#mi8 interview

Dune actress Rebecca Ferguson: "What happened to me is unusual"

It's in the middle of summer when I meet Rebecca Ferguson via Zoom, she's in a hotel room in London, I'm on holiday in northern Uppland. It is said that the interview will take place in English, which feels very odd, especially as we have known each other for ten years. Do you want from the production company to keep track of what she says? Do you think that in Swedish I should ask improper questions? I do not know, but okay then, we do the interview in English instead of starting to fuss.

The production company just mentioned is behind the current feature film Dune. It's a sci-fi movie with a complicated plot, so we'll leave it there. However, we can talk about the fact that in the film she plays the mother of Timothée Chalamet (known from the hit Call me by your name), who in reality is twelve years younger than she is. Rebecca is silent for a few seconds and then says:

- You know, magic on screen magic.

Another costar is Stellan Skarsgård, who plays a grotesquely fat evil man. I tell her that Stellan has seen the film and that he says that Rebecca is brilliant in the role.

- Oh my God. He. Stellan's game. His appearance, he is grotesque, strangely sexual and beautiful. He's amazing!

Rebecca is now used to playing against not only Swedish icons, but also against megastars such as Tom Cruise, Hugh Jackman, Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant, Michael Fassbender and Emily Blunt. It is difficult to understand that just  ten years ago she considered giving up her acting career - she lived in Simrishamn, had been in the TV soap Nia Tider and made small roles in some movies. A random meeting at a market in his hometown changed everything.

Director Richard Hobert was looking for an actress for his upcoming film A One-Way Trip To Antibes. He writes in an email:

"There is a shimmer around Rebecca, a charisma that makes her appear in a crowd. That was when I suddenly saw her among all the tourists at a flea market in Simrishamn in the summer of 2011. It was a strange experience because I had searched in my memory for several weeks for the name of a young unknown actress that I saw in a TV soap a few years earlier and captured by. I was convinced that she would be right for the female lead in A One Way Trip to Antibes. And then she suddenly stood in front of me in the market. After a audition, the role was undoubtedly hers."

The film received good reviews, a foreign agent caught the eye of Rebecca and not too long after that she had tested for and got the lead role in the BBC series The white queen. Result: a Golden Globe nomination and a career abroad that began to go straight up with rocket speed. She got the female lead in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation. Anyone who has seen her enter that film wearing a long, yellow dress will not forget it, nor her contribution to the film's action scenes. Great success - and for the first time, a female actress returned in the next Mission impossible film. Mission impossible: Fallout was also a great success, and sometime in the next year comes Mission impossible 7, where Rebecca will return again. She will also be in MI: 8.

- I do not know when that shooting will begin. The pandemic has meant that the seven is not quite ready yet, and once it is, many will probably need a long break before they start filming again, she says.

Ten years ago she lived in Simrishamn with her partner Ludwig and their son Isac. She had bought an old windmill, which she wanted to restore. When she and Ludwig separated, he kept the mill, and Rebecca bought a large farm with large plots of land that year. At that time she told me:

- I buy old things that fit into the house and I build there. I love working with my hands, but it's hard to find antique floorboards. And it's expensive.

But now she has sold the farm.

- It was very sad to have to do it, but I'm at the wrong age and I do not live there. I was simply not ready to buy a big house and lots of land, it should be owned by someone who really lives there. My plans were to create a farm, but I'm not there.

Rebecca about moving to London with her new family

- I love Simrishamn, my son lives there and I have a place in the city. But now London is my home.

With her family, husband Rory (his last name is still unknown and asked about his profession, she has answered "entrepreneur") and daughter Saga, Rebecca lives in Richmond, a affluent neighborhood close to the garden mecca Kew Gardens, the Thames and Pinewood Studios where many movies recorded.

- Previously,  I had to live in an apartment in Notting Hill, but I am not a city person. In Richmond I have the park and I often rent a boat and go out and row on the Thames.

How does she view her "journey" today, from thinking about giving up on a career to being a sought-after world star a decade later?

- What happened to me is unusual. But I rarely stop and think. I'm moving forward. I'm lucky enough to get great deals and they take time. I never thought this would be possible, but it has just continued. I'm lucky to have this much work.

