DOMINIC Cooper, speaking at a London press conference, talks about playing Charles Grey in The Duchess and why shooting in real locations was a big help.

Q. Aside from Amanda Foreman’s novel, I’d imagine there was plenty of material for you to research your character and gain a greater understanding of him?
Dominic Cooper: There was a wealth of material on the back of a Twinings tea box, which is where I did my research [laughs]. And some other stuff as well. He was a fantastic person to investigate, I don’t think I was aware even that he became Prime Minister. He was Prime Minister in our country for four years. But he was a fantastic person to discover and realise how passionate and enthusiastic a young politician he was. And how he was able to put everything on the line for the love of his life… that he didn’t eventually get!

Q. Did shooting in real locations help?
Dominic Cooper: I always think when you enter those buildings it’s the feeling of what those walls have seen and what those buildings have been through. It’s always very difficult, you go and do your research and you look at these wonderful 18th Century paintings and you can understand that these people existed but it’s always hard to truly, truly believe that and not make them too stilted. But when you go into the actual building, you really get a sense of them and a feeling of it. It’s like the research of going into the Houses of Parliament and really feeling the history there and the changes in that building that have been made to our country, the decisions that have been made in there.

Those buildings in a way give you what a costume does, after you’ve done all the research and all the work on the scenes, you then suddenly enter all these incredible spaces and it’s like when you’ve finally talked your costume through and you slip that on and you put the shoes on after the work has been done you really feel the part. It’s an incredible sensation. And also places that you’d never ever go and see for some reason, sadly, but luckily get the experience to when you’re doing a job like this, it’s great.

Q. Do you feel extra pressure playing real people as opposed to fictional characters?
Dominic Cooper: It’s much more terrifying to try and play someone that’s actually alive now, that’s more difficult.

Read our review of The Duchess

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