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Who can say that they were once a princess, became a revered army general and took on the mantle of US President?
Robin Wright, that’s who.
One of the most celebrated actresses of all time, she’s starred in celebrated films including Forrest Gump, The Princess Bride and Wonder Woman, and won a Golden Globe for her performance as Claire Underwood in House of Cards.
So when I sat down with her over Zoom to talk about her ‘tantalising’ new Amazon Prime thriller, The Girlfriend, for Metro, I wasn’t expecting the conversation to begin with us both squealing over her new puppy.
‘Are you having a good day?’ I asked her casually, screaming on the inside over the fact that I was speaking to someone I’ve looked up to since I was a child.
‘Great day, I just got a puppy yesterday. He’s right here at my feet, and he’s so tiny!’ she shared, before picking up the 10-week-old puppy and brandishing his cuddly tummy for the camera.
More from Metro on Amazon Prime's The Girlfriend
Certainly not the start I was predicting for an interview centred around a dark psychological drama, in which she plays Laura, a successful woman whose growing paranoia over her son’s new girlfriend Cherry (played by House of the Dragon’s Olivia Cooke) gradually shatters her life.
As masterfully as Robin plays Laura, she wasn’t originally planning on appearing in the series. As well as being one of the lead cast members, the 59-year-old is also an executive producer and directed three of the six episodes.
She is an undisputed pioneer of the entertainment industry, recently speaking out about the pay disparity that she experienced while working on House of Cards opposite Kevin Spacey.
To think that it’s been almost 40 years since Robin’s breakthrough, when she portrayed Princess Buttercup in the universally beloved classic The Princess Bride, is mind-boggling.
‘I love it. It’s such a great original film, and it is an iconic piece. So was the book,’ she said of the 1987 movie.
Robin praised the ‘great’ William Goldman, who wrote the book on which the film was based and worked with director Rob Reiner on creating the adaptation.
‘William and Rob translated it beautifully, because he just has a knack for tongue-in-cheek, wry humour.’
Referencing the unforgettable line repeatedly uttered by Cary Elwes’ character Westley in the fantastical tale, she added: ‘There hasn’t been anything like it. People come up and go, “As you wish.”‘
It’s a rare feat to star in multiple films that people could quote at the drop of a hat. Seven years after Robin gave audiences a fairytale ending, she played a far more heartbreaking role, as Jenny in Forrest Gump, opposite Tom Hanks.
‘Run Forrest, run!’ Jenny shouts at Forrest near the start of the film, before she leaves their hometown of Greenbow in an attempt to escape the trauma of her childhood.
While fans of the film are fair to criticise Jenny for the way she treats the pure-hearted Forrest, I will always defend her.
Who am I to judge a woman who’s been repeatedly abused throughout her life, and then pushes someone away because she thinks that she doesn’t deserve their love? I could never imagine walking a day in her shoes.
‘That’s a character that is just looking for love in all the wrong places, and it’s always been right in front of her face. She realises that at the end,’ Robin remarked.
As if I wasn’t already amazed by Robin’s acting prowess, along came Wonder Woman in 2017.
I’ve been a diehard superhero fan for as long as I can remember… but when I went to see Wonder Woman in the cinema for the first time, there was a special moment that I’ll never forget.
Near the start of the film, German soldiers invade the island of Themyscira, where Diana (Gal Gadot) and her fellow Amazonians live. To fight them off, the Amazonians line up on the cliff, before descending on ropes with their bows and arrows. General Antiope (Robin) then follows on horseback, her muscles rippling as she joins the fight with a determined grin.
I realised there and then that this was the most moving depiction of fearsome female warriors that I’d ever seen, especially with a female director (Patty Jenkins) at the helm. I remember my throat becoming constricted and my eyes welling up with tears.
I felt extremely grateful that I could tell Robin just how much that scene meant to me, before asking her if it had a similarly emotional impact on her.
‘Huge,’ she answered. ‘We all trained weeks before we started shooting every day of the week. We went to weight training, and the diet was insane.
‘We had to ingest like 3,500 calories of food a day, so you’re constantly doing smoothies in between your three meals. We had martial arts training and horse training, being able to ride a horse and pull a bow and arrow. It was full on.
‘I was in the best shape of my life, and I turned 50 on that movie. I was like, god – I’ll never be in that kind of shape again. It was amazing.’
Now, in The Girlfriend, Robin is caught in a different kind of battle – one of wits and cunning, as her character Laura goes head to head with Olivia Cooke’s Cherry, a formidable opponent vying for her son’s affections.
While they might go for each other’s throats on screen, Robin and Olivia got on like a house on fire behind the cameras, she revealed.
‘It was so much fun. We giggled. She’s a team player, and such a pro,’ Robin said of her 31-year-old co-star.
‘I said, “Olivia Cooke would be my dream for Cherry, but she’ll never do it.” Got on a Zoom with her, and within five minutes, we totally got along.
‘I said, “I want to collaborate with you as actors, and we will play, and we will develop and create things and hype it up, just amp it out, and make it delicious and shocking.” It was a hoot.’
That ‘hoot’ has translated into a thriller that TV fans cannot stop talking about. It’s currently still sitting pretty in the Amazon Prime top 10, over a week after all six episodes dropped.
There might be an icky mother-son relationship between Laura and Daniel (Laurie Davidson) in the show, but audiences still can’t get enough of this captivating drama.
Robin explained that she was drawn to the ‘dual perspective’ aspect of The Girlfriend, as some scenes are shown twice – once from Laura’s perspective, and a second time from Cherry’s, with notable differences.
‘You think someone looked at you with a frown, and the person says, “No, I didn’t. I was squinting from the sun, smiling at you.” These things happen in life all the time,’ she explained.
‘Did the person say it in that tone? It’s a subjective thing. It’s the way you received it. It’s the way you saw it. Was it necessarily the way it happened? Not necessarily, and that’s what the show is about.’
The Girlfriend is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
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