Advertisement

Emily Mortimer on Writing, Directing, and Starring in The Pursuit of Love

Photo credit: Rich Fury - Getty Images
Photo credit: Rich Fury - Getty Images

When it comes to The Pursuit of Love, the three-part adaptation of Nancy Mitford’s beloved novel streaming on Amazon Prime beginning July 30, Emily Mortimer had her work cut out for her. Not only did Mortimer—and actress and writer known for appearing in series like The Newsroom and movies including The Bookshop—adapt the series for the screen, but she also directed it and played one of the story’s most memorable parts (The Bolter, a nickname earned by her habit of running off with the men who catch her eye).

But can you blame her? Pursuit would be hard not to get wrapped up in. After all, the brightly colored, deliciously witty, and pitch perfect adaptation—starring Lily James, Emily Beecham, Dominic West, and Andrew Scott, among others— is based on a book that’s not only captivated fans since its 1945 release but has been a favorite of Mortimer’s since her father (also a fan) introduced it to her when she was a child.

Photo credit: Amazon Studios
Photo credit: Amazon Studios

What was it like bringing the classic story of Britain’s eccentric upper class to the small screen? Here, Mortimer tells all to T&C.

Are you a longtime Pursuit of Love fan?

I read the book when I was young, and I have always been kind of fascinated. In England, it's not exactly required reading, but it's something that you kind of must have read if you're a reader. Whereas in America, I’ve found that Nancy Mitford is so much lesser known. So, I hope that there is a sort of discovery of Nancy that happens.

Why does Mitford’s work feel ripe for revisiting?

My dad, who was a writer, was obsessed by Evelyn Waugh; he had he adapted Brideshead Revisited for television in the 1980s. He was very interested in writers of that time, so he loved Waugh, Nancy Mitford, P. G. Wodehouse. I was brought up on a diet of all these books, and then also Ronald Fairbanks, who not many people have read. He would tell me that all these writers wrote the most brilliant dialogue, and that if you wanted to learn how to write dialogue, you should read these books. He also told me to read a book called Hons and Rebels, which is the book that I really remember, and was by Nancy's sister, Jessica. I never forgot it, how Jessica said her mother used to tear her hair out about how she was going to manage these unruly girls; she would make them sit down and write on a piece of paper how they would economize on a household on £200 a year and Nancy would always at the top of every page, write “£199 flowers.” I just love that story. And it stayed with me. It just stayed with me because it's just such a perfect sort of chic “fuck you” to the conventional wisdom about how a woman needs to be.

Photo credit: Amazon Studios
Photo credit: Amazon Studios

So, what made you want to adapt the story—let alone direct and act in it—for television?

I felt like there was something about that book that gave you such an insight into the madness of English manners and but was also very suspicious of the madness of English manners. Even if the book wasn't something that was burning a hole in my pocket from the minute I read it, it was very familiar world and it felt very much kind of connected to my dad. So, when I was approached and asked if I would do an adaptation of it, I was definitely very interested, but my first question was, “does the world need another piece of television about posh people in country houses,” it sort of seems like maybe there's been enough of that. But I reread the book and immediately felt in a way that I hadn't when I had read it the first time. It's not just kind of delicious and exciting and romantic, but it's really radical to me. It felt like a voice talking about what it is to be alive and what it is to be a woman, framed in a very absurd way with a total lack of earnestness, of fearlessness about being judged. I just loved it and I felt like the world does need this voice right now and I just mustn't fuck it up.

The story isn’t just surprisingly modern, it’s also told in a modern way. There’s a New Order song on the soundtrack and a sensibility that feels fresher than your garden-variety costume drama. Was that always the plan?

When I was writing the script, I didn't know I was going to direct it. When I was writing it, I was very kind of prescriptive and bossy about how I wrote it, and I realized retrospectively that it would have been quite hard for somebody to come in and direct it, given that I had been so controlling about the way I approached the screenwriting. For example, I had already put songs [into the script]; I had a song in there the first draft that we didn't end up being able to afford—Grace Jones’s version of “La Vie en Rose”—but I knew that felt right. To me, the book is a very rock and roll, I think it's got a punk-rock soul for many reasons and there's a wildness to it. I don't think it's a coincidence that the book resonates [with musicians]. There's a Marianne Faithfull song in there, and I got an email from Marianne Faithfull through our music supervisor when she asked for the rights, saying, “Yes, of course, and please tell Emily it's my favorite book.” I realized going along that it wasn't a mistake that I thought this was kind of a rock and roll story, because all these rock and rollers had obviously seen something in the book that spoke to them.

Photo credit: ullstein bild Dtl. - Getty Images
Photo credit: ullstein bild Dtl. - Getty Images

In addition to its sound, the series has such a distinctive look. What else inspired you?

I was very inspired by lots of things. I looked at lots of French New Wave movies. That's probably a terrible cliche, but I did; I looked at Agnes Varda movies, I looked at Jules et Jim, which you realize is a period film, but set in the 1960s. I wanted it to feel like it was a sort of French New Wave film that was about the 1930s. I also watched all of Sofia Coppola's movies again, because I love her, and I took a lot of inspiration from Marie Antoinette; actually, the New Order song is completely stolen from Marie Antoinette. It's a little homage to Sofia Coppola, because the way she dealt with period in that movie felt really exciting to me. I wanted this to be as entertaining for people to watch as it was for me to reread the book all these years later.

Photo credit: Robert Viglasky
Photo credit: Robert Viglasky

Do you feel satisfied with three episodes?

There’s so much more! There’s Love in a Cold Climate and there's Don't Tell Alfred, both books that directly relate to these characters and both fantastic novels. There's so much more, and there's so much room for Nancy, though I do feel that in England, where she's beloved, [her work] is kind of marginalized as chick-lit. And I think her writing is brilliant, I think it's as good as Evelyn Waugh.

If you hadn't initially planned to direct the series, had you planned to take a role in it? Or was playing The Bolter too delicious to give up?

I was planning to be The Bolter before I was planning to be the director, and then when I got the part of the director, I was like, “I can't be The Bolter, I have to resign.” But I wasn't allowed to; I kept trying to fire myself as The Bolter because it was really it was too much. I don't think I'm going to do that again in a hurry, trying to direct myself while wearing a ridiculous wig and running back and forth from the monitor to the sets and not knowing whether you're coming or going. It's too much, one's brain fries.


You Might Also Like