Olivia Colman has addressed her ