In the past year, Emma Mackey – the breakout star of Sex Education – has added no less than four leading roles to her burgeoning filmography, playing part of the ensemble cast in Kenneth Branagh’s mystery film Death on the Nile; a lead in French romantic drama Eiffel; and a counterpart to Margot Robbie’s lead in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (coming 2023). Most recently, there’s the film she’s publicising during today’s interview, Emily, in which she plays the eponymous role of Wuthering Heights author Emily Bronte.
The independent film, from actor-turned-director/writer Frances O’Connor, portrays its titular character as a psychologically-complex, a rebellious yet withdrawn misfit – a more socially-awkward take, perhaps, on Mackey’s badass outcast character Maeve Wiley in Sex Education. While little is known about the second youngest Bronte sister – who died at the age of 30 – O’Connor has enjoyed substantial creative licence, and clearly, Emma has got on board, jumping at the chance to engage with the making of this independent film which was recorded in six short weeks (with an original run-time of four hours, no less). As she describes the process over Zoom, “It was a real passion, to properly craft a film together”.
The two are starring in the upcoming Barbie movie.
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Early reviews of the film have commented on how timeless the Emily Bronte character seems. Everything from her existential religious doubts to her (excuse the slight spoiler alert) grappling with feelings of first love could just as well be part of a contemporary drama as one set in the mid-19th century – corset and ever-present bonnet aside. Playing this character, alongside all her other drastically varied recent roles, may be a tall order for a lesser actor, but Emma is taking things in her stride. “I don't like things that feel comfortable,” she says – and I suspect there’s little chance of that for the 26-year-old French-British actor, whose role in Sex Education has already earned her a British Academy Television Award nomination.
In conversation with GLAMOUR, Emma Mackey opens up about her favourite part of playing Emily Bronte;
What was your favourite part of portraying Emily Bronte?
I love that we’re celebrating the quiet, observant ones… Emily is definitely one of those. I loved developing that with Frances, who had a very clear image of what she wanted and the kind of tone that she wanted for the film. It felt tangible if that makes sense. It was a really immersive experience. I just tried to make her as human as possible and not like a long-forgotten character. But I enjoyed the whole process. We were on location the whole time, and it was only six weeks, so it was a contained, intense shooting period. We had rehearsals before and got to know everyone, and then we were just straight in there. It was a real passion. It was fantastic to properly craft a film together and fight tooth and nail to get it made. It's so gratifying now to see it on screen.
Six weeks sounds like a very rapid filming process – although it’s starting to make sense how you’ve been able to take on so many different acting projects recently! How did Emily come to be made in such a compressed time frame?
Because it's an independent film with a small budget – and that means reduced filming times. We just had to make do. I'm glad we did because it just added such a wonderful pace to the film, and yet it still remained very delicate – it feels like we really took our time in some moments, which I'm really pleasantly surprised to see [on screen]. The original cut was four hours long, so there was a lot in there that’s not in the final cut for the film. It's so brave of Frances to tackle this subject that is so completely unknown to a lot of other people. It was so evocative and rich, even just reading it and then doing obviously was a whole different sport.
You studied English Literature & Language at Leeds University. Were you already a fan of Emily Bronte’s work?
Yes. I’d read Wuthering Heights years ago. I think I actually found [this role] harder to do because of studying English Literature, though – I was analysing it like it was a book on the curriculum. And, strangely, it didn’t feel like this part was for analysing. It was so evocative, powerful and chaotic in so many ways – it just needed to be experienced without putting too many rules or formatting on to it.
In the film, there are suggestions that Frances O’Connor’s fictionalised Emily Bronte suffering with her mental health – how did you go about portraying this?
