BRITAIN’S ALL-TIME MOST INFAMOUS DIAMOND THIEF, JOAN HANNINGTON, has re- ceived her “double” on the small screen. Her story has been taken on by Sophie Turner, an audience favourite best known for her role as Sansa Stark in the enduring hit series Game of Thrones. We also watched her in the fantastic mu- tant saga of the X-Men film series, and now in the biographical role of a real-life person who even helped out on set. Speaking in this interview for Elevate, Sophie admits that her mis- sion to embody the notorious “God- mother” of the London underworld is the most demanding role of her career to date. Here she reveals just what she found most difficult and what scared her, and you can watch the series itself on the Epic Drama channel in December and January. At what point in her life do we meet the main protago- nist of this series? “At the very beginning, when she still hasn’t scratched the surface of the world of glamour and glitz that she spent her whole life dream- ing about. While living with a petty SOPHIE TURNER, FROM SANSA TO JOAN I enjoyed flirting with my own dark side Sometimes you have conscious admiration for people who simply cannot be your role models, on the basis of their actions. However, you still find inspiration in the strength with which they fight for their goals
But that’s still not enough for us to be on her side? “Joan was in a way the Robin Hood of her time. She carefully se- lected the people she stole from. Those were always either people who had themselves acquired their wealth illegally or companies that cheated the common people. For her, crime was never a reason in and of itself. She didn’t want to steal meaninglessly or without purpose. She stole in a targeted way, and on- ly stole to get enough to be able to get her daughter back”. Did you get a chance to meet the real-life Joan; what were her impressions of your role? “That was the most stressful moment of my career. I’d never previously acted in a biographical drama, especially not about some- one who’s still alive. I spent the whole time thinking about what she would say. I was too critical towards myself and was fully pre- pared to change everything if she wasn’t satisfied. The first time she called me, I heard tears in her voice and a weight lifted from my heart. It was important to me that I’d elic- ited emotions in her. Joan was our associate on this project, guiding us through the scenes, and she was a great help to me, particularly in that segment when I had to de- pict all those women that she dis- guised herself as, both physical- ly and mentally, during robberies. Game of Thrones had been a cos- tume drama, but the costumes I wore for this series were the big- gest challenge of my career. I por- trayed five different people over the six episodes. This is the kind of role that every actor wishes for”. Did you manage to identify part of yourself in all those women? “I found inspiration in their strength, particularly the strength that Joan showed in confronting a problem that would break many people. The psychology of a moth- er, and everything she’s willing to do to protect her child, is unbeliev- able. That’s something I admire”.
crook who she’s madly in love with, she cares for the daughter that rep- resents her whole world. The Lon- don of the 1980s wasn’t a pleas- ant environment at all for a woman. She was ready to take life into her own hands and reshape it according to her own rules. And everything that followed has already become legendary”. Characters like her compel us to pick a side. Did you stand with or against her? “In order to decide which side to take, you need to know the mo- tives that push a person to do some- thing. Joan had the strongest mo- tive in the world – that of a mother who’s had her child taken away. So- cial services took Joan’s child from her. In order to get Kelly back, she needed money. Fate would have it that she would play an unusual game to steal something for which she harboured a hidden passion: di- amonds. After that first theft, we watch Joan’s total transformation, with this brave woman becoming a predator and shameless profession- al. Hannington went on to become the British underworld’s most suc- cessful female criminal”.
Series » Serija | 57
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