Olivia Grant
Olivia Grant has already found success in recent years with lark Rise to Candleford but she returned to the small screen last week in another adaptation Women In Love.
The BBC have brought D.H. Lawrence’s novel to life as Grant stars alongside Rosamund Pike in the series.
I caught up with the actress to talk about her new role, the success of lark Rise to Candleford and what lies ahead.
* You were back on the small screen last week with Women in Love so can you tell me a bit about the series?
Women in Love we shot out in South Africa last year, so it’s great to finally see it on screen, and it was a lovely cast, we were a small company as there about seven main characters in it, and I had never been to South Africa before so it was quite an extraordinary experience for me.
It’s amazing that they made it look like Nottingham (laugh). It was a great script and the director was great to, it was a woman called Miranda Bowden, she is a young female director who had a sensitive touch with it.
* And you take on the role of Hermione in the series so what was it about the character and the script that drew you to the project?
I have always loved D.H. Lawrence but I love doing these adaptations, first Lark Rise to Candleford and now this, there’s something really magical about lifting it off the page and trying to do justice to it in a visual medium.
The adaptation is great as well it has stayed close enough to the book that you can use the book to reference and go into the chapters and see what is there.
But what’s extraordinary about D.H. Lawrence’s text is he details every single thought that the actor thinks so it’s almost like a crib sheet - it’s amazing.
I just like the duality of working with script and original text; I think that that is a lot of fun.
* You have mentioned Miranda Bowen so how did you find working with her and of course the likes of Rosamund Pike?
Rosamund and Rory (Kinnear) were about six years above me at Oxford University, so I didn’t actually overlap with them, but that was nice so I rocked up and said hi to them on that basis.
They were all lovely and what’s great about location filming is you are all thrown in together, we were all living in a complex beside the Victoria & Alfred Marina, so we were a little happy troop in South Africa.
* You mentioned that you had never been to South Africa before so did you do any exploring when you were not filming?
I did actually. I went on safari, which was quite extraordinary, and I saw my big five. And I also went to the townships, I’m very interested in the social aspect of South Africa as well as the historical aspects, my friend does a lot of work, mainly in Johannesburg, with a charity called Dramatic Need.
She basically said that I had to go to the townships, it’s basically how 99% of the people who live in Cape Town actually live, so myself and about four other actor went and did a township tour - which I think one has to do to realise the poverty in South Africa as well as the social disparity.
There is an amazing museum called the District 6 Museum which documents how these townships came about, it’s quite an extraordinary story. We all climbed Table Mountain and Lion’s Head, Lion’s Head was amazing, so it was great.
* You have also found success with Lark Rise To Candleford - which has become a flagship show for the BBC how surprised are you by the show's success?
The interesting thing with long series is the first series is always the most exciting because you are not sure how it’s going to be received, what’s going to happen and where it’s going to be placed.
There was a great director on that first series called Charlie Palmer and it was one of my first jobs so I was very excitable on it. We didn’t know what we were making really we just knew that it had a lot of heart, which I think is why the show has run for as long as it has.
There are fabulous costumes and it’s beautifully shot but I think essentially for shows to run for a long time there has to be a lot of humanity at the heart and I think this one did - it wasn’t very narrative driven but people driven. I’m pleased with the series and proud of it and I think that BBC has developed something really lovely.
* You spent six months filming the series so how difficult a shoot was it?
It really depends because it’s episode led so you will be some more than others; sometimes you will have a ferocious schedule and on others you will have a couple of days off to walk around Bristol or Bath.
There is obviously more prep with make-up and costume so a small scene means you’re in for the whole day.
* Much like Lark Rise to Candleford new series Women in Love is a very period piece with the costumes so is that an aspect of the shoot that you enjoy?
I love fashion, I have grown up with fashion as my mum was a costume designer for the BBC for sixteen years, and I think that I also have a period look - which I think is why I tend to be cast in that genre.
It’s an extra perk I think as it helps when entering another world.
* As well as TV success we have also seen you on the big screen in the likes of Stardust and more recently Mr Nice so how do you find movie work in comparison to TV?
I love movie work! It’s sort of the same process but slower, which is actually often nice, it feels more comprehensively shot. There is a sense of there being more time for coverage on each scene, which is nice, the more time that the actors get to play on screen the better the product so yeah I love film as well.
* I read that you originally trained as a ballet dancer so why did you make the move into acting?
It was quite an early shift really. I was with the Royal ballet as a junior associate and by the age of thirteen I hadn’t really decided whether I was going to do it full out professionally or not, I was doing it around school.
The decision came at about to eleven to go on to St Paul’s or go on to Whitelodge, so it was a very early decision really. In discussion with my parents we decided that I would keep going around secondary school - I was still fitting in two or three hours of ballet a day and then it became untenable.
It was a great love and passion, and remains so, but the career is so brutal and leaves you with so little at the end of it and ends so early, is so demanding and there’s no backup, twist your ankle that is it, it’s a very tricky career and I had other options at the point so I took them.
