CELIAIMRIEISTHEELEGANTHUSTLER

The Oliver Award-winning Actress on the art of keeping people guessing. 

 

WORDS Leah Commandeur

 

Interview taken from IMAGINE Magazine Issue Three Pre Order here

 

Celia Imrie never wants you to know her next move. From fighter pilot to cunning political strategist, witty amateur cold case detective to Calendar Girl – typecasting does not exist in the same breath as the multifarious talent. Imrie, who started off as a dancer before sashaying into acting – has mastered the art of keeping people guessing. Having over 190 IMDB credits can’t slow her down, as witnessed when she stole the nation’s hearts by entering into the world of Reality TV as a faithful in the first ever season of the UK Celebrity Traitors last year, introducing her to a whole new generation.

 

Over Zoom, Imrie – sporting her trademarked rouged lip – is in high spirits despite logging on after a visit to the dentist. Sitting down with a household name is intimidating, but she disarms as easily as she famously tucked into that worm sandwich in her role of Mrs Quickly in Nanny McPhee. Icon. Legend. These are words often thrown around superfluously, but not in this instance. You can’t argue with a recipient of the Raindance Icon Award.

 

Famously known for travelling the world by ship and train, be it to the United States or India, Imrie is not afraid to get up close with the nitty gritty of life and the abundance of adventure that comes with it. In between her 4am rises and seemingly non-stop filming schedule with four new releases from her due to hit our screens in the near future; she has her eighth book hitting shelves later this year, THE ELEGANT HUSTLER: A LIFE IN ADVENTURES – a travel memoir which offers readers deeper insight into a life’s worth of quests.

 

Sitting down with IMAGINE, Imrie talks being a ludicrously good sport, the realities of playing the villain and being down with the kids.

 

Leah Commandeur: Hi Celia, how are you?

 

Celia Imrie: Hi, very good. I’m glad we’ve both got glasses on, so much more comforting to see the other person in glasses too.

 

LC: Here’s to not having 20-20 vision. How are you doing today?

 

CI: Well, apart from a very quick zoom to the dentist a minute ago I’m fine. I’m like a child. I absolutely loathe the dentist but actually he’s a very handsome Liverpudlian, so I’m okay.

 

LC: There could be worse things. So I read recently in an interview that you liken life to a game of Snakes and Ladders which I think is a very chic way of putting it – full of ups and downs. How is that game going for you at the moment?

 

CI: I seem to be on a sort of zigzag of ladders at the moment, which of course will mean there’s probably a snake lurking somewhere but at the moment I’m on the upward which is great. I’m glad you said you think it’s chic because my eight-year-old grandson has got a complete thing going now. Everything has to be noted, whether it’s chic or not chic.

 

LC: Eight years old and saying chic? I’m obsessed with that. I’d love to know, how did you get into the world of performing arts? Was it always the dream or was it a happy accident?

 

CI: It was another avenue. I wanted to be a ballet dancer when I was younger but because I’m not the right size, and you have to be, that was not going to happen. I still adore it and they know that. I love Rudolf Nureyev, who’s my hero. Really I guess I’m a chorus girl and that’s how I began. I love music and musicals and so that’s my beginning. So it’s very informal, I think it would be fair to say.

 

LC: It doesn’t necessarily matter how you get there, just that you got there, right? So you wear many hats: actor, writer, faithful. I saw “Escapologist,” in your Instagram bio, which I was really intrigued by too. Have you always been inclined to try your hand at many things? Or is this desire for variety something that has developed with time, confidence and experience?

 

CI: No, I think I’ve always been like this. I sort of hate being stuck anywhere. I’m always sort of looking to be on the move. I mean this is not really relevant but I remember somebody saying to me that if you’re at a party, make sure you always leave when you can still see the floor i.e get out of there before everybody else. I suppose I’ve always wanted to be on the move and you know escape – find the exit, which of course means not being stuck in any kind of part, which you have to get in your rowing boat and navigate as an actor. Otherwise it’s very easy for people to put you in a box. I will do everything I can to try and do as different a role as I can to the last thing, if possible. We don’t have an awful lot of control as an actor, but if you can look for a flip of the coin so that you don’t get stuck in one place, then that certainly is something I look out for.

 

LC: Throughout your acting career specifically, you’ve played the cunning and comedic, the fan favorite the villain, and a fighter pilot too, can’t forget that. Do you find it challenging to jump between two completely opposite characters back-to-back or is the rapid switch up more invigorating?

