レスリー・マンビルは、テレビの役を引き受けるとき、その番組がどのプラットフォームで放送されるかは気にしません。 “My job is just to go out there and play the character,” she says. “So whether it’s the BBC, ITV or Netflix, it makes no difference to me.”
It wasn’t until recently that the star, whose credits include “Mum,” “Sherwood” and “The Crown,” hit our screens. Instead, she just won an Olivier Award for the same production in the West End, a Tony Award for Oedipus on Broadway, and returned to London this spring for Liaison in Danger at the National Theatre.
That’s why when Variety interviewed her at the Monte Carlo Television Festival, she laughed and said about being head of the fiction jury: “I’ve been on stage in two different plays for the last nine months, so I literally haven’t watched any TV at all. When I was on Broadway, the only thing I watched was the late-night Stephen Colbert chat show, and when I was doing ‘Dangerous Liaisons,’ the only thing I watched was probably the news when I got into the theater at midnight.” ”
Ahead of Tuesday night’s awards ceremony, the actress said she was not at liberty to discuss the judges’ thoughts on this year’s shortlisted series. “Some of it was deeply memorable, but of course it’s all subjective. But fortunately, as jurors, we were all on the same page.”
Her other judges include Scotland’s Kevin McKidd, best known for “Grey’s Anatomy,” French actress Frederic Bell, American television producer Greg Daniels, “Heartstoppers” star Yasmine Finney and South Korean media strategist Hojin Kwon. “And they’re a very smart, very intelligent group. We spent a lot of time discussing it, but you can only judge it by your own standards. When you read a critique of the work you’ve done, it’s like one person’s view.”
And what made her say yes to an acting job? “First the script, then all the other elements, like who’s going to direct it, who’s going to star with me, do I have to go to the North Pole for six months? No, thank you! All of those things come into play, but it starts with the script. Is that part interesting, and is it something that’s maybe a bit of a new departure for me?”
Regarding her recent stage work, she says: “The moment I read ‘Oedipus,’ I thought, ‘There’s no one else who can understand this but me.'” And with ‘Dangerous Liaisons’, there was the fact that Manville “had been in the original production 40 years earlier, playing a young girl, so it felt like a great come full circle.”
Among his television work, Manville finds it difficult to choose a favorite. 「でも、自分が『ザ・クラウン』に出演することになると知る前から、このドラマが大好きでした。そして、出演の依頼があったとき、もう一度全部観に行きました。これは並外れた成果で、美しく作られていると思いました。そして、出演して期待を裏切りませんでした。」
