If I wasn’t told that this is Lily James on the cover of Town & Country, I never would have guessed. I said before that she looks SO different as a brunette. Most of us got used to seeing her a blonde (or blondish) on Downton Abbey and the live-action Cinderella, but she is a natural brunette. And with her natural hair, she looks… I don’t know, like Rooney Mara and Winona Ryder had a love child. Anyway, Lily is promoting Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, a film which is currently sitting at 41% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film also bombed at the box office in its opening weekend, opening with $5.2 million. Sigh… well, at least Lily comes across pretty well in this interview.
On her current boyfriend, Matt Smith, having his photos hacked: “It was terrifying and so unfair. It makes you conscious of not doing… You shouldn’t have to censor yourself in that way. I’ve begun to think like this, and it’s really sad.”
No more classic heroines: “To be honest. I sort of don’t want to do any more classic heroines for a while.”
Feminism, equality: “I realized really early on, especially because I’m young, that people will take advantage. I’m very open, and I stupidly thought that people would be open and fair with me, but they’re not. I sort of found out the hard way.”
Whether she’s a feminist: “Of course! I don’t even understand that question.”
She would sneak out and get drunk when she went to boarding school: “Matron started breathalyzing us, so we’d suck on pennies to neutralize our mouths.”
On being approached by young fans after starring in Cinderella: “I didn’t want to break the illusion. I sort of wanted to pretend that I was Ella. They asked, ‘Where are your sisters? Is the magic real?’ Of course it’s real! Courage and kindness, courage and kindness.”
First of all… pennies neutralize a Breathalyzer? I’ve truly never heard that before (but I don’t drive drunk, so why would I care?). So I looked it up – it’s an urban legend and it’s not true. Sucking on pennies doesn’t do anything to fool a Breathalyzer.
As for the rest of it, I think she comes across well here. When she promoted Cinderella last year, I often thought she came across as very silly and not that bright, but she seems to be rather harmless and nice here.
Photos courtesy of Vincent Peters/Town & Country.
Would rather see Daisy Ridley happening than her.
They’re both happening. Is Daisy also posh?
I hope not lol.
Daisy is happening in a major way. It’s just that Lily has a project to promote now (and she will be gearing up for Kenneth Branagh stage production of Romeo and Juliet opposite Richard Madden, her Prince Charming in Cinderella).
PP&Z didn’t do too well in the box office, not surprising since the book wasn’t that great either. I like Lily. I’m in the middle of War and Peace right now and honestly, I’m meh on it. Paul Dano is fantastic and so is Tom Burke and Gillian Anderson…but the rest…eeehhh…maybe it gets better.
I am going to say it’s going to be tough to probably find Daisy in other projects at the moment due to her commitment to Star Wars…episode 8 is gearing up for filming either this month or next month.
Jessie Buckley is the stand out in War & Peace for me. Paul Dano is also fantastic.
@mom2two It is just what i was thinking that people keep commenting on this movie again and again when it was such a non event. But then i hear it is a huge book but had never heard of the book so I do not get it.
@ Locke – I thought Tuppence Middleton and James herself were the two weak links, but I liked everyone else, especially Dano. If nothing else, nice to see an American a) in a BBC show and b) get the vowels right. Also nice to see Ade Edmondson get a role worth having.
Yep, Daisy Ridley is also posh. Very well off, well connected family.
This current crop of Brits seems to be nothing other than posh, with a few of them doing a Tom Hardy and downplaying their status while others take the other route and say their privilege is a hindrance.
@Janie-C I mean that may be the case for posh actors, though it breaks my heart Daisy is , but the below 30s in Britain have a lot of non posh actors. Everyone from Skins, Taron Egerton, Gugu etc
“PP&Z didn’t do too well in the box office, not surprising since the book wasn’t that great either.”
I tried to read the book when it came out and couldn’t finish it. When the movie started showing up on some ‘most anticipated’ lists I had hopes that the movie had improved on the source. Judging from both critic and fan reviews, that’s not the case.
They look SO much alike! And Daisy is very much happening.
I am just sick of dudebros commenting on how Daisy is like a normal looking girl and writing her off and salivating over Lily James as she is better looking. I do not mind her at all but she is limited talent wise so there is that.
Daisy comes across as more intelligent and seems a better actress too. So put me in the Daisy’s camp. ))
She seems like a nice kid. I hope she can learn how to protect herself without becoming bitter.
she’s ok. she’s a poor actor though. i’m happy she’s not even questioning the being a feminist thing ‘yes of course’ should be the only answer.
She does come off nice here, if a bit vapid and naive. Her feminism answer is spot on.
I didn’t know she went to a boarding school. How shocking.
I’m really looking forward to see Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, mainly because I have pretty much seen every Jane Austen adaptation ever. And how funny is it that Lizzie and Mr. Collins ended up together in real life?
She is so so beautiful. The honey blonde hair she had at the Golden Globes suits her best, IMO. Too bad she’s not that great of an actress.
