Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Gwen’s Eleanor Worthington-Cox

Set in Wales during the 19th century, William McGregor’s slow-burn gothic thriller Gwen was the talk of the town at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. The breakout film, which is being released in theaters and on VOD today, stars Olivier winner and BAFTA nominee Eleanor Worthington-Cox as the title character. It follows a young woman who tries to hold her family together despite incredible obstacles. Pop Culturalist spoke with Eleanor ahead of the release.

PC: Tell us about Gwen, your character, and what drew you to this project.
Eleanor: What drew me to this project was not only the strength of the writing and how beautiful the story was, but also how incredibly relatable Gwen was. I feel like the story is so relevant to now. It’s a young woman who has had to experience a huge amount of loss. She feels a huge amount of pressure from a community that she’s been isolated from. She’s under the weight of the world from the patriarchy and feeling as if she’s completely hated upon by her community due to her circumstance and looking after a very sick mother and a very young sister. These are all subject matters that I feel like a lot of people around the world can relate to. I felt like it was an incredibly important story to tell, especially because this is telling a story of a whole group of people in Wales whose stories haven’t been told before. Obviously, this isn’t historically accurate, in the sense that it isn’t based upon someone’s life, but it does tell a story of what a lot of people have been through as a community.

PC: Like you said, Gwen has the weight of the world on her shoulder. How did you prepare to step into her shoes?
Eleanor: Before we started the project, we did some family bonding sessions, so that the little girl who plays my younger sister, Jodie Innes, could feel comfortable in a family unit with Maxine Peake and myself. We even went to a slate museum to do some research on what the community would have felt like and what it meant to be a young woman at the time and how they would have interacted in that community despite their isolation. A lot of their interaction at that time would have taken place at the market or church. To learn about that made me feel more immersed in the character. It was really special.

PC: This is your first feature role as the lead. Did that add any pressure?
Eleanor: I definitely knew it would be a huge responsibility. You feel the pressure to tell such a beautiful story as best you can. I tried not to get too caught up in the nerves. I channeled that into something more positive. I feel completely trusted by William McGregor, our writer-director. He let me run wild with this character and create her as we went along. It was a huge responsibility but the pressure was never something that I let get in the way.

PC: At the center of the film is Gwen’s relationship with her mother. How did you approach that dynamic? What was it like working with Maxine?
Eleanor: I felt so lucky that such an incredible role model was working alongside me. I couldn’t have been luckier. Gwen and her mother have this complex mother-daughter relationship. There are so many layers to this dynamic. There’s little trust between them, but so much love. While there’s a lot of anger, fear, and negative emotions, there’s also this beauty between them. It was invaluable to perform that with such an incredible actor like Maxine.

PC: There are a lot of different layers to Gwen. Which was your favorite to explore? Which was the most challenging?
Eleanor: Gosh! Gwen has been dealt the most unlucky cards that you could possibly imagine. She’s trying to keep her entire family together, which especially during that time, was up to the parents. But, her father is missing and her mother is very ill. That role is left up to her. Despite her strength and resilience, her vulnerability was interesting to explore. She has to control her fear in the face of all these issues. As a person, when you face problems in life, you have to push through them. You bring those experiences to the character and to explore that through Gwen was even more interesting.

PC: You got your start in theatre. How did that prepare you for this film?
Eleanor: I think because I didn’t have any formal training, it didn’t prepare me, but rather nurtured my love for acting. I already knew that if I was lucky enough to do it, I would happily do this for the rest of my life. I wasn’t quite prepared when I stepped onto that film set. It was different jargon, cues, and skill set. That was interesting to me to explore this new way of acting. I feel like I’ll never stop learning. You learn something new every day. It’s cliché to say but it’s true.

To keep up with Eleanor, follow her on Twitter and Instagram, and catch Gwen in theaters and on VOD today.