 

CI: Oh absolutely, and it’s about the only thing you can do as an actor because you can’t walk up to Steven Spielberg and say “Hey I want to keep people guessing,” and ask not to pigeonhole you.

 

You’ve got to actually search out and think, well if I do this part next then it’ll steer me in a completely different direction, which is very exciting and something that I do consciously.

 

LC: Speaking of Spielberg, last year The Thursday Murder Club hit the big screen. I just have to say your character had so many brilliant one liners that I loved.

 

CI: I know, doesn’t she? It’s so great. What a gift.

 

LC: Honestly, it must have been so fun to step into her shoes, was it?

 

CI: Well, it was. But also, I had to be sort of on my mettle because the books were so loved. You know as much as I didn’t particularly want to have white hair, if that’s how she’s described that’s how it is. Helen [Mirren]’s character Elizabeth first sees Joyce and describes her with her white hair.  People can practically quote the books, so you have to be faithful to the descriptions.

 

But no, it was great fun. Sir Lawrence Olivier always said you must love the person that you’re playing and it was very easy to love Joyce.

 

LC: That’s so lovely to hear. I was curious, what is it like to work on a book to film adaptation as someone who is both an author and an actor?

 

CI: Well, I remember one of my most favourite parts was The Dark-Adapted Eye that Ruth Rendell wrote as Barbara Vine. I can’t quite remember the year, I’ve got no idea about years. But it was a fabulous part, actually. And to have her book under my arm all the time, underlining the little things that she’d written, was invaluable. Because you can only put a certain amount of things into a script. But to have her thoughts from the book to embroider that was absolutely wonderful.

 

And I suppose to me, in a way, when you read a book from scratch, you as the reader are also the casting director in your head. You can decide what your character looks like, even though you might have a description of white hair, say. If it’s a very loved book as the Murder Clubs were, you do have quite a responsibility. I believe Richard Osmond was getting lots of people shouting out to him down the street about who he should cast but you know you have to hope that you’re going to live up to what the reader wanted.

 

LC: Working with Chris Columbus and Steven Spielberg, and your brilliant list of co-stars, what was it like behind the scenes? I could almost imagine it just being pure fun and like a grown up summer camp.

 

CI: Well, it was a very very beautiful setting and a beautiful summer but sometimes even the comedy moments have to be quite seriously done – there had to be things at stake in the story. So it had to follow the seriousness of the plot as well, but you know that’s the joy of filming as opposed to maybe a theatre set. If you’re actually in the garden or in the Church your work is halfway done. It was a joyous experience, it really was and Christopher Columbus is both enthusiastic and encouraging and what more do you want? Mind you, in order to curry favour I do remember on my first day of rehearsal, waking up, as I usually do, about four o’clock in the morning and making a chocolate cake to bring into work, just so that Christopher Columbus would like me. It was ridiculous, but true.

 

LC: And I’m sure he had to like you if somebody brought you a chocolate cake.

 

CI: It was Joyce’s thing, you see, her cakes.

 

LC: Exactly. And was making chocolate cakes something that you did a lot before this role or was it a part of getting into character?

 

CI: No, it’s about the only thing I can make, I’m not a cook. I love to eat but I’m not a cook, so this was one of my favourite things to do.

“I think it’s a very, very clever game but I also think it’s a cruel game.”

LC: So to segue onto a very different type of project that you did… you truly captured the nation’s hearts once again as a faithful on the first ever UK Celebrity Traitors. I was a very loyal viewer watching it every week, I must say. I was wondering, was stepping into Reality TV pure fun or a bit daunting?

 

CI: I certainly did have a hesitation, not a long one. You see that follows the path of me wanting to go in a different direction. I’ve never done a reality show before so why not, and also I’m thinking, “Well, I just want to try everything.” This is how I described it. I think it’s a very, very clever game but I also think it’s a cruel game. Richard E Grant, who’s a friend of mine, has slightly misquoted me because he says that I said everybody was cruel and, you know, you can’t trust anyone. Well, that’s sort of true. I said the game was cruel, of course, but I really enjoyed it. And, you know, I also think how stupid I was, looking back. I mean, I was quite canny on many people but also I missed some tricks but that’s sort of what happens in that environment. It was an extraordinary experience and I’m delighted that I did it. Also, because I’m so down with the kids now and by that I mean nine, ten, eleven. You know, they’re really a whole new audience, which I love.