*You are know for your red carpet style and beauty so what is your top beauty secret?
Well basically I had just had my teeth whitened by Dr Chan at Smile Studio London, I think I have had my teeth bleached before when I was in New York with a UV light and I have had lots of teething pains.
But he has got a completely new system, which I think works through heat, and they are now LA white - so that’s great.
* And what made you want to get them bleached - I suppose it’s quite a popular procedure at the moment?
My teeth are quite white anyway but it’s amazing how stained they can become with red wine and coffee, I’m quite a big coffee drinker, even if the front of your teeth are quite white in-between can go a bit yellow.
But it is amazing we you see the difference and you just thing ‘my lord how was I surviving before?’
* Everyone wants to look good but being and actress it's even more important - so what are your top beauty tips with summer just around the corner?
I have got quite a lot of hair, so I spend quite a lot of money on hair products, I love Charles Worthington’s products I use his blow dry spray to give lift as well conditioning sprays. I also use Kingsley shampoo which is also amazing - so that would be my hair trio.
As for skin well I have very white porcelain skin, which has all its own difficulties such as thing the sun and being very sensitive and delicate.
I have just found, which I think is amazing, this 30+ under make-up primer which I’m using instead of sun cream, which I hope is ok, I use to wear a lot of factor 50 sun cream but it was very sticky so makeup didn’t go very well over the top of it. So this primer just sinks into the skin and has a little bit of colour in it which acts as a sort of base.
I tend to wear quite simple and classic make up such as Mac blot power, which is quite useful. I just wear mascara and quite often Elizabeth Arden eight hour cream on lips, and sometimes on my eyelids to make them slightly glossy.
- Finally what's next for you?
I’m currently in an independent movie it’s a comedy horror, a bit like Shaun of the Dead, which is quite fun. I have my own stunt double so I’m finding fun. Then I’m going to see what comes next.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Olivia's top beauty tip was whitening at Smile Studio London www.smilestudiolondon.co.uk
Olivia Grant has already found success in recent years with lark Rise to Candleford but she returned to the small screen last week in another adaptation Women In Love.
The BBC have brought D.H. Lawrence’s novel to life as Grant stars alongside Rosamund Pike in the series.
I caught up with the actress to talk about her new role, the success of lark Rise to Candleford and what lies ahead.
* You were back on the small screen last week with Women in Love so can you tell me a bit about the series?
Women in Love we shot out in South Africa last year, so it’s great to finally see it on screen, and it was a lovely cast, we were a small company as there about seven main characters in it, and I had never been to South Africa before so it was quite an extraordinary experience for me.
It’s amazing that they made it look like Nottingham (laugh). It was a great script and the director was great to, it was a woman called Miranda Bowden, she is a young female director who had a sensitive touch with it.
* And you take on the role of Hermione in the series so what was it about the character and the script that drew you to the project?
I have always loved D.H. Lawrence but I love doing these adaptations, first Lark Rise to Candleford and now this, there’s something really magical about lifting it off the page and trying to do justice to it in a visual medium.
The adaptation is great as well it has stayed close enough to the book that you can use the book to reference and go into the chapters and see what is there.
But what’s extraordinary about D.H. Lawrence’s text is he details every single thought that the actor thinks so it’s almost like a crib sheet - it’s amazing.
I just like the duality of working with script and original text; I think that that is a lot of fun.
* You have mentioned Miranda Bowen so how did you find working with her and of course the likes of Rosamund Pike?
Rosamund and Rory (Kinnear) were about six years above me at Oxford University, so I didn’t actually overlap with them, but that was nice so I rocked up and said hi to them on that basis.
They were all lovely and what’s great about location filming is you are all thrown in together, we were all living in a complex beside the Victoria & Alfred Marina, so we were a little happy troop in South Africa.
* You mentioned that you had never been to South Africa before so did you do any exploring when you were not filming?
I did actually. I went on safari, which was quite extraordinary, and I saw my big five. And I also went to the townships, I’m very interested in the social aspect of South Africa as well as the historical aspects, my friend does a lot of work, mainly in Johannesburg, with a charity called Dramatic Need.
She basically said that I had to go to the townships, it’s basically how 99% of the people who live in Cape Town actually live, so myself and about four other actor went and did a township tour - which I think one has to do to realise the poverty in South Africa as well as the social disparity.
There is an amazing museum called the District 6 Museum which documents how these townships came about, it’s quite an extraordinary story. We all climbed Table Mountain and Lion’s Head, Lion’s Head was amazing, so it was great.
* You have also found success with Lark Rise To Candleford - which has become a flagship show for the BBC how surprised are you by the show's success?
The interesting thing with long series is the first series is always the most exciting because you are not sure how it’s going to be received, what’s going to happen and where it’s going to be placed.
There was a great director on that first series called Charlie Palmer and it was one of my first jobs so I was very excitable on it. We didn’t know what we were making really we just knew that it had a lot of heart, which I think is why the show has run for as long as it has.