“As a Millennial, I’m always slumped, and saying oh my god, but they don’t talk that way.”-Jasmin Savoy Brown
Jasmin Savoy Brown plays Emilia Bassano aka, The Dark Lady in the new TNT series, Will, based on the life of William Shakespeare. At the red carpet premiere of the show on Tuesday, Brown and fellow co-star, Olivia Dejonge took a moment to speak to The Knockturnal about the challenges they faced as being outnumbered by men on set, trying to play women from 16th century London and Hillary Clinton.
What do you want the audience to know about your role?
Brown: I want them to know she is a real person. In Shakespeare’s sonnets, he tells the story of The Dark Lady and how she inspired or wrote depending on who you ask, many of his greatest pieces and I’m excited for people to see this woman for who she was, and how she was so progressive of her time.
How did you find your inspiration?
Brown : A lot through her poetry, because a lot of it is available to read online for free which is amazing. And honestly Hillary Clinton, I got this part around the time of the election when the results were happening, and I remember just watching Hillary Clinton and everything she went through and even now she continues to persist, and it might sound funny but she reminds me a lot of my character Emilia. Because in a time when women weren’t allowed to do anything, what she believed in and what she wanted was to create art and to be able to creatively express herself, but she was constantly told no, no, no, but she persisted anyway. And I think that takes a strong woman yet also an emotional woman to do that. We see Hillary as this stoned faced woman because that is what she has to be in this men’s world. But at the core she cries alone, you know what I mean?
What was the most challenging part of playing this role?
Brown: The accent. I’ve had to do accents before, I had to do a middle eastern accent but it was nothing compared to the English accent. The accent and the posture, it was such a different time, and as a Millennial I’m always slumped, and saying oh my god, but they don’t talk that way and they don’t exist that way so it required a lot of coaching and training.
How did you hold it down as one of the main women in the cast?
Olivia Dejonge: It as super hard let me tell you. But I was very lucky, they are all beautiful humans and I didn’t feel out of place at all. I’m the youngest woman on the show and it was my first time living away from home and living overseas but they took me under their wing.
You play Alice Burbage, what do you want the audience to know about her?
Olivia Dejonge: She is beyond passionate about anything she loves and they should take inspiration from that and follow their dreams.
