Danish star Connie Nielsen recalls going completely all the way for the role of Lucilla in Ridley Scott's "Gladiator" as it was the first major film of her career but when she got the chance to reprise the role twenty years later, the actor felt that she could slip into the many layers of the character with more comfort.
The 59-year-old actor, when the Scott's crew first came to her with the idea of the sequel, had said that they promised to "Connie will be happy".
"I knew it was going to be good. I love the whole setup of the story. It's an incredible setup.". And for the actor, the way she has etched Lucilla and put her in scenarios which are impossible and lunatic at the same time and grand, that's what she needed to be set up with Nielsen told PTI in a virtual interview.
Nielsen shares vivid memories from her Hollywood days, as she debuted with the 1997 movie "The Devil's Advocate", with Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves. She soon appeared in "Gladiator," two years later.
"It was my first big movie and I threw everything that I could. And I think this time I have reached a place as an actor and as a human where I feel very comfortable inside of many layers at the same time. I felt like I was able to play at more levels in this film than perhaps in the first one because I'm older and I just know more," she added.
In "Gladiator," Lucilla is the daughter of Emperor Marcus Aurelius and the sister of Commodus, who becomes the king of Rome after committing patricide. The two abduct Russell Crowe's character, Maximus, a Roman general-turned-gladiator, to overthrow Commodus. In the second half of the film, two decades after the first half, it is discovered that Lucilla's son, played by Paul Mescal, was fathered by Maximus. She sends Lucius away to protect him from intrigue in the palace but is yet again caught between her maternal instincts and her duty towards Rome.
Nielsen said this time around, she could trust herself more with the role.
"There's something really wonderful that happens when you get to a certain age as a woman.". You somehow realize that there is a part of you that is whole, amazing, and that you could trust it. And so, in a way, I felt that when I played this character this time around."
The actor, who also starred in films like "Mission to Mars", "Wonder Woman" and "Nobody", refers to the 2003 book "Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic" by author Tom Holland as one must understand the empire as well as its administration, the political strife and the specific cultural life of Romans.
Became like my inner sort of, I don't know, ballast. And then I really used the religious experience, the spiritual experience of Lucilla as it would have been back then like her thoughts and how she dealt with almost unimaginable pain and danger to her life, spiritually and mentally," she added.
When asked how Lucilla would relate to the modern audience, with the changes in the posturings of women on screen since she first donned the role, Nielsen posited that the character has always appealed to both men and women.
"I feel this as I have been approached by people across the world since the last 25 years. You just feel that people feel the experience of Lucilla very strongly. I also think they equate the ideas of both films to the political situations that we're dealing with on a global level as well.".
"I think we deal with the issue of autocracy versus human freedom. And I think that those are relevant and important questions," she said.
She further said women continue to evolve in cinema, highlighting how female characters were pivotal in films in the 1920s and 1930s.
It was really a step back in the 60s for women. Ironically, during a time of feminism, women lost part of their economic cachet within films. Films were directed all of a sudden throughout the 70s and 80s specifically towards men. I think we are working very hard on reclaiming that ground," she added.
Also starring in "Gladiator II" is Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger and Derek Jacobi.
The movie will hit Indian theaters on Friday courtesy of Paramount Pictures India in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu in 4DX and IMAX.
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