AFTER 20 minutes talking to actress Vanessa Kirby, you're left
feeling as if you've just staggered off a very vigorous fairground
ride: exhausted, entertained, maybe a teeny bit confused, but
definitely pleased you went there. She barely draws breath, and her
words fire with the same unexpected rapidity as a turn or twist on
a rollercoaster. She sighs. "My thoughts are ridiculously loud and
fast," she admits, before she's off again, explaining how
meditation is helping her slow down and be in the moment - in fact,
"be present" - which is important for her acting, and that's
something she's also been talking about to the actor Ben
Foster.
Fuel to her sentences are the extraordinary number of roles the
26-year-old has played, from television (most memorably Estella
opposite former paramour Douglas Booth in BBC's Great
Expectations), to film (she was the goofy friend in About
Time) and now, back to theatre, where she started out, to walk
the boards in A Street Car Named Desire, as Stella,
opposite Gillian Anderson, and directed by Benedict Andrews, both
of whom she worked with on Great Expectations. And as soon
as the curtain rises on Williams's steamy existential lament, Kirby
will have five films coming out in almost as many months.
The actress isn't complaining. Shooting the film
Everest alongside Keira Knightley and Jake Gyllenhaal "was
the loveliest job ever. I made really deep friendships," while the
joys of working with the Matrix Director Andy Wachowski in
Jupiter Ascending (with Mila Kunis), out next year, cannot
be contained on paper. Her self-deprecation stops her conversation
becoming gushy and grating: "I'm working with all these amazing
actors, thinking when am I going to be found out that I shouldn't
be here!" she says, breaking into throaty laughter. And when she
recalls her near method acting for the TV thriller The
Rise - "Like all the cast, I kept in the Leeds accent for the
whole time. I'd even speak 'Leeds' to my agent on the phone," she
admits. "It is a bit wanky, but when everyone does it, it's
fine."
Kirby is bright: she got a first in English from Exeter
University, and she seems to understand her day job's pitfalls.
"I've got a really tight group of friends from university and
school who help me forget what I do and keep me grounded," she
says, while later observing, "I'm not a model. I don't really think
much about how I look. If I did, I'd go mad." It's quite immaterial
that Kirby has big blue doe-eyes and very well-sculpted cheekbones
because, "I much prefer looking at how lovely everyone else looks,"
she says. And I actually believe her.
Vanessa Kirby stars in A Street Car Named Desire at the
Young Vic, July 23rd to 19th September.
