Seems that the first Queen Elizabeth had a lady-in-waiting named Bess Throckmorton who was younger, prettier and who was able to party with the royal courtiers while the frustrated Queen had to behave. In Elizabeth: The Golden Age, a sequel to 1998’s Elizabeth, the luminous Cate Blanchett is again the virgin queen but Bess is played by pretty young Aussie actress Abbie Cornish. Abbie came from a farm in New South Wales to model as a 13-year-old then co-star in an Aussie soap at age 15. She played a sex-addicted teen in the racy film Somersault and co-stared with Heath Ledger in Candy, a movie about a drug-addicted young couple. You can see her next year in Stop Loss, the film that started all those rumors about her and actor Ryan Phillippe.
When we chatted with Abbie recently near Rodeo Drive, we learned that she always researches her characters thoroughly and had fun wearing period costumes in Golden Age. Her modern, all black outfit for the interview consisted of a pieces by Rebecca Taylor, Calvin Klein and Yves St. Laurent; pants with belt and a blouse with long lace sleeves. Blonde Abbie wore several rings, including a lovely turquoise one on her ring finger. We got the scoop on how a modern girl transforms into a 17th century woman, how Abbie developed a relationship with Cate and hey, what was it like dancing with hot Clive Owen [who plays a very dashing Sir Walter Raleigh]?
TeenHollywood: When you learned you were going to get the part, did you research the period and did you learn about the real Bess?
Abbie: Yeah. I really wanted to know about the real Bess. I felt that it was very important to create some sense of connection to her and it’s difficult because not an extensive amount is written about Bess but I gathered the bits that I could. We had an historian on board, and [I was] just questioning him about little things. About how do I stand when she walks in? Does she kneel? How far down does she bow? And all these little things I guess.
TeenHollywood: Was there anything you learned that really got to you?
Abbie: Well, the most interesting thing, and the most creative insight for me into Bess came in a portrait. I found this portrait of her in a book which just pushed through the image and went straight through me. And it’s difficult because there are no real photographs of a person around that time so you have to rely on an artist’s interpretation. But there was something I felt was coming through this portrait and so I got it blown up really big. These people put it in my trailer and so I would see her when I came in, when I left, and I would check in with her. Bess didn’t have blue eyes in the film, but [the portrait had] these very blue, very open, almost ocean-like eyes and there was this slight smile on her face but the lips were pursed so here was a happiness and contentment, a sort of a givingness to the moment but a constriction. There was something about her that was dreaming of something outside of that moment. And so that I felt affected me.
TeenHollywood: Do you feel that it’s easy for you to really get into the era and the character when you are in costume?
Abbie: I think it does make a difference. I found, unexpectedly actually, that the costumes for me became key to who to Bess was. It was a passionate feeling about her life at that particular point in time. The first week on set of wearing the corset, I felt very restricted and I felt I couldn’t breathe property. I didn’t have my full lung capacity and I actually felt a little bit miserable and I started wonder, ‘Wow, this woman has one of the most prestigious jobs in the court and she has beautiful clothes, beautiful jewellery and yet she can’t breathe properly. There’s a lack of freedom’. And that got me thinking, you know. ‘How does she feel?’ There’s an exterior and then there’s an interior which is quite constraining. There’s a feeling of constraint and restriction there.
TeenHollywood: What was your favourite costume?
Abbie: My favorite is the pink costume. You don’t see it for very long but at the very end where the Queen comes in and says ‘Are you with child?’ And she says ‘Yes, my husband’s child’. The pink one. I just love it.
TeenHollywood: That was beautiful. There is a great dance scene with Clive Owen in front of the queen. He lifts you waaay up in the air. Was that fun?
Abbie: [grins] Yeah that was really fun. It was interesting learning that dance. The first day I was like ‘Do we have to do the real thing today?’ because, in your own clothes, it’s really different than when you’re in this whole outfit with layers and layers of material. I was kind of a little bit shy and it’s very physical and upfront but on the day it’s a different thing. You get into that world and that sense of the court. It was fun learning that.
TeenHollywood: You’re among quite a few young Australian actresses finding fame in the film business. Are you concerned about what fame will do to your personal life?
Abbie: I just spend a lot of time with my friends and with my family. I love them very much and I think that when you are close to them and in touch with them then, ultimately, my time spent outside of working is that. That’s the focus for me.
TeenHollywood: Bess was not only was a close confidante of Elizabeth but, in the film, someone she could be friends with, yet keep some distance. How did you work on that relationship?
Abbie: For me there was always a sense that Bess is very good at what she does to be in that position. But I always felt like the true Bess protected herself. I always felt that her inner child was kept underneath the corset. And there were many dreams and thoughts that she had which I don’t think she freely expresses to the Queen. The Queen has a sense of them because she is human. There was a separation. Bess’s involvement with the Queen was first and foremost work, and second of all compassion and love. But there’s only a certain extent that you can give over to that love and compassion when, at the end of the day, they can behead you or send you off into the outer world, which at that point in time was a completely different life. So I think there was an attachment but also a sense of self.
TeenHollywood: Yeah. Hard to be BFFs with a woman who can have you killed! It did look like you and Cate were having fun in your scenes. When you met, did you two hit it off?
Abbie: Cate’s an incredible woman and an incredible actress first of all. There was a very comfortable feeling from me towards Cate, both professionally and personally. She’s very focused and I felt that she had this tremendous amount of work to do in relation to her own character and her own performance. She was always aware of everyone else around her and particularly for me, I felt there was a watchful eye over my character, over scenes and the dialogue and it was nice to have that there.
TeenHollywood: You were in two Aussie films Somersault and Candy, now this and coming out Stop Loss. Has it been a whirlwind? Can you talk a bit about those films?
Abbie: Stop Loss [out next year] I filmed in Texas at the end of last year, actually straight off the back of The Golden Age which was an interesting change. I literally made that change within a week. It was interesting to do a contemporary piece, a very Texan sort of country girl dealing with this war we have going on and our involvement, whether it be direct or indirect, with that war. As soon as I read the script, I knew I had to do that [film]. September 11 was a big event for me. In my generation, this is the biggest world wide war that we’ve seen.
TeenHollywood: When you first started out in Somersault, did you see it as a stepping stone to a big career?
Abbie: No not at all. I had no idea. When went into Somersault, meaning the rehearsals and the shoot, I really felt like I stepped into this strange little creative bubble. That’s as hard as I’ve really worked on a film and as focused as I’ve ever been. At that time, I was really completely within it. I was actually really surprised when I got the phone calls about the [various] awards and phone calls about [film] festivals. It was from the outside. And I never though of that stuff, no.
TeenHollywood: What are you doing next?
Abbie: I’m doing a film called Bright Star with [director] Jane Campion next year. I play Fanny Brawne who is, in a sense I guess, really [Keats'] life love. But they were never allowed to marry. He died really young, he was 25. And her parents wouldn’t let him marry her because he was broke, you know; a poet. Keats is played by Ben Wishaw.
