Elizabeth I of England, it is you again. One of the most powerful women in history and one of the most famous figures in cinema still has a lot to tell. The idea belongs to Anne Reiss, a talent for English dramaturgy (at 20 she had her first opera in a London theater and is now 30), who wrote and produced Become Elizabeth (on Starzplay from June 12). The series focuses on the adolescence of the future queen, a 14-year-old orphan in a court poisoned by power struggles, surrounded by manipulative and conniving men. One of them is Thomas Seymour, handsome, charming and very ambitious. He is married to Catherine, widow of Henry VIII, but he is a great seducer and shamelessly flirts with young Elizabeth… He is played by Tom Cullen, the Welsh actor we saw in downton abbey as another seducer, Lord Anthony Gillingham.

Why do they always think of her for costume projects?

Why do I have bad teeth? I’m kidding, maybe I look good in pantyhose, which is one of the most uncomfortable pieces of clothing in the universe. In fact, it appeals to me: I love history, and as an actor it inspires me to look back.

Aren’t you afraid that people will say: enough is enough, still the virgin ice queen? Which in the series seems really, really passionate…

Exactly. There are several works about Elizabeth, but none of them are devoted to the years before she became queen, and certainly not to the depth of Anja Reiss’s pen. This story sheds light on the tenacity that made her a complex woman who ruled England for 45 glorious years. That much, the series explores the relationship with Thomas Seymour, the experiences and suffering that helped her become a strong and capable woman. Again, the relationship between the male courtiers and this girl struggles against a strong patriarchal system.

kindly

It was never easy being a woman, even if you were a princess.

The story has a modern twist and would be interesting even if it were not for Elizabeth I. A girl trying to make her way among a pack of power-hungry men. Ana Reiss was 28 years old when she wrote it, and I really think she put her experience into it, the reflections of a brilliant young playwright who is proudly trying to make her voice heard in the male world.

Thomas seems to care about Elizabeth, but may be using her as a pawn in a rivalry with his brother. It’s ambivalent.

Their relationship reveals topical issues such as the balance of power between the sexes and harmony… Reiss seems to be constantly asking the viewer: what do you think? For example, is Thomas manipulating her? Questions are always more interesting than answers. I watched the first three episodes with my wife and we talked for hours. I hope this happens to you too.

She likes to explore relationships. His first film as a director, The Pink Wall, is about six years as a married couple, his first film as an actor, The Weekend, is a gem about the love between two boys…

This is true, perhaps because relationships with those we love are all that matter in life, after all. I love the films of the Dardenne brothers, so to speak, those that shed light on small stories, like Weekends Andrew Hay, which may not seem so exciting from the outside, but if you look at them under a microscope, you will find wonders.

Your parents are both writers: how did that affect your career? Special attention to words?

As a child, their work seemed magical to me, not so much for the speech of the language, because I am dyslexic and I always found it difficult to write: I liked to watch them and listen to them explore emotions. What we say almost never matches what we actually mean, but there are many languages ​​that help us express ourselves, such as the gestures and emotions that come from our eyes. This is what attracts me to my work.

Elizabeth grew up without positive examples of love: around her, marriage was associated with death, calculation, hatred. Are you learning to love?

I recently became a father, and I was caught off guard by the constant reinvention of myself. I held my son in my arms and saw myself as a child with them. This is the biggest psychotherapy session you could ever dream of. So much of who we are is shaped by our first experiences. But I don’t think you can teach love. One thing that has become crystal clear to me is that babies are born with love, all they ask for is human connection, they need to feel safe. If not, they learn not to love.

If you could live in a movie, what would it be?

The first Willy Wonka. I would like to be Gene Wilder and live in the world of chocolate.

On his Instagram profile, he writes that he is Welsh: is it important to be Welsh?

This biography goes back a decade ago and I doubt I even thought about it for half a second while writing it… Still, yes, it definitely defines me. I grew up in the Welsh countryside, a wild, untouched land surrounded by ancient mountains that reminded me every day of how small and unreliable we are. Now I live in London, where everything is modern and man-made, there is very little that can humbly return us to our places. This is why being in nature is such an effective psychological reset.

Three pleasures of life after the first sip of beer?

Make my son laugh. Swimming in a frozen river, when the water is so cold that it takes your breath away from your chest, is an incomparable feeling, the body goes into a state of euphoria. And the third … it’s none of his business (laughs).