Our Royal Highness
With an unlikely road trip on the horizon and many an Oscar nomination in the rear view mirror, Olivia Colman’s journey continues to be long and winding and ever fruitful. Will Clempner looks back on the actor’s rise to royalty.
Every month we'll be teaming up with IMDb to bring you a guide to the work of some of your favourite British stars, whether that's behind or in front of the camera. This month, a look at Oscar-winning superstar Olivia Coleman as her new film Joyride arrives in cinemas.
Let’s all spare a thought for Olivia Colman’s mantelpiece. Already creaking under the weight of countless awards, and with no sign of the Oscar-winner slowing down, it’s only a matter of time until that shelf needs reinforcement. Colman comes from humble beginnings, but with a career as diverse as it is royal, she is undoubtedly one of Britain’s greatest working actors. First appearing on our screens over 20 years ago, Colman made a name for herself as a regular in classic Mitchell and Webb comedies, but has since proved she’s equally as comfortable making us laugh by sobbing in a wedding gown as she is wailing in 18th Century regal dress. But she’s also so much more than just her ability to have a breakdown on camera.
“This is hilarious. I got an Oscar!” quipped Colman as she stood clutching the golden statue for Best Actress in 2019 for her performance as Queen Anne in Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite. Those infamous words said with a true sense of disbelief give an undeniable glimpse into the humility and true British self-consciousness the world loves her for. Some might have thought from that point on we would see a very different Colman. But the gold didn’t go to her head.
Take Joyride, her latest offering. A charming, light-hearted romp through the rolling hills of Ireland with previously unheard of teenage co-star Charlie Reid. Everything about Joyride screams independent filmmaking, and with Colman cast as the titular Joy, it packs that typical emotional punch. Directed by Emer Reynolds, the film is a far cry from the high value productions of the likes of Marvel (yes, a Colman/Marvel collab is just around the corner), and is a perfect example of how she is staying true to her artistic integrity, well into the third decade of her career.
Indeed, it’s in small, independent films that Colman truly shines. Her ability to capture the conflicting feelings of a mother struggling with her newfound responsibilities, plotting to give away her daughter while slowly coming to terms with motherhood, is what makes Joyride so engaging. And to see one of the world’s biggest stars singing the Home and Away theme tune to the sound of a tin whistle while riding an Irish ferry is proof that Olivia Colman’s range is second to none.
With Joyride out this week, what better time to celebrate the royally diverse career of the nation’s favourite actress.
Comic Colman
Colman made her professional debut in 2000 in the short-lived BBC Two sketch show, Bruiser. As it only ran for six episodes, it wasn’t the work that thrust OC into the hearts of a nation. It was, however, a precursor to a professional relationship that would prove gold dust for the actor, as its writers, David Mitchell and Robert Webb, would go on to collaborate with Colman on a number of projects. Most notably, Peep Show.
The at-times absurd, consistently brilliant black comedy follows the inner thoughts of dysfunctional flatmates Mark (Mitchell) and Jez (Webb). Colman plays Sophie, Mark’s love interest, who is, inherently, a tragic character. Stuck in a dead-end job and eventually falling into a loveless marriage, the role allowed Colman to showcase her pitch-perfect comedic timing blended with a pathos so absorbing she frequently stole the show. Appearing from series one in 2003 all the way through to the show’s end in 2015, Colman ultimately decided to leave after her agent suggested she needed to “be open to different things”.
While Peep Show rumbled on, the actor proved she wasn’t to be boxed in by the constraints of a TV screen. One of her earliest film roles came in 2006, in the form of nudist Joanna Roberts in Debbie Isitt’s Confetti, something Colman later described as “the worst experience of my life” as a result of her feelings of “betrayal” by how much of her body was shown on camera. Colman has since moved on to bigger, better and more covered-up things.
The final entry into the annals of the Comic Colman chapter comes in 2007, with the incomparable Hot Fuzz. The Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg comedy about a high achieving police officer (Pegg) who gets sent to the sleepy village of Sandford. There, he finds walking sexual innuendo, PC Doris Thatcher (Colman). It’s by no means her biggest role, but it’s one that saw Colman stand shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the greatest British comedy filmmakers of the time, and one that allowed her to bring her own inimitable, idiosyncratic charm to the big screen.
Character-Actor Colman
2011 was a turning point for Colman. While continuing her work in TV (she won a BAFTA for her performance in the Olympic-themed comedy Twenty Twelve), she also exerted her dominance as a dramatic big screen actor. In Paddy Considine’s Tyrannosaur, a brutal, honest portrayal of masculinity and abuse, Colman truly shines as Hannah, giving a masterclass in realism and vulnerability. That same year, Colman took on her first real-life portrayal, as Margaret Thatcher’s daughter, Carol. Her The Iron Lady co-star, Meryl Streep, later called Colman “divinely gifted” while collecting a BAFTA for the film. Little did Streep know that Colman was only just getting started.
It’s in Roger Michell’s 2012 film, Hyde Park on Hudson, that Colman first portrayed royalty. She plays The Queen Mother in the WWII period drama, and considering the cast includes Laura Linney and Bill Murray, the fact that she stands out is a shining example of why Colman is perfectly made for films of that style. Her blend of royal seriousness and comic relief stands tall, and puts a stake in the ground as a pivotal moment in her career.
With award-winning roles in the likes of ITV’s Broadchurch, as well as unforgettable appearances in Fleabag, Flowers and The Night Manager, Colman never took her foot off the gas in the world of TV. And in 2015, we saw the beginnings of a collaboration that would catapult her to the heady-heights of the Hollywood elite. In Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, Olivia found the perfect director to draw out her unparalleled whimsy delivered with unfaltering sincerity. Her role may be relatively small in The Lobster, Lanthimos’s black comedy about a dystopian future where single people must couple up or face being turned into animals, but as the Hotel Manager she so poignantly personifies Lanthimos’s style of surrealism juxtaposed with raw emotion, that he would later re-cast her as the lead in his magnum opus.
Queen Colman
And thus began Colman’s reign at the very top of her game. She truly cemented herself as a Hollywood A-lister in Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express in 2017, a veritable who’s who of acting royalty. And in 2018 her partnership with Lanthimos would curtsy its way into Oscar-winning territory with The Favourite. As a continuation of Colman’s success in the realm of royal portrayals, some would argue her work as Queen Anne is the pinnacle. Her page-boy slapping, erratic Queen blends comedic timing and true-to-life dramatic pathos that is a perfect amalgamation of all her previous characters. The list of awards Colman won for the role is near endless, and undoubtedly placed her up there with some of the greatest actors to ever grace our screens.
As someone who clearly understands the impact of typecasting, Colman wasn’t deterred when the opportunity then arose to play yet another Queen, Elizabeth II, in seasons 3 and 4 of Netflix’s The Crown. And, staying true to her roots, the actor continues to take on TV roles that challenge her ability to blend comedy and drama, no less so than in Will Sharpe’s 2021 hit, Landscapers.
The films Colman has taken on since her Oscar win are an eclectic mix of art-house and psychological dramas, being nominated for further Academy Awards for both Florian Zeller’s The Father in 2020 and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter in 2021, proving that there truly is no role she can’t master. And with the announcement of her involvement in Marvel’s upcoming Disney+ series Secret Invasion and the long-anticipated Paul King film, Wonka, it seems like Olivia Colman’s mantelpiece is only going to need more support as time goes on.
Joyride is in cinemas from July 29.
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