It wasn't prescriptive at all. Obviously, it’s all speculation - there isn't a lot of information out there about [Emily Bronte], it’s more retellings from her older sister Charlotte. So obviously, it’s based on a subjective point of view. It was tricky to get a sense of who Emily was, but you can gather pieces of the puzzle – and while there’s no prescribing of any mental health conditions, the way the film is written means that there was scope to portray things like social awkwardness, anxiety, depression, all these things. But it wasn’t prescribed. And that’s for the best, I think. It didn’t need to be. That [mental health] dimension hit me seeing the film for the first time on screen. I just immediately felt heartbroken. Like, God, imagine having all of those thoughts and having to house all of those feelings and repress them and repress them and repress them. Not seeing yourself reflected anywhere – how daunting and terrifying that could be. Now, it's so much more open, well, in our Western society anyway. People are aware of mental health, and there are systems in place to help people. But I can imagine how overwhelming that must have been back then, especially with the whole religious element and how massively overpowering that was for them, moving under the same roof. It's very charged.
The Brontes flew the flag for female authors, even though they originally were forced to be published under male pen names because they weren’t even accepted as female novelists in the mid-18th century. In what way did you portray their feminist legacy?
When embarking on the project, I didn't think of Emily as writing or existing in a way that was like, Oh, I'm gonna be a feminist writer. I mean, you’re right, she is a literal icon and a representation of so many others, but she was also just a human being who had no voice but to write – to put her thoughts to paper. I think she just had to write and couldn't really do anything else. It was a survival thing for her: a fight or flight. It's so extreme being up there in that landscape: being in that village, and being surrounded by all that vastness and then being stuck in this house with your dad and your siblings. Being scared of going outside. As she says in the film, I just took my pen and put it on paper. There's something quite wonderfully simple about that. Just writing your thoughts down and being able to produce a novel like Wuthering Heights, and then dying…and that's your only legacy. There’s something poetic about her story. It's a fantastic source of inspiration for so many people. And Emily didn't get a good review until 50 years after she died. So she never really found solace in anything. So I hope that the film is a celebration of her in a way that she didn't really get to in her lifetime. It’s a thank you, really, to her and to a female writer who laid the groundwork for us to be able to work and have careers.
You’re currently recording a new season of Sex Education [season 4]. How has it been working with Schitt’s Creek star Dan Levy, a newcomer to the fourth season?
Dan and I have only had a very short amount of time together, but I'm so glad he is on the show. He was such a great energy to have on set, and I think he's going to be just wonderful in it. We are in the middle of it all now filming, and it's carrying on until January. So it's a bit more sporadic. It's not as consistent as it once was because there are so many characters and so many different storylines now. So it's a different exercise, but I'm, yeah, happy to be back, and it's always great to see everyone again. It's very familiar now.
Does filming feel more comfortable now? This was a breakout role for you, and now you’re coming back as an integral part of the furniture.
Yeah, it’s familiar, but I don't like things that feel comfortable. So I'm trying to make it exciting for myself and for people watching it because I don't want people to get tired of Maeve – I want to celebrate her and flesh her out in a way that's exciting and relevant in this season.
How was filming Greta Gerwig’s film Barbie, in which you co-star in with Margot Robbie?
That was fantastic. It was a dream come true for me. It opened my eyes to so many things and inspired me, and made me want to make films even more. Working under Greta Gerwig was such a wonderful electric environment to be in – she’s such a wonderful leader for us. I was also thrilled there was no crying in it, which was a first for me. It was really all about the comedy.
It’s the first time you haven’t cried in a part?
Yeah! I mean, I'm reducing it quite a lot, but I'm really glad to finally have the opportunity to just do comedy. It's satisfying, and I loved it.
Was it fun to work with your Sex Education co-star Ncuti Gatwa again?
Yes! And Connor Swindells [another Sex Education actor who also stars in Barbie]. We couldn’t believe it. It was wonderful having scenes with [Ncuti] because we don’t really have any scenes together in Sex Education – he’s one of my best friends, and we don't have any scenes together! But it was such a joy to work with him, and we've kind of grown up together as well, even though we only met four or five years ago. We've been incredibly close in that time and watched each other evolve. So it was a real joy to see him take his space. Everyone, obviously, is completely in love with him, and rightly so. So I was very protective of him. I was like, he's mine! I'm glad that everyone is in love with him as I am.
Emily is out in UK cinemas from 14 October.
