Follow us on Google News
Get the latest updates directly in your Google News feed
Olivia Cooke has become quite a critically acclaimed actress ever since she starred inHouse of the Dragon. It was as though playing the role of Alicent Hightower made the world realize just how talented she was. However, years before getting this role, she proved her worth and talent in less saturated projects. Occasionally, she would also star in something that would get her a lot of attention.
In 2018, that happened to be Steven Spielberg’sReady Player One. The film adapted a classic piece of literature by Ernest Cline and became quite iconic in many ways. With a critic rating of 72% onRotten Tomatoes, it brought about an interesting twist to the sci-fi genre.
During an interview, Cooke revealed what it was like for her to work with a high-profile director like Spielberg when she was still green in the film industry.
Steven Spielberg’s Presence Made Olivia Cooke Up Her Game
Steven Spielberghas gained a reputation as one of the greats of Hollywood. He has had twenty-two Oscar nominations and won three over the years, making him one of the most critically acclaimed directors of all time. It is safe to say that starring in one of his movies as a protagonist as a fresh actor comes with a lot of pressure.
During an interview withCollider,Olivia Cookerevealed what it was like for her to work with the filmmaker, being fairly new to the industry when it comes to her fame. Even though she had starred in several projects by that time, she seemed to still have the need to prove herself when she was starring inReady Player One, which happened to backfire on her.
On the first day with Steven, we were doing motion capture, so I had my helmet on, which has four cameras and two lights, and I had all the dots above my face and I was in motion-capture gear. Mark Rylance was there, on the first day, as well, and we had a few scenes with him, and I was trying to do this really nuanced performance. I was really trying to impress.
“Son, come here! Come on to the bosom!”: Olivia Cooke Has a Hard Time With Her House of the Dragon Role That’s Only Getting Worse in Season 2
The actress revealed that during the motion-capture aspects of filming, she wanted to be subtle with her acting. She wanted to focus on non-verbal cues that the audience needed to pay attention to in order to understand what her character was feeling.
Olivia Cooke’s Strategy Backfired
Such forms of acting are often praised by the industry, and thinking that to be her key to impressing Steven Spielberg,Olivia Cookegave it her all, being as calculated as she could about her expressions. However, it would seem that this is not what the film needed from her.
After shooting some takes, with a helmet on, cameras pointing at her face, and dots all over, she was approached by Spielberg, who told her something that she, perhaps, did not want to hear,
He came up to me and was like, “You’re gonna have to be bigger because I can’t see on the footage what you’re doing with your face.” And I was like, “Okay, I’ll be bigger.”
The Appalling Fate of One ‘Game of Thrones’ Actor Makes Olivia Cooke’s Fears Before Joining ‘House of the Dragon’ Sound Justified
While her approach would have worked under any other circumstances, motion capture seemed to have a weakness to it. It would seem that her expressions were so subtle that the technology that was turning her face into a game character, was not able to capture what she was emoting. Rather than being more impactful, she came off as expressionless.
Noting this, Speilberg approached Cooke and told her that she needed to be grander and bigger with her performance so that it could be better translated into the other medium. Understanding what went wrong, the actress took the new approach and gave an excellent performance.
It is safe to say that when Cooke was playing Art3mis, her character was extremely expressive, and her feelings were written on her face in the best ways possible.
Ready Player Oneis available for streaming on Max.
Ananya Godboley
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2219
Ananya Godboley is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, majorly focusing on TV shows, with over 2,000 articles published. She has been an entertainment journalist for the past two years. Currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in psychology from K.R. Mangalam University, Ananya also likes to fangirl as a full-time job. She covers news and analyses on anything from Rick and Morty to Hannibal and even Arcane. In between these lines, she also enjoys superheroes and Taylor Swift.A philosophy enthusiast, Ananya enjoys digging deeper into the media she consumes, trying to understand the root of her favorite characters' behavior.
