The Pursuit of Love Star Emily Beecham on The Costume Drama as a "Trojan Horse"
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Emily Beecham didn't expect to find a character nearly a century old to be quite so relatable, but that's just what happened when the actress (who you know from Cruella and Into the Badlands) took the part of Fanny Logan in The Pursuit of Love, the adaptation of Nancy Mitford's beloved novel (written and directed by Emily Mortimer) streaming now on Amazon. "There are so many interesting parallels to it [in contemporary times]," Beecham tells T&C, "and I don't think many things have changed."
Beecham's Fanny stands in for the viewer in the series (and the book before it), calmly observing the aristocratic, eccentric Radlett family, a sanitized and fictionalized version of Mitford's own infamous brood. And she does a brilliant job; in Mortimer's colorful, sharp, and enchantingly intelligent adaption, Beecham goes toe to toe with Lily James (as Fanny's glamorous, tragic, and headstrong cousin Linda) and helps steady a story that could have become country-estate camp, but is instead a fascinating meditation on gender, class, love, friendship, power, and the meaning of life.
Here, Beecham tells T&C about how she got into character, and what the secret messages Mitford's story delivers truly are.
What was your relationship to The Pursuit of Love before making the series?
I had read the book a long time ago, but to be honest, I had to reread it to remember again. I received an email that Emily Mortimer had written and adapted a series and was directing it, and that Lily James, Andrew Scott, and Dolly Wells were attached, so I read for it. And then I went in to talk to Emily, which was such a treat because I've loved Emily for so long. I've loved her work as an actress and always found her to be very honest, candid, and funny. She was really perfect for the series, because she's so open when you talk about the characters and everything they're going through and about herself, so she really brought Fanny and Linda to life. Both of their journeys were so important to her, and there was always something interesting and juicy and relatable that she could find about it. It really wasn't a job I ever had to think about; everything was just really to die for.
What makes now a good time to revisit this story, which is nearly 100 years old?
Obviously, freedoms for women have become a little bit better, but I think there is still that conflict, certainly about being a woman and your identity and the kind of messages that you receive about who you really are expected to be. Fanny in particular doesn't really have any options in her life, and Linda makes her own choices, but then gets vilified and ostracized. The story is timeless; it's really about identity and it's also about love and friendship, but also the push and pull as your lives evolve.
This series is definitely a period piece, but it also has modern touches. What did you do to prepare to tell this kind of story, but to do it with a wink?
Something Lily, Emily, and I discussed a lot was that we wanted the series to feel timeless but have an immediacy so people don’t feel distanced by the idea of it being a drama. We just didn't want to make it feel like a pretty, buttoned-in period drama, we wanted it to feel almost unpredictable and to be exciting. It’s a Trojan horse. It’s all gorgeous and has all of those great things, but you don't immediately realize the subtext and the depth that Nancy Mitford has, and also her wicked, very intelligent humor.
Was there anything—costumes, the sets—that was most helpful to you in getting into character?
The costumes really helped us, and our costume designer Sinéad Kidao was great. The clothing was very restrictive in that time, which does really help because it's kind of irritating, itchy, and tight. And that's how the girls feel in a way: they can't run around, they can't do the same things as the men, so they naturally feel a bit buttoned-in, so, wearing the costumes, you want to kind of tug it off a little
Could you see there being more to Fanny’s story? Nancy Mitford did write more novels.
Absolutely. I would love to keep going with it. When you do a series and then you have time away from it, you get to know that character as a person and you'll start to love those characters and then you can build on that. I hope Emily will come back and be able to direct it and adapt those other books, but we will see.
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