During the pandemic, she has both worked and been free (the recording of MI: 7 was shut down for five weeks). She has visited Sweden, she has lived at home in Richmond. Filming with all the restrictions it entailed has been "inconvenient".

- Very impersonal, very much packed in plastic. But it's a pandemic. We have been able to film. I do not complain. I do not understand how people dare to complain. We are lucky, we have a job. I have basically been filming since August last year, with MI: 7 and with extra scenes for Dune. And now you and I can sit here and talk to each other, though not in the same room, and create memories.

The mighty male stars Timothee Chalamet, Oscar Isaac, Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem may all leave their mark on the desolate, desert landscape in the science-fiction epic that is Dune.  But it's Rebecca Ferguson who dominates the movie.

She plays the complex Lady Jessica Atreides, described as 'a spiritual concubine soldier of the female order of the Bene Gesserit'.

That's a mouthful, but suffice to say it's a pivotal role. However when I started to raise the subject of how important it was for a woman to have a part that's not window dressing, Ferguson cut me off in my prime.

'I'm not being ironic,' she sighed, 'but I don't go in with my genitals in my hand. I don't sit there in a room thinking: 'I've got a vagina'.'

Ferguson cited Isla Faust, the skilled operative she plays opposite Tom Cruise in the Mission Impossible franchise, as well as Jessica, in director Denis Villeneuve's Dune.

'I have been blessed to create these roles, in these big movies. But I don't pat myself on the back and say 'F*** me, Rebecca; you've really battled all those penises.'

'I think Mission was very much ahead of its time for creating an equal to Tom's Ethan Hunt. I felt that in both Mission and Dune, I have been given characters that serve a purpose, despite gender.'

She adds that in any case, Villeneuve's vision was to heighten the roles of the women in the film, who also include Charlotte Rampling and Zendaya. 'I was given the space to act freely, without thinking about my gender.'

I have some issues with the 155-minute film, and that's not even including the fiendishly complicated plot.

Based on Frank Herbert's novel, it tells the story of Paul 'Muad'Dib' Atreides (Chalamet), a possible messiah, bred by Jessica — who was herself part of a breeding programme to produce such an heir.

It also chronicles the power struggle on the planet Arrakis, over control of a spice that fuels interstellar travel and psychic powers. And it ain't a spice that you can rub on a chicken before it goes in the oven, that's for sure.

Herbert's novel has never been a holy grail for me. However, Villeneuve and his writers have made it much more 'graspable and relatable', to use Ferguson's words, than David Lynch's stoned-out 1984 version. But man, it's long! And so much sand!!

Still, even I can see it looks glorious on the big screen — and Ferguson provides more heat than the desert, particularly during her interactions with Chalamet, Isaac, Momoa (who's great, by the way), and Bardem.

I loved it when Lady Jessica leaned in and sniffed Bardem's character Stilgar.

'No one asked me to smell Javier — I did it in the moment,' she told me, adding with a smile: 'How long has he been in the desert, you know?'

She didn't care to analyse her relationship with Chalamet, or at least not to reduce it to simply playing his mother.

'I think Jessica's far more than that. I got to go on a journey with a brilliant young actor,' she said.

If the new Dune, which has its premiere in London on Monday, works at the box office, then Warner Bros will bankroll a sequel.

Meanwhile, Ferguson and her family have moved from their home in Sweden to London while she films Wool, a television adaptation of Hugh Howey's dystopian novel about people living in an underground silo to protect themselves from a toxic environment.

She's also a producer of the drama, which just started filming in a temporary studio built on the site of an old refrigerator depot in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire.

It has very green credentials, Ferguson said proudly.

'We're recycling everything we can, and establishing food programmes locally.'

She arrived straight from the set of MI 7, which was shot here and across Europe for nearly a year during the pandemic.

Rebecca Ferguson has revealed that she is still waiting to hear whether Ilsa Faust will return for Mission: Impossible 7 and 8, which were recently confirmed by Tom Cruise and writer and director Christopher McQuarrie.

“I hope so,” she tells Metro regarding the topic of Mission: Impossible 7 and 8 and her involvement. “Nothing has been confirmed.”

