insideKENT Magazine Issue 74 - May 2018 | Page 39

So, you’ve worked with Harlan Coben, the creator of Safe, before? Yes, I worked with Harlan, Danny Brocklehurst and Nicola Schindler before on The Five, which is an incredible team and something that really attracted me to the role. Getting the part on Safe was a real pinch-myself moment – I got a call from my agent saying that Harlan had written something and he’d written a part for me, could I come and do it? Of course I jumped at the chance; it was such a huge compliment and such a great reaction from the team I’d worked with for a part that I’d put everything I possibly could into. It was such a boost of confidence – sometimes in this industry it’s easy to think you should be more like this, or more like that, but when this kind of thing happens, it’s absolute affirmation that you should stay on your own track; the best advice I can give to anyone is to be true to who they are and stick to what they think they should be doing. What do you do to relax outside of work? When I’m on set, I travel with my dog, which is a total comfort to me. I don’t know how people do it when they don’t have family close by or some kind of companion with them. It’s quite tough when you’re filming in an unfamiliar city, so for me, chilling out with my miniature Dachshund, Mouse, and taking him for a long walk at the end of a busy day is the best thing. Do you have any pre-audition rituals? I like to completely learn the part inside out, so I don’t have to worry about the lines as I’m auditioning and I can just go with the part naturally. To do that, I write the lines out – I have about 15 notebooks in my flat that are full of lines that I’ve previously learnt – I write each scene out at least 10 times and I genuinely feel that the part then goes through my hand and into my body. It works for me! My dad always used to say to me as a kid that if I do my very best then that’s all I can do because then if something doesn’t go your way, it’s out of your hands. I like to make sure that when I go into an audition I’m as prepared as I possibly can be – not to the point of being exhausted by it, but to the point of becoming it and also being able to take direction and advice. What’s in the pipeline for you? I’m waiting to see what happens. I’m really excited about Safe coming out this month because I think it’s such a great piece of work and I truly feel I’ve done the best work of my career in it. I’m being quite choosy about what I want to do next – on the one hand I’d love to do a play, and on the other I want to make sure that when Safe does come out, I’m open to everything that could possibly come my way because of it. Harlan Coben’s Safe launches on Netflix this month. HannahArterton HannahArtertonOnline 39