 

LC: I genuinely feel like everybody was watching it.

 

CI: I know. Now, how did that happen? What was going on in the world? It was a piece of magic that happened because I’ve never known a programme – you’re far too young to remember this – but since Dallas where the whole nation was watching, but yes they were. It brought families together. It’s quite wonderful what people have told me and they were all absolutely agog.

 

LC: Right? It was a proper moment for everybody to kind of be in tune with one another. In an era where everybody’s so busy and likes to run on their own schedules, people would schedule time on these days to sit down with one another, have a cup of tea and watch the show. Magic.

 

CI: It just hit that moment in time, which was miraculous. And I’m so proud to have been a part of the first lot.

 

LC: Starting with a bang. In another of your shows, The Diplomat, your character Margaret is delightfully complex. What does the research for such a layered British political strategist like her look like? Because I’d say it’s interesting.

 

CI: Yes, I mean, it was difficult to know where to start, really. All I can tell you is that because of her dealings, she was not a popular character within the characters of the story. And they described her in a really unkind and, well, sort of unflattering way, which, of course, you read about in the script how people describe you and they were really quite disparaging towards my character, understandably, because of the part I was playing. But it meant that I felt very awkward and not included. I was quite pushed aside and this is how sometimes stories really take over. Also we were filming in London most of the time, so we didn’t really get to know each other very well. And I can truly say I found it quite difficult because I was austere and nobody sort of engaged with me and nobody really liked me in the story.

 

Of course, it’s marvellous to play such a part, but it was in the playing of it that it was not very comfortable at all until, now you can guess, being an Irish girl, we got to Scotland and the whiskey came out. I’m not saying that’s the answer to everything of course but the thing is we had whiskey at night and we had cold loch swims first thing in the morning and we were all away staying in Inveraray. A piece of magic happened because suddenly we were together and we could say “Hello,” to each other and so it transformed the series for me. Hopefully it was not something people were expecting of me which is always good.

 

LC: We’ve seen you revisit some of your previous roles in sequels, with my personal favourite being The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel because that title itself is just pure gold. If you could step back into the shoes of any of your iconic roles, is there anybody that you’d have in mind that you’d love to see where they’re at now?

 

CI: The title, it’s incredible I couldn’t agree with you more. I mean, talk about a glittering cast. The two Dames for a start, and being in India – I loved the whole experience. It’s difficult to do a sequel but I think that [Ol] Parker and John Madden really pulled it off. I think that the second one was even better. But, I’d love to see what Mrs.Quickly from Nanny McPhee is getting up to now.

 

LC: Yes. Tell me, were the worms in the sandwich real or CGI?

 

CI: It’s true. And I always tell a kid if I meet them and they love the film. I’m also a ludicrously good sport, I call it. So I suggested to the director, well, why don’t I really have worms in the sandwich?

 

And he said, “Really?” And I said, “Yeah, well, let’s just try it and see if it works because it would be so good if I could.” Now, I can’t, but anyway, the point is, they were real. And also, what I love about what happened that day is that I managed to put it in my mouth and then lick my lips while they were wiggling about in my mouth. Now, no worm was killed in the process of that film. I promise you, they all wiggled away. But you see, the tarantula, I did actually manage to curl my hair around my finger with it on me, if you see that bit, and the leg of the spider touched my hand and the focus puller nearly fainted.

 

LC: I don’t blame them, honestly. You’d probably also be really good at I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.

 

CI: No. Thank you very much, please don’t even suggest it. No thank you.

 

LC: So your next book is a travel memoir, The Elegant Hustler: My Life in Adventures. Brilliant title. It comes out later this year. What made you want to tell these stories now?

 

CI: I think, when you tell people that you don’t fly and that you go on Amtrak across America, they do think you’re around the bend but I have a great friend who I’ve known for 50 years, Fidelis Morgan, who helps me to write. And she and I share the same obsession with being on the move. We both share that sort of feeling of enjoying the extraordinary travel, you know, quite haphazardly trying to jump on this train rather than ship. It’s marvellous to be able to find a friend who enjoys the same sort of travel as you. It’s very rare and of course makes it much more fun.

“…doing a play on the first preview, I think my heart’s going to fall out onto the floor from my chest. I think I’m going to die of fright.”

