Rupert Friend Q&A

4 months ago 16th Jul 09:30

Rupert Friend trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.  He was named "outstanding new talent" at the 2005 Satellite Awards and was also nominated Best Newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards.

His most notable role to date is arguably as Mr. Wickham in the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice opposite Keira Knightley and directed by Joe Wright. 

More recently, he appeared opposite Dame Joan Plowright in Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont.  Friend has recently completed Jolene, directed by Dan Ireland and Virgin Territory, directed by David Leland and he will also be seen in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, directed by Mark Herman, based on the best-selling novel by John Boyne. 

- Before working on the film did you have a certain pre-conception of Queen Victoria?

I think the common perception, like yours and mine, was - is - of this sort of dowager widow all in black, very mournful and very reclusive, and we mustn’t ever forget that even people we know only as sixty year old women were once sixteen year old girls who liked dancing and Victoria was definitely one of those.

And I think people will be surprised by the force of her passion which Emily portrays beautifully, which is that her vivacity and her hunger for life and her refusal to be told what to do gives her an immense dynamism as a young woman.

- What sort of legacy do you think Prince Albert left for the British people after his death?

Albert himself, he said ‘if we want the people to be good then we must be good.’ That was one of his big, sort of, dictums and he genuinely believed that the best way to reform a society and to make a society better and less morally corrupt was to lead from the top and I think the Royal

Family, for all their faults or misgivings, will always be the top, as we see them, of the hierarchy and Albert recognised that and he wanted very much to set the example right there, so anyone who wanted to write about him, not that he cared about that, or watch what he did, or studied his behaviour would see a hard working, diligent, morally sound man who loved his wife and his family and wanted only the best and that is an example that one could still follow today, I suppose.

- Academy Award Winner Julian Fellowes penned the script for The Young Victoria? How important do you think he was to the filmmaking process?

It really broke her in half, when he died, and for that to happen to somebody they have to have had an extraordinary bond when they were alive. And I think this script this film - explores the beginnings of that bond.

And what Julian has done so brilliantly is he’s made it human because it’s not a gooey love story where there were never problems. There were huge rows; there were huge discrepancies starting with the fact that she didn’t want to marry him. It wasn’t an easy road by any means and I think that made it.