IR Interview: Minnie Driver For "The Serpent Queen" [Starz-S2]

The Inside Reel

Actress Minnie Driver talks to The Inside Reel about approach, poise, strategy, movement and power in regards to her role as Elizabeth I on the 2nd season of the Starz drama series: “The Serpent Queen”.

Transcript

00:00We've talked about this with your characters in the past, there's always a poise, but there's

00:29always a strategy. Can you talk about the balance, especially with a character like Elizabeth,

00:34between movement and strategy and the way she approaches her life and how you had to translate

00:41that into you? Well, that's a great question. I think there's an enormous economy. I think of her

00:50like a large cat, like a pamper or a leopard. She has this extraordinary power and this

00:57extraordinary economy because she doesn't waste anything. She doesn't waste her time,

01:02she doesn't waste her energy because she's all about survival. Everything is about

01:09maintaining power and surviving. I feel like she was a force for good because I think she knew

01:15she was ushering England into a golden age, which she quite literally did, delivered us from

01:22the Spanish into this whole new world. So there's this powerful economy about her, which

01:29I thought about that physically a little bit when I was thinking about her, but I felt like that's

01:35how she moved through the world politically as a strategist, was only make a move when you

01:41absolutely have to. The Queen of England has arrived in France. Fuck me. What a lovely hand.

01:50We will soon be at war. You will have to take a side. War with the Protestants? What fun.

01:55Or war with the Catholics? She'll cut your balls off. Wow. Unless there are another way.

02:01Shall we? After you, your majesty. Don't meditate to women in France.

02:07You'll have to fuck it off. That would be a miscalculation.

02:11Yeah, she has a stillness. You play her with stillness where just an eyebrow can say so much,

02:15like in scenes initially with Mary, it's just about finding sort of that, what choice do I make?

02:23How do I move? Can you talk about looking at her sort of mindset as far as an umbrella view?

02:29Because she was looking at the religious element, she was looking at the power,

02:32she was looking at the economy as well. I mean, like any ruler, whether it's an

02:38absolute monarch or a president or prime minister, those are the things that they

02:44are constantly balancing. How much attention do you give to social policy? How much to religious?

02:52How much to the wars that you're fighting? And it's a careful balance. And I think Elizabeth

02:59knows that the reason that she's even entertaining the idea of marrying one of Catherine de' Medici's

03:08sons, who will be the king of France, is consolidating her own power. She doesn't

03:12believe that any man could ever really rule her. So marrying, I think she doesn't believe that

03:19the French king is particularly powerful at all. And I think she is weighing her options,

03:24but it's constantly, it's happening in real time. They were constantly figuring out who

03:29has the upper hand? What's my next move? How am I going to get this? What is it that I want? So

03:34there's something very, very precise and very dangerous. Danger was a big word that Justin

03:41Hayes used about Elizabeth. He wanted her to look dangerous. And it's hard because

03:47there's something rather preposterous about the way that she looks, the white face,

03:51the red wig, the insanely decorative clothes. But you can harness that feeling of,

04:00don't underestimate me. Underestimate me.

04:02Well, seems a Florentine shopkeeper is someone we can do business with.

04:07If you don't mind a bit of market stall haggling, that is.

04:09Don't be such a snob, Throckmorton. It's far easier to deal with people who have something to lose.

04:15All we need do is fan the flames of religious unrest in France, and the Queen Mother will

04:20give England every advantage in the trade deal she would much prefer to war.

04:24And your cousin, Mary, any improvements on her condition?

04:28She's made her bed. When the time is right, I'll cut her f***ing off.

04:31Well, because it's like a battle armor. It's interesting because seeing you and Sam,

04:35you know, as, you know, Catherine and Elizabeth, it's like they're going into battle.

04:40And the way they sort of look at their respective countries has to do with that.

04:45Can you talk about looking at that? Because you also bring a humor,

04:48so does Sam, but a subtle humor to her that really sort of, because she lets,

04:54she makes you let down your guard and then she'll snap and hit you. Can you talk about that?

04:59And sort of that, that there's a wondrousness about that kind of power move that she does.

05:05I think that, you know, the snapshot that we have of Elizabeth in this, in this show is,

05:12she is so assured of the hand that she's playing, because she really does hold all the cards.

05:17She doesn't need the French king. Catherine thinks that Elizabeth needs

05:21and wants to consolidate power in France and England, but Elizabeth doesn't. She's like,

05:25I'm on a fact-finding mission. I want to go and see what does the religious unrest look

05:29like in France? Oh, it looks like that. How is this queen beloved? No, she's not. She's feared.

05:35What are her children like? They're kind of a mess. So Elizabeth is just taking in the whole

05:42thing and in a way she's just playing. But fundamentally, when Catherine sort of calls

05:48her out at the end and the facade drops, you see this extraordinarily, it's like

05:56the alien head comes back and out comes this person of do not mess with me.

06:02And there was something so delicious about that. Yeah.

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