AubriIbragdoesn’tchase,sheattracts

With Season 2 of The Buccaneers under her belt, Aubri Ibrag is ready to go wild.

 

WRITER Leah Commandeur

 

Interview taken from IMAGINE Magazine. Order the latest issue here.

 

Aubri Ibrag is ready for change. First on her list, moving to East London this past December after wrapping up Season two of the Apple TV show The Buccaneers. The adaptation of Edith Wharton’s final novel is set to the backdrops of 19th century British countryside and New York City’s streets. Full of scandal, betrayal and lust – it is nothing short of deliciously debaucherous. Chiefly for Ibrag’s character, Lizzy Elmsworth – as Season two welcomes her into the heart of chaos, corset and all.

 

As she sits down with IMAGINE on a crisp Autumn evening – she manifests her next project in a similar fashion to how she did with her breakout role of Lizzy. This time something of the more physical variety, or at least a character who likes to use their lungs. A prison drama, or perhaps a cackling witch in a horror given the fact she has a new found obsession with them. A complete switch from her role in The Buccaneers.

 

There’s an excited glint in her eye, like a lion with a clear view of its prey as she pictures stepping into the shoes of a character who likes to speak their mind, just as Ibrag does in real life, and there is no doubt she will hit her target. If you aren’t on the lookout already, keep an eye out for Ibrag.

 

Aubri wears KNWLS jacket, Y-3 trousers, CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN shoes

Leah Commandeur: Hi Aubri, How’re you?

 

Aubri Ibrag: I’m good. I’m about to light some incense. I’ve been feeling like this apartment is haunted. That’s why we have to clear the air. Me and my housemate are always thinking I don’t know why the door creaks open in the night or we don’t know why the washing machine makes a sound like at midnight.

 

LC: You can’t play around with these things you know, you have to play it safe. What do you think of London life so far?

 

AI: Honestly, I love it. I can’t say that I leave my flat much because it’s in East and most of my friends live in West, and so unless we’re planning a night out a week in advance, I don’t really tend to go out unless it’s to the gym or stuff like that. I’m very much a homebody. I have a piano, a TV,  a little couch, a bed, an Apple TV with like Sex and the City on it. So I don’t know what else I could really ask for.

 

LC: I totally get that. I actually just finished Season two of The Buccaneers. It’s addictive, in the best way. It’s like if Gossip Girl and Emma had a baby. You want to debrief with your friends after each episode.

 

AI: It’s kind of the same for me. Obviously, as a cast we’re a part of the show and we get that experience for the first time when we read the script. For instance when I got the script for Season two for the first time, I was like what is going on? You’re just thinking what’s gonna happen because while we’re filming we’re still getting the script. Even a few months down the line into filming we’re still getting them, so we don’t know what’s gonna happen so it’s almost as if we get to experience watching the show for the first time while we’re filming. So yeah, I really resonate with that feeling.

 

LC: The start of Season two versus the end of it feels like so much has happened in only eight episodes and you’re like how is that even possible? It’s quite easy to binge, which I think is a great hallmark of a good show. I was wondering, when this project first came to your doorstep, what made you want to get involved?

 

AI: Well, I remember at the time COVID just finished, the lockdown had just finished in Australia and I came to LA, and it was like the second audition that I got while I was in LA from my American manager. During lockdown, I was so obsessed with period dramas. There was The Other Boleyn Girl, The Gilded Age and Pride and Prejudice, and I became so obsessed with [the genre] that I feel like I manifested the audition for The Buccaneers because all I did during lockdown is pretty much watch period dramas. I was thinking I have to get this, I’d love to even be a tree in the background in this project at the very least.

 

“During lockdown, I was so obsessed with period dramas… I feel like I manifested the audition for The Buccaneers”

 

LC:  Well, you’re more than just a tree, let me tell you that. I’m not American, but to me it seems like your accent in the show is pretty  flawless.  Did you have to invest a lot of time into finessing the accent or is that a skill that comes more naturally to you?

 

AI: Do you know what, it is something that is still developing to this day. I’m not a native English speaker. I come from a place in Russia called Dagestan and for me to have moved to Australia when I was 10 and then to learn the Australian accent was a lot to overcome when I was 10, was like a mountain to climb. Then obviously I discovered I wanted to start acting around the age of like 19 or 20, and then I thought okay now I have to learn how to do all these other accents and so the American accent I started learning during lockdown. But I will say the thing with accents is, yes, you can learn all the technicalities of it but it’s hard to be yourself. So I feel like every year I’m getting better with my American accent but there’s definitely moments where I look back and I’m like Jesus Christ please get that off the TV!

 

LC: We’re always our harshest critics. You mentioned that you have a flatmate, what’s something that you guys are watching at the moment?

