Down(ton) and dirty! Jessica Brown Findlay swaps polite society for a group of murderous wreckers in Jamaica Inn
She made her name as the elegant Lady Sybil in Downton Abbey, but now Jessica Brown Findlay is getting down and dirty for her new leading role in the small screen adaption of Daphne Du Maurier’s Jamaica Inn.
The actress plays the headstrong Mary Yellan in the period drama that follows a group of murderous wreckers how take down ships and steal their loot in early 18th century Cornwall.
Jessica, who recently starred in A New York Winter’s Tale with Colin Farrell, says she was excited to step away from the ‘fluffy, girly, boring stuff’ of the period genre.
A far cry from Downton Abbey: Jessica Brown Findlay (pictured) takes the lead role in a new BBC adaptation of Jamaica Inn
‘The thing that struck me immediately and was really refreshing is that it was a story where the lead was a heroine, a woman,’ Findlay Brown told the Telegraph.
‘But you could just as easily give her a male name and the story could stay the same. It’s not just fluffy, girly, boring stuff.’
As 23-year old Mary, who is taken in by her brutal uncle Joss and ghost-like Aunt Patience after her mother dies, Jessica says she refused to wear any make-up during the production: ‘I wasn’t fussed at all. It would be ridiculous if everything else was as it was, and I had perfect make up.’
Mary Yellan: Brown Findlay plays an orphaned girl taken in by her brutal uncle and ghostly aunt in this 19th century tale
Classic: Jamaica Inn is a novel written by celebrated author Daphne Du Maurier
She also said it was fantastic to be in a production where the story was ‘written by an incredible woman, adapted by an incredible woman, and directed by an incredible woman’.
Philippa Lowthorpe, is in the director’s chair and has also worked on Call the Midwife.
‘I think all period dramas should just be dramas, and word period dropped. For me it’s real people, with real passion and real faults,’ she told the audience at a special preview of the show.
Sean Harris, Shirley Henderson and Matthew McNulty also star.
English set: Jamaica Inn was filmed on location in Cornwall, as well as Yorkshire and Cumbria during the seven-week production
Inspirational: The legendary Jamaica Inn pub, which inspired Daphne du Maurier's 1936 tale of murderous wreckers, has sold for £2million. The price is more than 40 times what the current owners paid for it in 1973
The three-part series was produced by David Thompson, who is known for his work on Mandela: The Long Walk To Freedom and the BBC’s Death Comes To Pemberley.
‘It’s so hard to find a love story set in the contemporary setting because there’s so much less at stake,’ the Telegraph reports. ‘What you get in the period stories is you have a number of impediments, which is what you’ve got here.’
Jamaica Inn was filmed on location in Cornwall, as well as Yorkshire and Cumbria during the seven-week production.
Sean Harris, Shirley Henderson and Matthew McNulty also star.
No make-up: Jessica went without any cosmetics when shooting the period drama
Floating free: Jessica Brown Findlay as a scruffy heiress in her new film, A New York Winter's Tale
Jessica (right) has revealed she is delighted to be free of the stays and corsetry of Downton Abbey
The smugglers' retreat that inspired Daphne du Maurier's bestselling tale of murderous wreckers has sold for a staggering £2million.
The Jamaica Inn pub, situated on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, was bought by businessman Allen Jackson for more than 40 times what the current owners paid for it four decades ago.
Jamaica Inn will be broadcast on the BBC during its Easter programming, over three consecutive nights to be announced.
Film scene: Charles Laughton is pictured starring in Alfred Hitchcock's 1939 version of Jamaica Inn
Adaptation: Jane Seymour (left) starred in the TV version of Jamaica Inn, based on du Maurier's (right) book
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2594072/Jessica-Findlay-Brown-swaps-polite-society-group-murderous-wreckers-Jamaica-Inn.html#ixzz2xf3ylTgF
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