Lesley Manville first learned about MrsHarrisGoesToParis after Rima Horton, Alan Rickman's widow, said the late actor was interested in the script: 'Alan and Rima have been friends for decades... I thought, 'If those two like it, it’s got to be good.''
charms nearly everyone she encounters: homeless men on the streets of Paris, the heads of the Dior fashion house , models, dressmakers and racehorse track operators.
That is my career reason for living, really, I don’t want to just keep repeating the same type of roles. It keeps me happy. I have a range, I like to flex that muscle. And of course, if you’re playing Cyril, who’s kind of the Isabel Huppert character of “Phantom Thread,” Ada is incredibly different on all sorts of levels. It was a bit of a no brainer, really.
The film begins with her finally confirming her husband’s death after years of it being in question. How do you think that change affected her mindset, because it’s after that she really latches on to wanting a Dior dress? Oh God, yes. You wouldn’t put that in for an in-joke. It was already there before I was going to play Princess Margaret. Ada refers to her once when she’s having her costume fitting. I think she says something like, “What I like about her, she’s a little bit naughty.” It has become obviously a little bit of a nod, nod, wink wink moment, because “There you go, I’m playing her.” So yeah, it’s nice.
You have a ton of projects coming out in the near future. There’s this film, there’s “The Crown,” there’s the “Dangerous Liaisons” show, a few other things. What was it like shooting all of this back to back to back?