Interview with Essie Davis, Phoebe Fox and Ewen Bremner

Were you aware of Dylan Thomas and his work before you took on the role?

ED: It was a revelation to discover really that Caitlin was such a huge influence on most of the characters – on so many aspects of characters and relationships that he wrote about in Under Milk Wood - and the person he couldn’t wait to poison and the person he couldn’t wait to be between the legs of. In my extremely fast and intensive research, I learnt a lot.

PF: I had heard of him and I performed ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night’ at drama school as part of speech where we had to perform poetry, but apart from that I wasn’t really aware of him or his other poems. I had no idea of his early death and it was fascinating learning about all of that. It so could have been avoided, he died so unnecessarily. I often thought, 'what could this man have done if he had lived to a ripe old age?'

Can you describe your character and their relationship with Dylan Thomas?

ED: Caitlin was the love of his life, even though they helped destroy each other. She took up drinking to really be with him. She didn’t like beer, so she drank whiskey, which made her become an even greater alcoholic. I think they smashed each other’s heads and hit each other terribly and hurt each other emotionally all the time; but they really couldn’t live without each other as well.

EB: I thought John was a sensitive guy, very articulate, thoughtful and ambitious. Ambitious to make a mark on culture, and to do that he brought Dylan into the American conscience. That was his mission. As a poet himself he took that seriously. He did enjoy Dylan’s wildness but over time he became aware of it. He adored Dylan, but in my opinion it was more adoration than a real sexual lust or crush. From reading everything I could in preparation for the role I felt it was more adoration for the giddiness that was special about Dylan.

How did you find playing the role and working alongside Tom Hollander?

ED: I really loved working with Tom. You couldn’t have had a more perfect casting and more perfectly chosen actor to play Dylan. He managed to capture his frivolity and his darkness and his own self-loathing beautifully, and I loved working with him.

PF: It was great, we got on really well and we had a lot of fun. The stuff between us wasn’t that light so it was nice to have fun off set. He’s a great actor so it’s really great to work opposite him. It’s always fresh and new.

What was it like filming in Cardiff and Laugharne?

ED: It was fantastic going to Laugharne, being in Dylan and Caitlin’s actual home, and filming in their home. Also, having read their daughter’s (Aeronwy Thomas) book ‘My Father’s Places’ – it was so beautiful being in the house and being on the estuary and where they lived, knowing what they were talking about. It’s such a romantic location and it was just beautiful to be there.

How did you find playing your character, was it difficult given the subject matter?

ED: We were fortunate that our part of the story had little tiny snippets of love in it. It wasn’t just about the atrocities at the end of their relationship. It was about how painful their love was. I went to visit their graves which are together in Laugharne and I felt like we had served Dylan and Caitlin, we had done it for them really. Although it was a lovely group of people to work with, it was a tough role to play, and quite brutal. There were times when I was standing crying on the steps at lunch time saying “why am I playing this role?” You put yourself through a lot, especially when a character is going through so much emotionally and so much physically. There was a lot of physical violence and it was tough – but I am really glad I did it.

PF: Yes and no. I found the last day of filming I did were the scenes right at the end where Dylan was in hospital, and I spent the day having to watch Essie do this massive breakdown, which is utterly harrowing. It was quite sad because I was saying goodbye to the character and the job, whilst acting out saying goodbye to Dylan Thomas as Liz. So that was hard. Although Liz was in dark circumstances, she wasn’t a very dark character. She didn’t have a lot of demons herself, so I didn’t find it as hard as some other characters I have played.

Could you sympathise with your character, do you feel she had to put up with a lot being in Dylan’s life?

PF: Absolutely, Liz stuck by him through thick and thin even though she was perfectly aware that he wasn’t in love with her really. He was in love with his wife, Caitlin. Liz was just so loyal to him and it was because she was so in love with him that she just stuck through it. She was his rock in America.

What did Dylan’s wife Caitlin think of John?

EB: Understandably Caitlin was so territorial about Dylan. She was going to deal with any threat to her jurisdiction. That was her priority and he was her priority. People like John were threats. That’s my opinion anyway.

How did you find the American accent?

EB: It’s a bit anxiety-inducing when starting on a production, but generally once underway and after a few weeks you start to relax, although this was such a short shoot (three weeks) I barely had time to relax too much.