Lily Collins has revealed advice that Anne Hathaway had given her for her performance in the TV show Les Misérables.
Anne Hathaway won an Oscar for her portrayal in the cinematic version of the novel, and Lily Collins is the latest actress to take on the role of the troubled Fantine on screen.
Coincidentally, Collins bumped into Hathaway in the early days of filming.
“I didn’t ask for any advice,” Collins revealed at a press launch for the series. “But she said to me, ‘Just don’t lose yourself, because it can get really tough – that’s a really overwhelming character and it goes very deep and it’s very emotional.'”
The advice makes sense when you consider the dark and troubled nature of the novel. Collins was thrown straight into the deep end when, at the very start of filming, she had to perform Fantine’s terrible downfall.
“That was day two. I had just come directly off a film and four days later I went to Brussels and it was, ‘Nice to meet you and here’s your death bed,'” she revealed.
“I personally as an actor have never gone that low – it was a really powerful experience for me to let go and to just give it all up to the moment.”
Referring to Anne Hathaway’s advice to the actress, she continued: “So it was interesting that her one thing that she said to me was just, ‘Stay you.’ I didn’t tell her that I had already done that bit! But I could relate to what she was saying. That first bit of filming… it was really interesting for me to just let myself go and to not recognize myself physically. It was a really magical experience that I’m really grateful for.”
You can watch Les Misérables on the BBC now.
