‘Dialogue is an extension of feeling. If I don’t remember a line, it’s because I haven’t understood why I was saying it’: Claire Foy’s consuming passions

Claire Foy and I meet on the ground floor of the Soho Hotel in a room seemingly lifted from a Country Life interiors spread. I arrive early and move an elaborate flower display from the centre of a vast coffee table, on either side of which are plush, yet deceptively sturdy sofas that take both of us by surprise as we try to sit down. We joke that it resembles the setup of a Presidential interview.

Claire, who turns 41 next month, arrived bang on time, a pot of Earl Grey (no milk) in tow. She declines the biscuit that accompanies it — butter and lemon — and insists that I take it. She wears a thick woollen jumper by J. W. Anderson, various threads of pink and pastel green woven together into an oversized knit that belies her delicate frame, which she pairs with blue, partially torn, patchwork jeans. Her hair is slicked back into a bob while her makeup is minimal, save for a spot of rouge on her lip.

We are here to discuss her new film, The Magic Faraway Tree, an adaptation of the Enid Blyton series of the same name. Claire stars opposite Andrew Garfield as a family matriarch who moves to the countryside after becoming disillusioned with life. ‘I knew that my role was to serve as a conduit between the original series and the adaptation,’ she explains. ‘My character is not particularly faithful to what’s in the book.’ In Blyton’s series, the mother embodies a traditional role by looking after the children and cooking their meals. The new adaptation transforms her into the breadwinner — and is generous enough to give her a name.

The Magic Faraway Tree | Official Teaser Trailer - YouTube

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Polly Thompson is an engineer who once dreamt of building spaceships and sold her soul inventing an Orwellian, voice-controlled fridge that tracks its users’ movements in order to optimise recommendations (‘You normally drink wine at this hour’). She experiences a moral crisis and quits, prompting the family to up sticks and move to the countryside so that her husband, Timothy, can reconnect with his Italian roots and make tomato sauce. The children are introduced as tech-addled gremlins who, thanks to time spent in the magic faraway tree — which they discover in the enchanted woods near their farmhouse — turn out to be rather enterprising. Here is proof that time in fantasy lands (and indeed, the great outdoors) can bring joy and enlightenment to even the stroppiest of teenagers.

‘It’s so difficult to please all fans of the original books,’ Claire says, ‘but I think we’ve at least got the essence of it — and the humour and the madness of the world that Blyton created.’ Polly, she says, ‘is there to represent the mothers who are trying to work, have kids… do it all and still don’t quite know which is the right direction to go in’. What does she, a mother of one, think of doing it all? ‘So much of it is based on the idea of a woman being exhausted — whether you have kids or not,’ she replies. ‘I just think you have to be kind to yourself and do as much as you possibly can, to the best of your abilities.’ Her daughter, Ivy Rose, is now 10.

Claire split from her husband of four years, the actor Stephen Campbell Moore, in 2018 and has been open about the practical challenges of balancing work and motherhood, describing it in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar in January as ‘a logistical s***show’. She talks of her time on the set of The Magic Faraway Tree, however, as if it were less of a professional engagement than a holiday. She explains how she grew close to the film’s child actors (‘The movie is very much Delilah’s, Billie’s and Phoenix’s,’ Claire beams). ‘They’re incredible actors and really, really special kids. There was something really beautiful about being in a film that wasn’t about you, at all.’

It must be a welcome change for an actress who earned her stripes with leading roles in some of the most recognisable period dramas of our time. Cementing her status as one of Britain’s finest with her Emmy Award-winning turn as Elizabeth II in The Crown, Claire followed this up with parts in Andy Serkis’s biographical drama, Breathe (in which she played Diana Cavendish) and in Anne Sewitsky’s A Very British Scandal (in which she played Margaret, Duchess of Argyll).

How does she learn her lines? ‘I don’t really learn lines per se,’ she says. ‘I do lots of work on the script and read it over and over again. Dialogue, for me, is an extension of feeling. If I don’t remember a line, it’s because I haven’t understood why I was saying it.’ She pauses. ‘The only time I’ve actually learnt lines was when I did a play [Lungs, at the Old Vic] and I needed to know them off by heart before we started rehearsals. That was really hard. I was on holiday with my family, which made it even harder. They were splashing in the pool while I was on a balcony and I would look at them and think: “Ugh, I wanna do that!”’, she says with an exaggerated grimace.