LC: It sounds like you’re not afraid to get into the kind of nitty gritty of just living sometimes, you know, going head to head with those adrenaline rushes. Are you like that in general or just travel?

 

CI: I think I am like that in life, the only thing that I’m slightly alarmed by is I used to absolutely adore big dippers and going around the Grand National of Blackpool and all these marvellous rides but now I’m absolutely freaked by them. And it’s rather a sudden change. I can’t really explain it. Some people say it’s once you’ve had a child, you know, that you’re not immortal or whatever they say. Everything else – yes I’ll go for it.

 

I mean doing a play on the first preview, I think my heart’s going to fall out onto the floor from my chest. I think I’m going to die of fright. I’m not alone, I know, but if you do think “Well then why are you doing it?” That is the lunacy of adrenaline. I would like to do another play.

 

LC: And it’s, again, magic. No wonder you chase that feeling despite the fear. I was curious about somebody like yourself who seems forever busy. What do you do when you get some downtime?

 

CI: I do like something going on all the time but if I ever stop and sit down and watch Coronation Street, which I love, the chances are I’ll be asleep. I’ll watch one episode because I love to get up at about four in the morning. And I love mornings, particularly at this time of year. I do tend to conk out a bit, you know, in the evening. But no, I like to have what I call a heebie jeebie every day. I’m afraid you’re my heebie jeebie today as well as the dentist.

 

LC: I apologise.

 

CI: You know, I mean it well.

 

LC: I was wondering if there was ever any advice that somebody gave to you at a pivotal moment in life or career that really stuck on for you?

 

CI: Well, most parts that I play are versions of my mother, who I absolutely adored. And she gave me lots of little snippets. She never spoke ill of anyone. And she was always interested in other people. You’ve only got to ask somebody about themselves and they’ll soon tell you, which means that you don’t have to go on about yourself all the time. Which I fear slightly – I hope I’m not going to get cancelled for this – I fear the generation at the moment is slightly inward looking and I guess my mother taught me to always be interested in the other person. You know I’m fascinated that you’re from Dublin and that you’ve done drama. It’s interesting for me, although you’re having to make me talk about myself, I’m not crazy about it, but I’m doing my best.

 

One of her things was to “Do it now.” My father was accused of procrastinating. I can remember when I first heard the word, and I do it too. If you saw the piles of papers I’ve got to sort out, you’d die because there’s no order in my life at all. And I do procrastinate, but I also, in my other ear, have got my mother saying, “Do it now,” and it’s a very good one, actually. She’s a great model in my life.

 

LC: That it is. I’ll hold onto that one. I saw that you’ve got a very packed roster of upcoming projects ahead. HBO’s War, where we’ll see you reconnect with fellow faithful Nick Mohammad, the highly anticipated adaptation of Tomb Raider as well as joining Apple TV’s very beloved Trying. So I was wondering if you could give us some insight into what we can expect?

 

CI: Well, in War, I play a barrister. I love anything to do with crime. I’m sort of obsessed with Dateline, which is the American murder trials and how people are and how they deceit. I went to Southwark Crown Court to watch the courtroom proceedings which was fascinating. It’s lovely to be able to have another world to go into to watch. I loved that and my character is slightly unconventional, so she kind of flirts with the judge and it was joyful actually. I loved that and also entering into another world. Trying, it reminds me a little bit of my marvellous character, Phil, in Better Things. I can tell you now I am very un-vain about how I look but I was quite horrified when I saw it actually, but then I thought well you know it’s another character. I’m excited, but I’m bravely un-vain, let’s put it like that.

 

And then Tomb Raider, happily, Phoebe Waller-Bridge put me in touch with a real lady called Suki, who was a fundraiser for the British Museum, which my character Francine is, described as raising lots of money and lots of glasses of champagne, which suits me very well. So I had an interview with Suki and she told me about the things that she used to get up to and I wished I could have done things like that. She told me when some very important guest was coming and she had to get to the other end of the corridor, which by the way is vast as you can imagine in the British Museum, so she took off her high heels and ran like a clapper, stocking feet to go and get something to come back and I wished I’d had a chance to do that. I noticed that she had navy blue mascara on so I thought “Well I’m gonna have that.” So again, a whole other life which I might never have entered into.

 

LC: As always, I’m excited to see all the lives that you step into, Celia.