Bridgerton standout Nicola Coughlan is tired of “everything is so AI at the minute,” but she has a great cure in her new fantasy movie. The Magic Faraway Tree star discussed playing a fairy, working with Rebecca Ferguson, and more. Also starring Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Nonso Anozie, Jessica Gunning, and Jennifer Saunders, it arrives in theaters nationwide on August 21
“Adapted from Enid Blyton’s beloved classic novel The Magic Faraway Tree, the film centers on Polly (Foy), Tim (Garfield), and their three children – a modern family forced to relocate to the remote English countryside. As they adapt to their new lives, the children discover a magical tree and its extraordinary and eccentric residents, including treasured characters Moonface (Anozie), Silky (Coughlan), Dame Washalot (Gunning), and Saucepan Man (Dustin Demri-Burns). At the top of the tree, they are transported to spectacular, fantastical lands, and through the joys and challenges of their adventures, the family learns to reconnect and value each other for the first time in years,” says the official synopsis.
Tyler Treese: Nicola, you play Silky. You have this fun green dress. You’ve got the fairy ears as well. How did having that fairy look and the makeup really help you embrace the bubbliness and positivity that your performance has?
Nicola Coughlan: Oh, I loved the look. I mean, that wig had just an impossible amount of hair in it. You sort of feel like a Barbie doll. It’s this huge blonde explosion, and it’s her defining feature. She loves it so much. So I adored it. They had a little soft brush that I would get to run through it. Then they gave me freckles and the elf ears, which I loved.
A lot of people were like, “You look better with them than you do normally.” I was like, “Sort of a backhanded compliment,” but you know what? I’ll take it. I think I was sort of meant to be an elf in another life.
You pull off the look really well. The rest of the group in the Faraway Land are quite funny-looking. Moon-Face, wild hair, there’s the Saucepan Man. Was it ever difficult at first getting through those scenes with everybody else looking so goofy in such a fantastical way?
I think what I really loved about it is everything on it felt very handmade. I think it sort of looked like a kid’s fantasy. It didn’t look like this very polished, slick version.
I keep thinking about how everything is so AI at the minute, and it’s sort of just a little exhausting and you don’t know what’s been done. So to be an actor on a set where you know that the wig has been handmade, literally hair by hair, my costume had real leaves screen-printed on it. They used sunlight. I don’t know how the process worked, but it was incredible.
It was more just being on set going, “This all looks amazing.” This is an independent movie made by people, and we need so much more of that. I think audiences want and need that too.
It really looks like a children’s book come to life. It’s a really fantastic look.
You have some really fun scenes with Rebecca Ferguson, who’s clearly having a blast as the villain here. What stood out about getting to work with her? She’s hamming it up in such a fun way.
Nicola Coughlan: Oh my God. Well, she’s an incredible person. We got to spend two weeks with her in Malta filming at Dame Snap’s castle. It’s been my experience that the more established and A-list an actor is, the nicer they are. They’re the nicest people. They’re so respectful to crew, so respectful to everyone. On everyone else’s coverage, she’d be giving 100%.
She’s so naturally funny. She really hammed it up and was giving panto villain in the best way possible. It was just a joy to watch her. She was saying, “I don’t really do much comedy,” and I’m like, “But she’s really, really funny.”
Funny women, I’m obsessed with. So yeah, she’s the coolest.
That’s a really interesting point. I guess to make it to that level, you have to be that professional, so it does make sense that they would be the nicest people.
I was curious: this is based on the original children’s book. Did you go back and read that, or did you prioritize going off Simon’s adaptation?
I did go back and read it because I actually didn’t read it as a kid. It wasn’t something that I knew. I think I knew the name of the book, but I didn’t know it. So I went back and read it.
But Simon’s script was what I first read rather than the book, and I just love his writing. He also is very unprecious. At the read-through, he said, “Just play with it. You can kind of do what you want.”
So there’s a lot of improv in the movie, and I love improv. It’s so funny and can really help you find the character. You don’t know what’s going to make it in and what isn’t, but it was just joyful.
I went back and read it, but there’s a lot of Blyton purists. I think he’s extracted the magic that was in those books and then just exploded it onto the screen in such a brilliant way.
Thanks to Nicola Coughlan for taking the time to talk about The Magic Faraway Tree.