There’s a very good reason why Ferguson is still waiting for confirmation regarding her Mission: Impossible future. Christopher McQuarrie is yet to finish the script.

“I know the process and the difficulties they have in terms of making it all work. It is a puzzle, and also he needs to write the story. When he’s done that, then I know.”

But while Ferguson is hopeful that she will work alongside Tom Cruise in the Mission: Impossible universe again in the very near future, she is the first to admit that she isn’t quite sure how they will actually film the blockbusters back to back.

“I’m so excited. Well, I don’t even know how people shoot those things. They mix them up I guess. They did it with Lord of the Rings.”

Ferguson can expect to have an answer regarding the return of Ilsa Faust to the Mission: Impossible franchise soon.

Because when Tom Cruise himself announced that the seventh and eight Mission: Impossible films will be shot back-to-back, he also confirmed that their release dates will be in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

Rebecca Ferguson has confirmed she’ll return as Isla Faust in the next Mission: Impossible film. The 35-year-old actress has been a part of the franchise since 2015’s Rogue Nation, returning as the MI6 agent in last year’s sequel Mission: Impossible – Fallout. 

Speaking on ITV’s Lorraine, Ferguson confirmed she would be back for her third outing – probably to the surprise of very few considering she’s now a staple of the film’s ensemble.

Asked if we’ll see her in Mission: Impossible 7, Ferguson said: ‘You will. Mission: Impossible, Doctor Sleep.’ 

Ferguson also revealed how taking part in The Greatest Show reversed her opinion on musicals, saying: ‘I’ve never been a fan of people singing their lines. ‘I’ve changed my mind completely because it has been received so beautifully and the soundtrack is incredible.’

You have a notable scene with Patrick Stewart [Adult Merlin]. What do you remember most about filming that day?

We do have a very notable scene, but the scene is one thing. I think the most beautiful moments are the ones in the makeup trailer when we gossip, talk and laugh. He is so charming; he is so wonderful. So, I feel very lucky, and a little bit sad, that we didn’t have more scenes to do. I have my agents on it; they’re following him around to see what we can do next. I believe they represent him as well so that’s good.

Since both characters pursue children in order to achieve greater power, did Morgana help you prepare to play Rose the Hat in Doctor Sleep?

Actually, that is very true. Yes, Morgana was helpful, however, the brutality of Rose the Hat goesfar beyond what Morgana would ever do. Morgana is more “get in, kill the kid quickly and get out” whilst Rose is more for the torture. The longer she tortures, the better

I have to ask you about Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, which keeps adding to its impressive cast (e.g. Charlotte Rampling, Stellan Skarsgard).

I know! I find out when it gets released. My mother called me the other day and said, “Charlotte Rampling signed on!” and I went, “Really!?”

Are you still shooting in March? Are you mostly relying on the novels to prepare versus watching other actors’ interpretations of Lady Jessica?

I would never watch anyone’s interpretation of Jessica. Obviously, I did watch David Lynch’s Dune back in the day, and Jessica comes with characteristic traits. So, you can’t mess around with it. There’s a calm empowerment to being the Bene Gesserit [a powerful and ancient order of women in the Dune universe] that she is. I’m reading the book; I’ve read it. I have the script and Denis’ ideas so I feel like I have so much to work with already. So, I’ll just rock it as it comes I think. I’m flying over next week for a costume fitting which will be really exciting.

Christopher McQuarrie shared some news recently. Even though he insists that he’s done with Mission: Impossible after each film, he’s now signed on for two more Mission movies and is shooting them back-to-back for summer releases in 2021 and 2022. Were you remotely surprised that Tom twisted his arm for more madness? Are you overwhelmed just thinking about what you’ll be asked to do next to top Rogue Nation and Fallout?

I didn’t actually know that McQ had gone out and publicly announced anything. I called him 10 minutes ago; he’s a good old friend. I’m not shocked that Chris would do it. Both Tom and Chris are very close, but I also know what kind of discussions go on. It’s a big thing to throw yourself into and accept another however long the shoot would be. There are rewards and repercussions that come with it. We’ll see what happens to Ilsa because it’s not written. We don’t really know yet what’s going to happen. All I can do is keep calling him to say, “Don’t throw me out of an airplane. Don’t lock me inside a box.” So, we’ll see.