I thought she went to ArtsEd, which is a day school. so I really don’t know about that answer she gave. My friend went there as a scholarship dance student.
Dating Matt smith! Lucky her.
She cant be too bad if she is dating the Doctor!! lol
The headline, iswydt.
I know! I misread it as smth else and I was like ‘WHAAAATTT!?!?!?!’ LOL!
I was like “pennies?! (But not pennies) Multiple?!”
I did a triple take! LOL!
HAHAHAHAHAHAH! I misread it too.
So did I!!!
*snicker* You guys have dirty minds, obviously. 😛
I read it wrong too lol ..
Same here. Bunch of pervs we are. *maniacal cackle*
*takes my reserved seat in the perv corner*
I came here to say the same thing! I don’t think that works either though lol!
She seems entirely harmless and plus points to her that she can just cut off that tedious feminism question with the right answer in one sentence.
I agree with ell that she is um… light on the acting chops, however.
Money goes through the hands of everyone….to suck on a penny, even as a kid in boarding school is as disgusting as it gets. Just ick…..not enough peroxide in the world to gargle…..ick. Anyway who is she? I’m sure my daughter will fill me in after I tell her her tongue will fall out if she sucks on money…
She didn’t register with me until *’War and peace’, but that’s mostly because she gets to snog my new actor crush James Norton. Mind you, she also snogged the forever creepy Anatole (an outstanding performance from Callum Turner) so there is that.
*loved the show, still not bothering with the book.
She looks more like Kiera Knightley to me than Winona or Mara or possibly a combo of all 3.
It’s a James Norton fest at the moment. War and Peace. Happy Valley starting tonight. And Grantchester soon on ITV also. I concur that he is HOT.
Did you see Callum Turner in Glue? He was fab.
Last summer, whilst ill, I gave in and binge watched ‘Death comes to Pemberley’. A very bad decision indeed, BUT for James Norton.
Since then i’ve binge watched everything he is in. It’s quite pathetic really. I can’t wait for new season Happy Valley or Grantchester.
Haven’t seen ‘Glue’, but I saw a film called GREEN ROOM with Callum Turner. Film was rubbish, but I remember thinking he was interesting.
I loved Death comes to Pemberley. Mainly because I love Anna Maxwell Martin.
Glue was like a hidden gem. I really loved it and Turner was absolutely fantastic in it. Props to C4 for giving a nuanced picture of travellers, too.
I’m not that bad about Norton (laughing at you, LAK, but nicely!) but he’s certainly got permanent entry to my boudoir. Sans ballgag, too, which for me is a high compliment indeed.
Sixer, you can laugh and tease away. Everybody else in my life does. It’s very entertaining to find myself having developed a pash for an actor like I used to do as a teen.
I have endless lust fests. My problem is finding one that I both fancy AND could bear to give the time of day to in person. Hence the ubiquitous ball gags. If I got a romantic pash on any of them, Mr Sixer would a) die laughing and b) dine out on the story until the end of time! His fantasy wives are Helena Bonham Carter and Steffi Graf in her heyday. And he has a boy crush on Clive Owen, which I find endlessly amusing.
Tom Burke is my new actor boyfriend, he didn’t register on my radar till War and Peace and have been told I should watch the Beebs Musketeers TV show and there r hotter guys in it as is he.
Am behind on W&P episodes, still to finish ep 3 but Lily is dull as hell, in fact have been disappointed in the younger female casting except for Jessie Buckly. They did well with the male casting thou it does look like Made in Chlesea does turn of the century Russia. Am now on the Paul Dano fan girl wagon.
LURVED Paul Dano. He is one of those actors raves about for various things and i simply ignored because PR…..BUT loved him in this show, and he has a proper english accent which makes him a winner in my book.
it’s funny that Tom Burke seems to be dressed in skin tight leather trousers for most of the show unlike everyone else. He reminds me of a young Terence Stamp.
I’ve heard the Musketeers show is fulll of totty, so i will go see what that’s about.
I hated the adaption. It got better at the end, but some of the casting choices were awul (incl. Anatol and Natascha) and it seems like the writers didn’t even read the book.
That sounds sooooo disgusting. The thought of putting a penny in my mouth makes me shiver.
My fellow germaphobe. Where has that penny been? Ew.
Yes!! Hello my germ aware ppl🙌
Exactly! So gross! I barely like TOUCHING money so I can’t imagine putting it in my mouth.
I thought you had put the wrong picture up when I clicked on the headline first because she looks so different.
A few years ago, when I was living with a group of friends, we had a dinner party, which was mostly a lot of drinking. Another friend of ours was a police officer, and he joined us when he was finished his shift. Somehow, I’m not sure why, but he brought in his breathalyzer and we all took it. Anyway, one of the girls, the biggest drinker there, passed it. To our utter astonishment, because she was well on at that stage. She had slipped into the kitchen while we were distracted and chewed on some cloves. So, that works. I don’t normally tell people that because if you drink and drive you deserve to go to hell.
