Did you reach the point with Mockingjay that they offered you the role or did you still have to audition?
DORMER: No, I had to audition. I did an audition tape at home, because I was working at home so I couldn’t be in the room, and just on the 7D did an audition tape and sent it to Francis . But I got the job with that one tape, they didn’t ask me to re-record or anything, obviously Nina and Jon and Francis really liked it. I just got the phone call saying “They really love you. They want to know if you’ll shave all your hair off.” Like it was a dealbreaker. So I was like, “Ummm yeah, you know what? For The Hunger Games, I probably would.” And that’s when I became part of the family. And then when I joined, Francis and I had a phone conversation about two or three days later where we discussed the hair and decided to go for the half shaved look instead. So I got away lightly. I was willing to go full view.
Yeah, Karen Gillan had to shave her hair for Guardians of the Galaxy and she’s going to have to shave again when they start filming next year.
DORMER: Oh, yeah so actually the fact that we did the two movies together meant that we did it in a nice big chunk, nine months, so I move on.
I have to say the haircut is really bad**s and I’m sure you’ve got a lot people saying it looks really cool.
DORMER: It looks good on camera, yeah.
It really does. Are you prepared for — because I’m sure there are going to be people who look at that haircut and say “that’s really cool.”
DORMER: See people have said that to me, but I’m just not so sure. Because it’s not so much the haircut — I agree with you, the haircut rocks and I love the undercut thing, and I’ve got this little bit of a fluffy undercut now that I’m really enjoying and I can style it, hide it, show it, not. The thing you know is going to be an iconic look is that tattoo is kind of really her, the fluffy undercut is cool, but for people to be like actually “I think I’m going to put a tattoo on my head”, that’s another level.
I’m not necessarily sure, although you’re right, maybe —
DORMER: But that’s what she is, that’s the look. It’s not about the undercut, it’s about the tat with Cressida.
No, you’re right. I still think people are going to go for it in some way in terms of shaving part of the hair, or being inspired, because I think ultimately many people draw inspiration from what they see, and they see a strong woman with this look rocking it well, they’re like “I want to do that too”.
DORMER: Well the Katniss Everdeen one-sided braid has kind of been around a bit recently now, so maybe it is catching.
I like that. How have you changed as an actor in terms of the way you get ready for a role from when you first started to the way you are now? Do you have a very similar process or have you adapted as your skill set has improved?
DORMER: That’s a very interesting question. My internal, emotional process is probably the same, but obviously the more you work, the more technically skilled you get. So I’m probably heightened. I’m a lot more aware now about how a camera crew works and what they need from me and how we can work simpatico, and I’m kind of aware of — my technical understanding of how a set functions and how a camera crew works has just helped inform me. But my actual internal, emotional process is still the same and when I go back to the stage, because I’m originally stage trained, completely more or less exactly the same, just a little bit older and a little bit wiser.
Part 1 is very interesting because it breaks away from what’s been done before and really focuses on the propaganda of war. How much did you know about what the films were going for before getting involved? Generic question, but had you read all the books? Were you a fan of the series?
DORMER: I hadn’t read the books. I read the books upon getting the role immediately. I was incredibly impressed by them. The team as a whole, Francis Lawrence and the producing team, are so committed to being faithful to the books and the source material and I think that shows. You obviously have to make it a wider world and take it away from the Katniss Everdeen internal monologue POV. You have to open it up, so I think they do a very good job at bringing in the different angles for the different characters. I knew I was in safe hands — we were a month into shooting Mockingjay when Catching Fire came out and it did so well, and obviously that was helmed by Francis, and the reaction to that movie was extraordinary. So to know that Francis had our backs now…Francis was like team captain and he had it. He had it. He gets the material. He gets the source material, and he’s very good with big spectacle. This film could just be like, big spectacle and big epic kind of distant themes. He’s very good at bringing you down to the kernel of the emotional truth of the mater. So to see the reaction to Catching Fire when we were a month into the shoot made me so excited about knowing where we were heading. I was a massive fan of the first movie.
I would imagine that puts everyone in a great mood when you’re like, “This made commercial and critical success, we trust this guy.”
DORMER: Exactly, and the success of Hunger Games is that such a commercially viable movie can really deal with some important subject matter, and we need more of that.
A hundred per cent. Before I run out of time, a lot of people online are very passionate about getting you in a Marvel or DC movie, superhero stuff like that. Have you heard that online chatter and is that something that interests you?
DORMER: I’m not going to comment about potential jobs in the future because that’s a rabbit hole to go down and get caught up in, but all I’ll say is I’ll go where the good scripts are. For me, Catching Fire, Game of Thrones, all my other work, I’ll just go where the good scripts are. I love being part of huge mega blockbusters and a I love being a part of small independent films and small stage. I’m just looking at the material. I want to know the character and I want to know the text, and then the decision I make from there.
