In her film The Last Daughter, for which she was nominated for an Oscar earlier this year, Olivia Colman played a mother who had left the family home, her husband and two daughters when her girls were still small. Now, in her latest film, Joyride, she’s playing yet another mother who’s finding it extremely difficult getting to grips with motherhood.
“I loved the character of Joy,” Olivia enthuses. “I couldn’t get her out of my head once I’d read the script. I loved how it was all put together. I loved the story and I really wanted to do it.
Set in Ireland, Olivia’s character Joy – hence the title of the film – is a troubled middle-aged new mum who has decided to give away her baby to friend. But the taxi she is travelling in is stolen by a troubled, motherless 12-year-old boy called Mully who’s fleeing from his ne’er-do-well father.
It’s while Joy and Mully are journeying across Ireland that they gradually find the friendship, love and learning they never knew they needed, in each other.
“Joy is a solicitor. She's very independent, quite fierce. You find out a bit about her upbringing and her possible lack of love from her mum. I think that's why she can't settle with anyone. I think it's all too hard. And partly why she doesn't want this baby is that she doesn't want to be as bad as her own mum was and she’s terrified of that.
In both The Lost Daughter’ and Joyride, Olivia plays women who find being a mum extremely problematic. In real life, Olivia has two sons and a daughter and we can’t imagine that the same can be said for her.
“Actually, I don’t know anyone who didn’t have a little bit of postnatal depression,” she told The Guardian. “With my first baby, I found it absolutely shocking. And my mum, in a bid to become a granny I think, had said, ‘Oh, having a baby is like shelling peas!’ I was like, ‘what?’
“The birth was quite traumatic and that sent me into a … well, I didn’t know what to do with myself. And I just felt like I wasn’t very good at being a mummy. That lasted a while and I never want to have that feeling again.
“I am a very happy person, but there are moments when your hormones are all over the shop. But then I fell in love with him, and I wasn’t scared of having more, because I thought, ‘I can do this now’. Nothing is as shocking the second time around.
“If I had my way I’d be on number six by now, and I would really rather they all just stayed within a metre radius of me. My husband Ed is a little more level.”
In addition to Joyride, Olivia is currently in production in Marvel’s action series Secret Invasion alongside Kingsley Ben-Adir, Emilia Clarke and Samuel L Jackson. She will soon begin shooting Paul King’s upcoming musical fantasy film, Wonka, based on the early life of Willy Wonka from Roald Dahl’s Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, as well as the new Sam Mendes film Empire of Light, opposite Michael Ward.
Then there’s the latest BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens’ ‘Great Expectations’ which broadcasts early next year – Olivia is playing Miss Havisham. Why does she work so hard?
“Because I really love what I do,” is her reply. “I would love to do slightly less in a year, but that would involve being paid different amounts. Things are going really well. But if I stopped work, we wouldn’t last long. It’s about having to pay the mortgage!”
Olivia was in her late 30s by the time her career really took off, but she doesn’t wish success had come any sooner.
“Later life fame is sweeter,” she says. “Becoming famous when you’re young must bring intense pressure. It would be hard to stay normal, I think. That didn’t happen to me and I’m glad. If you get an awful lot of recognition when you’re very young, I think that must be really difficult to know which way is up. I don’t know how people cope with fame when they’re young. I wouldn’t have coped at all. I got it late, when I already had my family I’m very grateful. I’m mid-40s and feel more able. I know who I trust and who I love.”
Joyride is currently showing in cinemas nationwide
Playing the Queen
Speaking about her time in The Crown, Olivia said: “There is so much more pressure when you’re playing someone who is real and still living. You have this fear that they’re watching it and won’t like it. You’re thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, what if the Queen watches the series and sees me? Perhaps she will think that my interpretation is completely wrong. She’s going to change channels’.”
Olivia has ‘form’, of course, in playing Queens. In addition to Elizabeth II, she played Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in the film Hyde Park on Hudson in 2012. And then there’s the Oscar she won for her portrayal of Queen Anne in 2018’s The Favourite. She says she had more freedom when it came to playing the long-dead, last Stuart monarch.
“The beauty of Queen Anne was that no one could tell me she didn’t sound like that, but everyone can tell me what the Queen sounds like, and that’s slightly annoying. It’s much harder to play people that everyone has a vision of, a picture of, and has ideas about.”
For series five and six of The Crown, Olivia made way for Imelda Staunton. Did she contact the new Queen about the role?
“I haven’t spoken to Imelda and I wouldn’t dare offer her any advice,” she’s said. “She is extraordinary, and she’s going to do it all much better. I’m really jealous that she’s going to have such a nice time, but I’m excited to see what she does. I’m probably going to kick myself and go, ‘I should have done it like that.’”
The actress needn’t be hard on herself, as she scooped up the award for ‘Lead Actress in Drama’ at the 2021 Emmy Awards for her portrayal as the Queen. Taking to the stage, a teary Olivia paid tribute to her dad, who sadly passed away during Covid and said he would have loved to see her win the award.
Warning: this video does contain strong language.
How old is Olivia Colman?
Olivia was born 30 January 1974, currently making her 48 years old.
Olivia Colman’s husband
Olivia Colman is married to Ed Sinclair, who is also an actor and writer. The pair tied the knot in August 2001 after meeting at university when they were just 20, and they now have three children together. Olivia has even starred in Ed’s TV series, Landscapers.