 

AI: Well, she loves Call of Duty right now, she’s really addicted to that. Otherwise, we’ve watched shows like Love is Blind or oh my God, of course Sex and the City. If we’re both watching something together on the couch then it’s definitely Sex and the City. We just do this thing where you know how there’s like six Seasons? I purchased all six Seasons so we  flick through them and we’re like okay whatever episode it stops on that’s the message that we’re supposed to learn today, because you know how every episode has like a special message or or like a quote that will be really funny like, she was a lawyer and he was a hot dog. I love that.

LC: It’s the best. So Season two of the show is where Lizzy really gets to shine and the storyline develops to allow her to show more than just her shy side, or the tragic things that have happened to her. How was the preparation for Season two versus Season one?

 

AI: In Season two there was a lot more for me to keep track of, the conversations she’s had with Theo, the letter she received from Guy and then the conversations she’s had with Nan. So there was a lot more of a timeline. And because obviously we shoot out of order, there was a lot more for me to keep track of day to day. So I created this scrapbook. It’s pink and it’s bedazzled. It’s under my bed. Also, in Season one I feel like there was a lot that went on with Seadown that she hasn’t necessarily healed from. So in Season two, I had to sort of almost bring that with me, as a weight that she carries with her throughout all of the stuff that happens because I don’t think that she completely dealt with that situation in Season one. So, she was very scared to discover love again for the first time since what happened with Seadown. In Season two with Hector, he felt like the safer option but she knows deep down that since she was a little girl she’s always yearned for a very extraordinary sort of love and Hector didn’t necessarily provide that feeling for her. It’s not something that you can fake and unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, she found that with Theo, who happens to be one of her best friend’s husbands. I think she just thrust herself past her fears and decided to follow her heart, not worrying about what anyone thinks. Then obviously that did get her into some trouble.

 

“I’m personally someone who never leaves a conversation with words unsaid. I say everything.”

 

LC: I’ve noticed that sometimes Lizzy manages to say a lot without words. It’s as if she has the ability to speak a lot with her eyes alone, especially in Season one where she’s a bit more shy and timid, but her physical reactions say a lot instead. Did you find it more difficult to play a character who’s less on the rambunctious side?

 

AI: For me it feels almost a little more painful, or as an actor it feels more painful to play a character that doesn’t let it all out. For instance, that scene at Lizzy’s wedding when she runs off and has that conversation with Theo, there’s so much that she wants to say and all she does is look at him and keep her mouth shut and walk away with hesitation. I felt in that moment, if that was me I would have said a million things and started screaming but as Lizzy she’s someone who internalises all of her feelings. As a woman in the 19th century, women weren’t necessarily allowed to speak their minds and that would get you into trouble. Playing her in the moment hurts a lot more to keep all of those unsaid things in, whereas characters who I’ve recently done in callbacks and auditions, are unhinged and just scream and shout. It feels almost like a release. I’m personally someone who never leaves a conversation with words unsaid. I say everything. So playing a character like Lizzy is actually a nice learning experience for me to maybe keep my mouth shut sometimes.

 

LC: If you could take hold of the pen that writes the script and write Lizzy a happy ending, how would you imagine her happy ending?

 

AI: Ideally, I would love for her to become a really independent woman, which is the opposite of what she is now because I feel like right now she’s like jumping from one man to another man. So I would love for her to actually choose herself and even if that means being exiled from society. I would love for her to move into a cottage by herself and figure out a way of making money by herself, whether that’s by writing, or being a courtesan haha. I don’t know. I would just love for it to be possible to live life on her own, if that is possible in the 19th century as a woman. Just to develop a real backbone and a real bite that I feel like she needs to develop.

LC: You know how Lizzy says that all she needs is “a book, a bath and a big bowl of food with no cutlery”, what would you say Aubri’s favourite things are?

 

AI: I love a good nap. I love a bowl of ice to dip my face in in the morning. I recently started learning the piano and I can sit there for hours, it’s my therapy. Singing, even though I can’t sing for shit, I still love to get it all out. I only do that when my housemate is out of the house of course, and then I also love cinema and TV. I really love reality TV shows. I feel like that’s like a million things that I’ve just listed.

 

LC: That’s okay, you can have everything you want. So now that you’ve ticked off the period drama that you manifested, what’s a professional opportunity that you would hypothetically drop everything to do?

 

AI: I was re-watching Girl, Interrupted the other day for maybe the fifth time, and it made me think that I would love to do a really gritty asylum sort of drama where I just let it all go. To play an outwardly expressive character. I have been with Lizzy for so long I would love to do something that goes darker and is more physically challenging. Or like a witch in a horror film.

 

LC: Oh, I love that. Last question, where can we expect to see you in the near future?

 

AI: Well, you’ll always see me in London. Otherwise, hopefully in The Buccaneers Season three. Fingers crossed.