BALANCE_MARCH_2020 - 20

COVER STORY ROSAMUND PIKE IIIII

ven an atheist would have come away from this month's
recent cover interview by saying, "God bless Rosamund
Pike." The reason being is because one of the big
takeaways from our chat is how she really cares.
Admirably so, in fact. Speaking to us with surprising
candour, Rosamund exudes passion, and puts a great
deal of thought into what she says. Not only that, but she is someone
looking to wring every last drop out of life. If we were to choose
a holiday read with Rosamund, we might make do with the easy
page-turner. However, we get the feeling she would opt for the
700-page, soul-scraping opus. We would be entertained; she would
feel more enriched for completing the task.
The 41-year-old feels strongly about the importance of "effort".
Rosamund's new film Radioactive, a dizzying, time-hopping
biography of the incomparable Marie Curie, goes way beyond the
chemist's two Nobel Prizes and discovery of radium.
"You know, I've been making these films in a climate where there
hasn't been as much appetite for effort," says Rosamund. "It's
'watching' - something that is ever-easier on a daily basis. It's easier to
find something to watch. And I get it! Especially people with small
children; you just want to sit down: 'I want to be entertained. I don't
want to have to think!' But if you do decide [to be challenged], it is
actually really rewarding and can take you miles away."
Take two of Rosamund's best efforts from recent years: the pulsating
A Private War, about the fearless war correspondent Marie Colvin, and
the sublime Hostiles, a brutal-yet-beautiful Western which casts Rosamund
opposite Christian Bale. You wouldn't call either "popcorn cinema", but both
are essential viewing. Yes, Gone Girl got the Oscar nod. Yet these two truly stay with you.
Rosamund adds: "If you overcome that initial thing of, 'Ooh, that sounds like hard work,'
like Hostiles, say. If you sat down and watched it, the film would transport you from your
living room and you would end up feeling like you had grown a bit as a human.
"It's the same thing with so many films - I know the feeling of wanting the easy option.
But what we're all seeking is escapism: that is what cinema has always been about."
I reveal to Rosamund that my therapist once said I watch so many films because I like to
escape (it was taken as a criticism at the time, but they weren't wrong). Still, Rosamund
enthuses: "We need to escape! The imagination being let free is one of the great things. I'm
always looking for time for my children to escape. I want them to have time with nothing
going on. It's only then that the mind can wander. I'm always looking for that time when
there's nothing to do because that's when surprise comes out."
Rosamund begins to
recite a poem from her
childhood, Daddy Fell
Into The Pond by Alfred
Noyes, which teaches
youngsters that the
extraordinary can strike
when it seems like
nothing is happening.
After quoting the poem
word for word, she adds: "I look for those times when there's no plan and out of nothing
comes something." She then shares a story about going to the US Embassy in Vauxhall for a
visa; a pause in the procedure meant she had a couple of hours to herself where she could
simply sit by the Thames, gaze at the passing boats and enjoy a chat with a stranger. She adds
thoughtfully: "It was a surprise and a nice thing."

"I don't know what happens, but you know
when it is happening. You're hoping to capture an
essence of somebody or fill your mind with their
thoughts to such a degree that their thoughts
come in place of your own."
BALANCE wonders if it's a spiritual experience.
"Well, it's funny because I was talking to a great
philosopher about Eastern philosophy. He was
saying that if you're religious and you meditate in
quite a deep way on the teachings of the religion
you follow - whether it's Hinduism, Buddhism
or Christianity - the true devotional practice is to
meditate or think, and
absorb yourself in the life
or works of the person or
teaching you follow. So
much so that they, or the
life of that particular
person, becomes more
real to you than your
own for the time you
are practicing.
"I thought, 'That's sort of what I do.' Not with
the religious element, but with the intense focus
on a person to the point [that] you're meditating
solely on their life, trying to imagine those
thoughts and feelings, and putting yourself in
their shoes so that it takes over you. I thought,
gosh, maybe there really is a meditative aspect,
especially when you're playing someone who has
lived." She continues: "With Marie Curie, I had
wall-to-wall photos of her in my trailer. I willed
them to come alive. You're trying to notice every
posture, every attitude, every bow of the head, to
try and bring them to life."
What also helps Radioactive pop is the
relationship between Marie and husband Pierre,

"Y O U ' R E M E D I T A T I N G O N

THEIR LIFE TO THE POINT

T H A T I T T A K E S O V E R Y O U"

CHANNEL CROSSING
Such moments of serene downtime must be crucial. After all, this is someone who goes the
extra mile when taking on a role. BALANCE puts it to Rosamund that she doesn't just play
characters, it's as if she channels them. Take the tear-inducing A Private War; at times it feels
as though Rosamund disappears from the screen and the real Marie Colvin appears.
Rosamund says: "I like the way you use that word ('channels') because I think that's what it
feels like.
"You're allowing your body to be taken over by somebody else and it's a powerful thing.
It's such an amazing experience and you don't question it deeply for fear that it may go away.

BALANCE_MARCH_2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of BALANCE_MARCH_2020