Interview with festival young star: Eleanor Worthington-Cox

The Young Stars 2019 are three talented women. While two promising actors came to Zlín last year, Art Parkinson (Game of Thrones) and Josh Wiggins (The Bachelors), the 59th Zlín Film Festival will welcome three young European actresses.

Seventeen-year-old actress Eleanor Worthington-Cox and director William McGregor are coming from the UK; at the age of ten, Eleanor became the youngest Laurence Olivier Award winner for her performance in the musical Matilda. She is currently acting in the popular series Brittania. Gwen brings us a dark historical story from Wales to Zlín. 

Eleanor Worthington-Cox: I’ve wanted to perform for as long as I can remember.

You are coming to a young audience film festival. Have you ever been to such a festival?

This is the first young audience film festival I’ve been to. I lived in the Czech Republic for 8 months while filming Britannia (series 1) for Sky Atlantic, but I never got the chance to visit Zlín. I’m honoured to be part of a festival that celebrates youth in film.

Do you remember the first film you ever saw?

The first film I remember seeing was Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” as my older brother was a big Disney fan. So he was delighted when I played the young Princess Aurora in “Maleficent” !

What was the first impulse for you to become an actress? Was it any film you saw?

I’ve wanted to perform for as long as I can remember, it’s always been in me, but the first film I remember that made a real impression on me, was the original “To Kill a Mockingbird” with Mary Badham as Scout. It was the first black and white film I had ever seen, I think I was seven years old. 

You have tried theatre, film and TV shows. Which one suits you best?

I could never choose between the three, I just love to tell stories through performance, whether that’s on stage or on set.

You have tried a theatre, a film and a TV show. Which one suits you best?

I could never choose between the three, I just love to tell stories through performance, whether that’s on stage or on set.

The TV mini series The Enfield Haunting is quite… haunting. Based upon real events and the most filmed ghost story ever. What was the shooting like? And have you met the real family Hodgson?

How did you prepare for this role?

“The Enfield Haunting” may have been scary to watch, but we had a lot of fun filming it! The entire cast and crew were such pleasures to work with. Unfortunately I didn’t meet any members of the Hodgson family, but I did meet the son of Maurice Grosse, Richard, and his children. 

I read and watched plenty of interviews about the case before filming started. I even listened to recordings of Janet as though the poltergeist was speaking through her. I also had a voice coach to help me make sure that my accent was correct and to perfect different voices during the scenes where Janet is seemingly possessed.

Let’s talk about Gwen, the film you are going to introduce in Zlín, together with William McGregor. Again a project with a bit of mystery. How did you get involved in Gwen? This dark story takes place in a dark place. Was it also a “dark” shooting? I mean this must have been quite an experience when speaking about the weather conditions and all the settings.

 I was first involved with “Gwen” when the script was sent to me prior to a meeting with Will. I fell in love with the story immediately and after two meetings with Will and our producers, I got the part.

I felt very lucky to have filmed in such beautiful locations, each place with it’s own harsh conditions and dark, mysterious atmosphere. The weather especially added to the setting of the film and the oppressive nature of Gwen’s surroundings. We used the elements to our advantage, one day we even stopped filming a scene halfway through so we could start a new and partly improvised scene in the blizzard that had started outside! 

Any new film, theatre, a TV show coming soon?

The second series of “Britannia” is released this Autumn on Sky Atlantic!