In the minority here( so far!), but Paul Dano was the weak spot to me in W&P. The guy playing Napoleon tho was an unintentional hoot. I like Lilly and have enjoyed her in DA, this and Cinderella. I hope to be able to catch a theatre showing of R&J- they are super cute together.
She and Richard Madden have fantastic chemistry. I hope to catch R&J in theaters as well. It would be a treat to see the play live but I’d need to hit the lottery for that to happen.
To be honest, I am really enjoying Paul in W&P but she has a decent chemistry with him and an okay one with Norton (who I just don’t understand the BBC’s love for, but he reminds me of someone I had a bad experience with…so I can’t look him objectively without being irritated)…but her and Madden’s chemistry is another level.
I totally agree. I must be watching a different War and Peace to everyone else, because in the one I saw, Paul Dano was an embarrassment. Not getting the praise for the accent, either–sounded to me like a typical American trying to do a posh RP accent, which is to say, awful.
“To be honest. I sort of don’t want to do any more classic heroines for a while.”
And how unbelievably grateful I am for that. She has a pretty face but she is probably the worst actress I’ve seen in a while. She can’t act at all. She is not really an actress then if she can’t act, is she.
There’s a Kiera Knightley variable clone factory somewhere in England and it seems to be working overtime.
But nothing beats the original, does it?
she’s lovely as a person, but as an actor is very easy to beat her… she’s really not very good.
I can think of any number of young actresses who beat her. Kiera is a horrible actress, and Lily’s not much better. Unfortunately, she’s already been established as the go-to girl for historical romances, and I expect her to be everywhere for the next several years. Sigh.
She’s a meh personality and not great acting skills. She and Daisy r the younger female, and less talented, versions of their male counterparts (Tom H, Cumbers etc…) – British, posh and connected. Neither of them will have any sort of Keira Knightly career. Lily will get typecast in the period dramas and Daisy will never move on from SW. Orlando Bloom has struggled with his career after LoTR and the Pirates movies. There both so bland.
orlando has struggled because he can’t act. neither can lily, so she could get stuck, but daisy is very good imo.
accurate assessment there, if Daisy Ridley plays her cards right there is no reason why she can’t get worthwhile non-Star Wars scripts. She has the chops for it.
It is way too early to call that they will not have a career when Lily has just started making movies and TV and Daisy literally did one film which was freaking Star Wars. Almost no one knew who Hiddleston and Cumberbatch were after their first few things nor what their level of talent was or how engaging they were.
I think with Lily we can tell because she has already been a lead in Cinderella and War&Peace and now in PPZ.
Not even gonna lie, when I read the headline that she used to suck on pennies to pass breathalyzer tests I was primed to come on this thread and tear her a new one for driving drunk. I’m so glad I took the time to read the post before commenting lol…
She looks so much more distinctive with the dark hair.
Thought she was kind of boring-looking in Cinderella.
She has beautiful bone structure, the dark hair really makes the most of it.
As an actress though, meh. Even though she does come off well in this interview.
The dark hair suits her soo well! She obviously very pretty, but I do think she looks so stunning s a non-blonde!
The penny thing? I don’t believe she’s talking about a real Breathalyzer. I think she means getting her breath checked by the matron of her school – like, actually breathing in the woman’s face so she can smell the alcohol on her breath. Sucking on pennies supposedly overrides the alcohol smell with, well, metal smell, I guess. As disgusting as that sounds, I know this because that’s what some of my friends did in high school to get past our principal at the school dance – lady was stationed at the front door and would literally SMELL us as we handed over our ticket. She was not paid enough, I know that now.
It’s a bit depressing that even in a magazine with the name of “Town and Country”, they just had to photograph a young female star with that open-mouthed, dead eyed face, complete with wispy strap falling off her shoulder. Ugh.
Almost didn’t recognize her, she looks good with this hair colour aswell as the blond. I like her I hope to see more of her.
I enjoyed PPZ this weekend. Fun book, fun movie. Not overly gory (sadly lol).
She looks pretty with the darker hair color.
Of course pennies don’t work -Mythbusters debunked that ages ago!
LOVE her answer to the feminist question. That is exactly how to answer it!
@ Pandy. I loved PPZ! It was fun. I do not know what ppl were expecting. Two of my favorite things P&P and zombies. Except it less zombies than martial arts movie. Not gory at all. But I have watched P&P movie so many times (my husband could not help but watch) that even the husband loved it. Sadly it did not do well $$$ so we won’t get that sequel that was hinted at the end. Too bad because if this would have been one of Tom Cruise “dog” movies he would have gotten a sequel (I.e, see Jack Reacher “series”). I watched P&P again this weekend and sadly I found it a bit dull and wanted a zombie to pop out on Elizabeth’s long walk to Netherfeld! LOL.
It worked for my ex-daughter-in-law.