MOVIE NEWS – Taking on emotionally intense roles can profoundly affect actors. Bill Skarsgård once admitted that he felt on the verge of losing his mind while portraying Pennywise in the latest adaptation of It, Stephen King’s horror classic. Similarly, Daisy Ridley, in her recent thriller Magpie, recounted how the intensity of her role was so overwhelming that she initially believed her physical symptoms during production were caused by the stress.

In an interview with Women’s Health, Ridley revealed that the symptoms were actually due to Graves’ Disease. Reflecting on the toll her performance took, she shared insights with MovieWeb about the challenges of bringing her Magpie character, Anette, to life.

“It actually wasn’t during the shoot that I felt super poorly. It was afterward,” Ridley explained. “So I was looking back, thinking, ‘Do I feel this way because of the lingering stress of playing her?’ And of course, I’d been working pretty nonstop—I mean, I flew back from Sundance the day we started filming Magpie. Producing from start to finish brought in a business side that isn’t really my favorite. It’s not just, ‘Are we making the film we want to see?’ It’s, ‘Can we sell this? Can we honor everyone who contributed to it?’” She added:

“Emotional stress impacts me a lot physically. Even without the illness, it was strange. During the shoot, I felt somewhat okay, though by the end, my shoulders were practically up to my ears from the tension. But afterward, yeah, it took a while to shed that emotional weight.”

The Scrutiny of Society

A defining element of Ridley’s character in Magpie, co-developed with her husband Tom Bateman, is her strikingly short hair. Ridley spoke about how this became a crucial element in Magpie, where she plays a mother of two whose husband has an affair with a local film star:

“When I cut my hair off, someone literally said to me, ‘Wow, that’s brave.’ And I remember thinking, ‘What are you talking about?’ The scrutiny women face for cutting their hair and the historical implications of that are astonishing. Iconic performances like Rosemary’s Baby come to mind… But this was something that had already happened and we later wove it into the story.”

“And the scene where another character in Magpie comments on Anette’s haircut was perfect. The real-life comment I received wasn’t exactly the same, but it made me think, ‘Oh my god, is anything not under surveillance these days?’” Ridley continued. “Does every choice Anette makes have to be observed and critiqued? It was actually an accidental entry into a great scene.” Magpie, from Shout! Studios, is now showing in select theaters.

Source: MovieWeb