American audiences first met actress Olivia Cooke when she was cast as Emma Decody in the Psycho-prequel series, Bates Motel. From there she worked on a number of films across many genres including roles in The Signal,, Ouija, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, The Limehouse Golem, Thoroughbreds, Ready Player One, and Life Itself. She also returned to television in 2018 starring as Becky Sharpe in the latest adaptation of author William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair and in 2019’s Amazon Prime series, Modern Love.
Recently, Ms. Cooke was nominated as Best Supporting Actress from the San Diego Film Critics Society for her role in Sound of Metal.
In her latest film, Pixie, Cooke plays the title character who sets out to avenge her mother’s death and attempts a heist that will give her the means to leave her small-town life behind. When the plan goes horribly wrong, she’s forced to team up with a pair of misfits who are clearly in over their heads. On the run from a criminal gang of priests and nuns, the trio tries to scheme and swindle anyone they come across.
Olivia took some time to discuss her character Pixie Hardy, how she spent her pandemic, and her role in the upcoming Game of Thrones spin-off, House of The Dragon.
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Olivia Cooke: Hi, Stefan.
FOG!: What usually draws you to a project? Is it story first or character first?
I think it’s a little bit of both. I think it’s so dependent on this guttural feeling of what I’m searching for in the moment and also script-dependent, and then you have to factor in, do I want this in my life for a few months and is this something that I’m wanting to purge a little bit? And I think the opportunity to do a gangster-comedy set in Ireland was a bit of a no-brainer.
What drew you specifically to the role of Pixie Hardy?
Olivia: She’s got agency and she’s confident, and she’s manipulative and she’s not afraid to use her smarts and her charm in order to get what she wants, and I really enjoy that, that feeling of having no remorse, really, in taking what she wants.
Well, it’s interesting because if you kind of break it down, she’s kind of a femme fatale in a lot of ways but it’s not really a traditional noir presentation. I’m wondering, do you think that Pixie cares about anyone other than her stepfather and her sister, and herself? She obviously cared for her mother, which in many ways what drives the story.
Yeah, I think she’s really family-orientated and I think she’s compelled to feel. I think history has taught her that no one has her own best interest at heart apart from her family and herself, so why should she have that for the people?
You’ve done a number of independent films, and then worked with Steven Spielberg on the biggest possible canvas you can ever work on (Ready Player One). Do you feel that you have different responsibilities when it comes to working on a lower budget project versus a giant studio film, or are you just an actor, regardless?
(In an independent film) I get in a sense that it’s going to have a bit of an uphill battle to be seen eventually, and I think you don’t have the budget to make it look as good as easily as a studio film. You don’t have the time and you don’t have the resources as much, so I definitely do feel like you have to be so on it and so prepared, and there is a weight to doing an independent film because it’s so fragile. I mean, the money could go any second, and so you do feel this responsibility to tell the story to the best of your ability.
With your career, you’ve done, you’ve been an actress for some time, do you have any interest in moving toward producing and/or directing at some point?
Olivia: Yeah, I’ve produced a film before, Little Fish, which I exec produced and I mean, yeah, at some point, I do want to go over and direct, but I just, I’m not sure when and also what story I want to tell in that capacity, yeah, because I don’t think I’d want to act in it. That would be…
Too much?
Too much, yeah, too much of just yourself.
You and I have something in common, I think we’re two of the only people on Earth that have never seen Game of Thrones.
Well, I have now.
I know you can’t talk about the new series which obviously is a huge deal, but I’m assuming you’re excited, but are you in any kind of special training for the show?
Nooooo. I mean, I can’t say anything.
Are you training in swordplay, horseback riding, any of that kind of stuff? Or you can’t talk about it?
No…Sorry.
Did you work at all during the pandemic?
I started on a job in November last year but for year I hadn’t worked. Pixie was the last film that I did, and then I stupidly was like, “you know what, I’m going to have a couple of months off”, and then a couple of months went by.
And then it started to look like, it would be a few more months, but no.
So the first thing I went to was an Apple TV show called Slow Horses that I began to shoot in November and oh, God, it was just like a breath of fresh air.
Besides that, how did you spend your pandemic? Did you binge watch anything that you loved?
There was a golden time of TV, I think like, from April to June, maybe July, there was Normal People, there was I May Destroy You, there was I Hate Suzy, and I was just like om nom nom nom, like, nourished, and then there was a drought.
BBC hadn’t had on anything for a while now to the point where I turned it on the other day and Bates Motel is on. They must have bought Bates Motel; It was like they could shove whatever they can for viewers, but yeah, it was a golden period in the first lockdown.
So, what are your upcoming projects besides the House of the Dragon?
Olivia: Just that for now. I mean, that’s going to take me some time. (laughing).
Pixie comes to select theaters, Digital HD, and On Demand March 5, 2021
