The actor was once called too much of a ‘runt’ to make it, but now stars in Sharon Horgan’s much-anticipated dark comedy Bad Sisters. She talks misogyny, haters and Ray Winstone as Henry VIII
Anne-Marie Duff is extremely precise. Ask her a question, and she will take great lengths to make sure her delivery is spot on, pausing for epochs to get a phrase exactly right. Even though she’s famously shy, the beam of her concentrated attention makes our conversation in a central London hotel feel intimate – despite taking place in one of those artificial environments where actors gather looking sleek and shoot-ready. Sure, all actors have to inhabit the moment, but not many do that in an interview. Then again, she does have plenty to concentrate on: we’re here to talk about Bad Sisters, the new Sharon Horgan drama – specifically, why it’s so strikingly good.
“That’s Sharon’s writing, isn’t it?” Duff says. “She’s so brilliantly irreverent and funny, and cheeky. And, at the same time, full of emotional truth and compassion, and sometimes devastating heartbreak. All in a breath.” If she had her way, Duff would talk exclusively about other people and how great they are. We’re chatting while she’s glammed up for our photoshoot, giving off a doughty, that’s-the-job vibe, conveying that this level of groomed isn’t really her scene. Throughout, she manages to get at least 50 paeans (to the whole cast of Bad Sisters, Shameless, the rest of her CV, plus people doing things nothing to do with her – Steve McQueen, Lena Dunham, Suranne Jones) under the wire, however much I try to wrestle the topic back to her.
