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I think the romanticization of childhood does a real disservice to children).
Maberlys performance is key to the movies lasting resonance.
Where am I reaching you?In Switzerland.
Very unplanned, but I stuck around.
Its one of the safer places to be, probably.
A lot of what Im doing I can do from here, so its good.
Im working on two scripts at the moment.
Thats probably the only thing in the business thats still alive at the moment.
Being in the mountains in Switzerland is very inspiring and a good place to do that.
So I just rewatched yourSecret Gardenas well as the new one, which is coming out this week.
Have you heard about it or seen it?I know!
Its such a strange mix of sensations.
Its one of these fabulous stories that well remake forevermore.
But its the first one since mine.
]So I feel a mix of sentimentality and curiosity.
I havent seen it yet.
I watched your version hundreds of times as a kid.
Its an incredible movie.Thank you.
Its funny thatmy very first movieis the one Im still most proud of, to this day.
Because I think it did affect little girls so much at the time.
A very redemptive tale.
Mary is their new hero.
I know she starts out as a bit of a brat, but its all for good reason.
What do you remember about the audition process?
I know it was a long time ago.It was such a long process.
It wasnt something I was actively looking for.
I was not a little girl who was doing lots of drama.
I was very shy; I didnt want to be in the school plays.
But they told us later that they looked at 3,500 little girls for this role.
They went all over, to all the drama clubs, and then they went to all the schools.
The very first time I auditioned, I was supposed to be playing a netball match that day.
I was very sporty.
But it was rained off.
So I ended up instead in this audition.
And I just had to read a few pages.
I went home and told my family I have a big family and everyone laughed.
And we thought that was the end of that, really.
But a couple of months later, we got a call saying, They liked Kate.
Will she come back for another audition?
And the real process began.
And I remember driving onto the lot and saw the James Bond 007 hangar, and it was amazing.
And I had a stinking cold.
[Mimics herself doing the lines with a cold.
]But we got away with it!
And then it began.
And it was really the next two years of my life.
So it was definitely very life-changing, in many ways.
Of course, I had no idea who that was.[Laughs.
]What 8-year-old knows who Francis Ford Coppola is?
I was quite shy and quite stubborn and quite serious.
Its not that I was a terribly dark child.
But I think the very untrained existence I was what I was.
Thats what she spoke about later, anyway.
What do you remember about first meeting her?She was quite daunting!
She was very serious and she was very intense, even through the audition process.
But I didnt mind that, actually.
I preferred when people were like, Right, yeah, this is what I need.
And she directed like that.
She treated you like a little adult.
Which I really appreciated.
She certainly wasnt your best friend.
She was by the end, but during the audition process she was quite intimidating.
So your relationship developed over the course of filming?
What was it like at the end?Of course.
A very, very close relationship.
We became very close in the way that a little girl and a grown-up can.
There were really special moments, and some quite intense scenes for little children, for all of us.
And when we really got it, you could always tell with her.
But it was always subtle.
She was always very supportive.
If she ever got frustrated on set, it was never with me.
She got terribly frustrated with the English weather.
That was the only time I ever saw her get wound up.
She was like, Its August!
When will the clouds part?!
Like you said, the movie is rather dark.
Thats what I love about it there are so few childrens movies like that anymore.
How did you understand the tone she was trying to achieve?
Did you discuss it at all?I absolutely didnt understand it while we were making it.
I just did what I did.
But I wouldnt have even known what you meant: What tone was the director taking with the film?
It all made sense afterward.
It all made sense when it came together.
Children are ready for that depth and ready for more.
I think she really proved that.
I really always tried to be in the story.
And the story at that point is quite devastating.
She has nobody; shes all alone.
So I wasnt thinking,Im going to create a distanced performance.
I was just thinking,Im really sad because Im all alone.
If the effect that came across did, then Im very happy!
You have such an expressive face for a kid, too.
You have this sort of wry, sardonic humor about you in the movie.
There were probably more grins and smirks when I was playing across from Dickon, from Andy.
Because I just adored Andy.
And we had so much fun.
So some of those little moments that we caught were probably incredibly real.
Almost like child flirting.
And with Maggie, she was so she had such a presence.
And you felt that doing a scene with her.
I wanted to rise up and [meet her].
She was so lovely to me.
And she has a wicked sense of humor.
And we have that kind of face-off.
Subconsciously I learned so much.
So I watched how she worked with people and I watched how she carried herself.
But its obviously all quite subtle because theyre so young.
How did you construct that?