This June, Claire will return to the silver screen with a veteran of the form: Richard E. Grant. The two will star together in Savage House, a black comedy period film that is to combine both their favourite genres. ‘He’s a very special human being,’ Claire says of her co-star. Is there anyone in the trade whom she hasn’t yet collaborated with, but wants to? ‘I’d love to work with Baz Luhrmann,’ she says. ‘The visual world he creates, be it in Moulin Rouge or in Strictly Ballroom, is so incredible. I would love to be a bit extreme like that — a little bit over the top, for a change.’

Claire’s flirtations with fashion have so far sated her desire for more flair and fantasy (her roles, she says, tend to be ‘quite real’). ‘I went to the new Bottega Veneta show last month and I thought Louise Trotter’s clothes were just incredible. I love being so close to that level of craftsmanship, and the sets designed for those shows are always so much fun.’ This year’s iteration featured a red carpet and 421 specially commissioned Max Lamb chairs. ‘The clothes were all so deftly pleated,’ Claire continues. ‘In order for just one element of it to move, you kind of need 15 different pieces of fabric? Anyway, it blew my mind.’

‘I also loved seeing older models on the runway,’ she adds. Would she ever walk in a show herself? ‘I’d love to!’ she gushes. ‘It’d be an absolute dream. I recently watched the America’s Next Top Model documentary, and golly, I used to devour that show — rightly or wrongly… I mean, getting up on that runway is kind of peak performance, isn’t it?’ Who is her favourite walker? ‘I’ve never actually seen Naomi Campbell walk in person,’ she says, ‘but just watching videos of her in shows and seeing her strut… It’s like watching a rock star.’

Your aesthetic hero

Carrie Bradshaw. I watched Sex and the City at such a formative age and although I’m not one for designer pieces, which she and some of the other characters are wont to wear, I enjoy when things clash — the whimsy of Carrie Bradshaw. As far as interiors are concerned, I mine much of my inspiration from film sets. I absorb so much from what I watch and always wonder to myself: ‘Wouldn’t it be amazing if your house was like the one from Something’s Got To Give?’

Your favourite painting

Anything by Turner. I love the skies, and I could happily live in any one of his pictures.

An exhibition that really impressed you

Fittingly, I went to the Turner and Constable exhibition at Tate Britain recently, and loved that.

A book you found inspiring

Thinking about the books that shaped me when I was a child, I remember being drawn to stories where you could see animals not just ‘being human’, but also what was happening to them behind the scenes. I loved books where you could see what kind of house they lived in, like the Beatrix Potter series or Fantastic Mr Fox. I was drawn to tiny details and to actual illustrations — Dogger, by Shirley Hughes, who wrote as well as illustrated the book, was also massive in my house growing up. I think illustrators are extraordinary.

The person that would play you in a film of your life

Everyone on the set of The Crown said that Viola [Prettejohn], who played young Elizabeth, looks identical to me. So probably her? Although I’m also really fond of Delilah [Bennett-Cardy], who plays my eldest daughter in The Magic Faraway Tree. She’s brilliant. I’d get her to do it.

The last thing of note you bought for yourself

Probably plants. I replaced one in my kitchen recently and bought myself a jasmine.

A possession you’d never sell

That’s such a fun question. I guess as an actor you’re always thinking: ‘When times get tough, what can I sell?’ What would I never sell, though? I suppose, any of my family photos or pictures that my daughter has drawn and I’ve had framed. Anything sentimental. There’s no way anyone is getting their hands on those.

A hotel you could go back to again and again

There are so many. I love hotels, which is a bit of a problem. I really love the hotel that’s inside the Palace of Versailles: I’ve never had service like it in my entire life. It was insane. Unbelievable. I hasten to add that this wasn’t a trip I paid for. I don’t know whether I have as high expectations when I take myself on holiday.

I’m also a really big fan of an English bed & breakfast. I think we do them really well. I also love Heckfield Place and The Newt. Anywhere with a spa, a steam room, a sauna and a plunge pool.

The most memorable meal you’ve ever eaten

Hmmm. There’s one I come back to again and again, which is the schnitzel at The Delaunay. I always come away from it thinking ‘Mmmm, that’s really good’. But as for most memorable, I had my 40th birthday at Primeur in Islington. They change the menu every week depending on what food they get from their suppliers, and everything they do is amazing. Although one of the items on the menu at my birthday was tripe, which didn’t go down very well.

The best present you’ve ever received

I’m really fond of candles, bath products, pyjamas — that sort of thing. But really, it’s anything from my daughter. Anything she’s made for me.

The items you collect

I like to collect ceramics from various locales. I love a souvenir, even if it’s just a single plate from somewhere I want to remember.

'The Magic Faraway Tree' is out in cinemas now.