Olivia Colman forgets her lines when she's pregnant.
Olivia Colman
The 42-year-old actress has admitted she was struck down with "nappy brain" when she was carrying her daughter - now six months old - and had real difficulty retaining her script at times.
She explained: "I just can't retain my lines like I normally would. I've got a bit of nappy brain going on. There are an awful lot of script changes that happen. It can change the day before, on the day. It fills me with fear: 'Oh Christ, I've barely got the script in my head and now I've got to change it.' So it is a little bit hanging by my fingernails."
However, Olivia - who also has sons Finn, 11, and Hall, nine, with her husband Ed Sinclair - didn't let her baby brain fog stop her from trying to snap up the lead part of intelligence operative Burr in her new forthcoming series 'The Night Manager' but she was sceptical about mentioning her pregnancy to the director at first.
She said: "I went to see Susanne [Bier] thinking, 'Oh God, should I mention it in the first meeting?' And I thought, 'I can't lie.' Which is why I'd be a rubbish spy."
And, although Susanne was initially hesitant about casting a five-month pregnant star in the BBC drama, the director soon changed her mind after being inspired by other shows featuring expectant mothers as the lead.
Olivia recalled to the Radio Times magazine: "She said, 'Oh... Right...' but then she said, 'You know, just go with it for a minute. Remember the film 'Fargo' and Frances McDormand? The pregnancy added to the drama: the domesticity versus the extraordinary nature of her job. And I think it adds a weird power to this part, too.' "
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