Lucy Boynton on playing Marianne Faithfull: “She is an extraordinary womanâ€
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Loading... - Adam Kelly
- 25 May 2022
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Lucy Boynton is no stranger to musicians. She played Freddie Mercury’s former fiancée and best friend Mary Austin in Bohemian Rhapsody, getting to know Queen rock stars Brian May and Roger Taylor in the process. She holds raucous karaoke sessions with actor-singer Ben Platt, her co-star on Netflix‘s The Politician. And when she was cast as Marianne Faithfull in an upcoming biopic, the ‘60s icon gave Boynton her personal seal of approval.
Despite these signifiers of cool, the New York-born, London-raised actress is keen we don’t paint her as such. “The posters on my teenage bedroom wall were shameful!” she says, cringing over Zoom. “It would have been Busted, bless them. They were classic!”
Her latest project, which we’re duty-bound to talk about (even though we really want to hear more about Faithfull and Busted) at first glance supports Boynton’s anti-cool agenda. It’s Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? – a lively three-part Agatha Christie adaptation for BritBox. The title refers to the cryptic question posed in the dying words of a man discovered at the bottom of a cliff, with firecracker socialite Lady Frances Derwent investigating the mysterious fall. Boynton, who plays the amateur sleuth, is by far the best thing in it. Her modern energy helps bring fresh thrills to a traditional Sunday evening Cluedo caper.
Anyway, back to the interesting stuff. Born in the Big Apple to British parents, Boynton moved to London aged four and was working by 12. Speaking to NME from her home in London, she’s friendly, charming and meticulously selects her words as if using tweezers. She politely brushes off any mention of her private life, specifically her relationship with Bohemian Rhapsody co-star Rami Malek. So we take a trip down memory lane instead.
It takes us to Sing Street, the ‘80s-set, synth-packed ode to indie bands, which was arguably Boynton’s first calling card. Stealing scenes as aspiring model Raphina, she looked like she’d just staggered out of the Blitz nightclub with Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon. Cue a series of stylish and smart characters that you can’t take your eyes off.
“If someone comes up to me with a big grin on their face, I know it’s because they’ve seen Sing Street,” she says. “That’s the project they’re going to talk about. When you’re reading a lot of scripts all the time, it’s hard to keep a barometer of what you value and what your taste is. And I’ll often go back to it as a reminder of what really beautiful, quality writing is.” Read More...