What did Agnieszka say to you about those relationships?Its like a baby love triangle!
]And thats how Agnieszka was very clever.
Shed pick up on things, things that were unscripted, and shed throw things in.
Especially with little boys; they were 11 or something.
And I was like, What?!
She was like, Kiss him; kiss him!
So when Im giggling, its because I got all flustered.
I didnt even know what was going to happen.
Some of those things she really pulled out from us just by putting us in slightly embarrassing situations.
I literally hung [on to him].
I was obsessed with the camera.
Most kids, between takes, you want them to go away and play or do schoolwork.
But Id just follow him around.
He taught me how to load the film, the 35 mm.
Hed let me look through the lens, check the gate.
I loved being around him and the camera.
So you just followed Roger Deakins around all the time?
I dont think I knew quite how lucky I was at the time.
But yes, I did.
And I never stopped.
Working my way to the other side.
Were there any specific scenes you remember being difficult to film?
Which sounds really messed up!
Because I was a very happy child.
I just found it harder to force the smile.
As opposed to really feeling the darkness of the situation Mary was in.
Oh my goodness, I was so cold.[Laughs.]
That really helped with the performance.
We were up on the Yorkshire Moors at that point.
Really high up, as you see in the very, very final shot.
We were there in the winter, and I was wearing that tiny little lace white summer dress.
And in between the takes, I literally had three puffer coats and blankets over me.
And then they roll the cameras in, get everything set up.
So Id be shivering because it was, like, minus degrees, and I was in a petticoat.
Which actually was quite useful, but it was also I really did feel it.
And John Lynch was so intense.
His face, his eyes.
And we were so close in that moment surrounded by this incredible setting.
So it felt very real.
I think its such a beautiful scene now, when I look back.
Death is this big theme in the film.
As a kid I was fascinated by death, and I think a lot of kids are.
Were you?I was.
I wasnt exactly fascinated by death, but I was fascinated by What else?
Wed have these deep, deep conversations.
But it doesnt have to be scary.
Its about your curiosity.
I remember having to learn that weird chant!
[Mumbles the whole thing to herself.
]I still remember it.
Its amazing how it goes in.
It was all blobby-blah-blah words.
And we had to memorize them.
When you talk about things that are hard for me that was totally against my kind of vibe.
I wasnt a sing-y, dance-y kid.
And I think they realized that quite quickly, which is why I ended up holding the lanterns.
But we laughed a lot.
That was probably the second-most scene where we had the most meltdowns.
You put three kids together we were laughing so much.
Especially with Heydon doing his eagle wave around the fire.
I still laugh when I watch it.
I shouldnt say this, because its, like, a very magical moment.
I hope Im not crushing it.
Can you do the chant in full?Oh boy, this is embarrassing.Al alagoya.
Oy koy ayada.I think.
[Laughs loudly.]
It was just made-up words?As far as I know!
I hope its not like, Do you know what youre saying in so-and-so language?
What was the No.
This I think defines the quote that Ive heard so many times, Never work with children or animals.
I dont know how many times that crow pooped on Dickons coat.
I think we did 27 takes of that one moment, just trying to get down 20 steps.
And half of those takes were because we could not stop crying with laughter.
We all found it hilarious.
Everyone else was like, Oh my goodness.
And you cant skip that part of the movie!
She and I are kind of in WhatsApp touch.
She lives in Australia now.
Agnieszka, weve seen each other periodically over the years.
I havent seen her in a few years, but thats quite good for a movie.
So I kept a few great friends, for sure.
I watched a few videos of you on the press tour and you seem incredibly uncomfortable.
What do you remember about that part of it?
I dont do social media at all, so I never see [clips].
But my friends always manage to, and they forward me these things.
Im going, Um, why are you asking me these questions?
It was so out of this world for me.
The biggest stage Id been on was playing piano in a local music festival.
Were you recognized as a kid, or are you still recognized now?
Which I guess is a compliment!
Still now and again if Im buying Starbucks.
Because its always a lovely recognition, like, That film meant a lot to me.
I always take it as a big compliment.
Suddenly I saw the big world.
I fell in love with that whole process.
And it changed me in so many ways.
Obviously it also came with incredible opportunity, which led to other films.
I made films in Egypt, Morocco.
And theres other stuff that comes with that.
But you learn from it.
From rejection, or that not everyone in the world is all that nice.
But I actually think getting some of that out of your system very young Im incredibly lucky.
I have incredible parents and a great family, so I had great roots.
Because otherwise it could have been really insane.
But because I did, I think it was just a great education.
