
be under all that Hollywood pressure to look perfect?
I think it's about individual choice, so I'm not
going to point the finger and say, 'Look at what they've
had done.' There are enormous pressures for the highest
earners in this industry to look a particular way. If you’re
not micro-managed by a team of people telling you that
you are this, that and the other, then it is easier.
Are you happy with
your looks?
No, and I defy anyone - especially any woman -
to say they are. There is a certain vanity there,
whatever part you are playing. When I go into make-up,
even if the role requires a dreadful wig and for me to be
80 years old, I just say, 'I would like to look gorgeous,
please, I don't care if it's appropriate.'
Are you in a relationship at the moment?
In my industry, everybody wants to know
everything about you, and it's just dumb. I think the
only way of maintaining some of that mystique is by not
giving away too much about yourself. It has served me
well so far. I never want to feel up for grabs.
Do you ever regret
not marrying and having children?
My pets - two dogs, two cats and an axolotl
(Mexican salamander) - are like family. I think marriage
would be quite good for me, but I'm not going to just go
out and hire someone. I think, intermittently, that you
find Mr Right, but you have to get lucky. I don't rule
out having a family - it just hasn't happened for me yet.
Does work get in
the way of romance?
It's difficult to keep in touch with someone
when you're moving around all the time. I've decided that
you can have it all, but you can't have it all, all of
the time.
Were you a happy
child?
Child, yes; teenager, probably not, but then
what teenager is? I got into quite a bit of trouble at
school, particularly in Latin and French. It wasn't that
I planned to be disruptive, it's just that I could do it
like that (snaps her fingers). I spent much of my time
being bored. I don't think it's useful to go through life
blaming people, but I do think my education was very
patchy. But I had the fortune to have a wonderful English
teacher, who encouraged me to act.
When did you
realise you wanted to act?
When I was in junior school, when I moved into a
new class. There was a class favourite who had been away
in hospital, which made her very mysterious to start
with. And when she came back, there was this air about
her. The whole class was just drawn to her. I remember
thinking, 'What's so special about her?' It's not that I
wanted to actually be her, I just wanted to be her for a
little while. I've never lost that. I'm quite happy to be
other people for a bit, getting into someone else's
mindset. And the bonus, of course, is that you get to be
called anything but Miranda Richardson. For a little
while, at least.
What's wrong with
your name?
I just don't like it. It doesn't sound right.
You know when you say a word like, well, 'crab' and it
sounds like the silliest thing in the world? That's how I
feel about my name. It's the same with the word
'actress', it makes me cringe. It's the idea that when
you say 'actress', people think of an airy, floaty,
no-brain person, which of course you can't be if you are
an actor. It is an unfortunate word, which is why, for a
time, I hung on to 'actor', because it just seemed more
workmanlike, you know, like you say 'woman doctor' not
'doctoress'.
Playing Queenie in
Blackadder must have been great fun?
Fun? Yes. No. Well, eventually. I didn't really
enjoy it at first. I agonised too much over the script. I
think I investigated the role too much.
Investigated?
Well, over-analysed it, I suppose. You need to
think about who a character is, even one like that,
because it does have to be based on a kind of reality. It
has to have a truth about it to connect with people. It's
not just all bonkers.
- The Young Victoria is in cinemas now.
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