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The answer is Esme Creed-Miles.
This role is incredibly physically demanding, and youre a small woman.
How do you even prepare for this?I was lucky in that I had paid for personal trainers.
Without that, I would have never gotten into it.
I did a lot of boxing and running and weight lifting and martial arts, though.
Were you a physical kind of person before this?No, not at all.
It was very intimidating.
Its weird how your body just adapts, though.
When I started, I couldnt punch.
My punch looked shit.
I didnt have that kind of physicality to make it believable.
It wasnt part of my bones yet.
I imagine there must have been a little panic when they realized you couldnt punch.
But for me and especially Sarah Adina Smith, the director, we just didnt want that to happen.
The physical stuff and character stuff are holistically connected.
My brain got better at learning and remembering the moves and the choreography.
If we do another [season], I think Ill be ready for it.
But I also expected to work this hard.
But as an actor, I want to do a well-rounded performance.
I want these extra hours, and I want to be more than whats asked.
Did you learn that kind of dedication to craft from your parents?I dont think so.
When they work, Im not with them.
I never wanted to be an actress.
Acting wasnt in my mind.
It wasnt in my calculations.
And the way they work is very instinctual, anyway.
Its not something I could learn from them.
Thats my preferred taste.
What protocols did they have to keep you safe on set?
Even for someone experienced, this is a lot of stunt work in often remote locations.
It was more the stunt people I was working with who had to worry.
So I flung this suitcase as hard as I could, and I hit him right in the face.
But I completely wiped out his dentures.
I think they have less strict rules in Hungary.
Were lucky Im still alive … Thats a joke, obviously.
But that wasnt the stunt you were proudest of, Im guessing.I think that was climbing the trees.
But I did still have to climb the tree quite high.
Coordinating fake effort with real effort was actually quite taxing.
It was the first thing we shot, and there was this feeling of not wanting to fail.
Thats a lot of pressure.
Did you have anxiety about stepping into Saoirse Ronans shoes?Maybe a bit.
But all art is constantly being reinterpreted.
It happens in theater all the time and we never question it.
How do you prepare for your roles as an actor?
Do you create a mythology for your character?To be honest?
I learn the lines and do them on the day.
A lot of PJ Harvey and Tori Amos and Fiona Apple and the Cocteau Twins and Patti Smith.
[The Yeah Yeah Yeahs] Sacrilege was great for this character.
Thats a lot of women artists.
Youve got a woman directing this show, too.
I always felt like she had a good answer to every question I had.
Every moment felt like it was important.
Its a difference between narrating her own experience, and someone else narrating her story.
It was really brilliant to feel like I wasnt constantly being objectified.
Also, to be very clear, Sara wasnt put there because she was a woman.
She was creative and intelligent and the right fit.
Her filmBusters Mal Heartis a favorite of mine.
You spent six months as Hanna, living and breathing her.
What would you say was your perfect Hanna day?I really loved everything in Slovakia in the snow.
And I loved shooting the action scene where I took Joel [Kinnaman] out.
He was really ticking me off that day.
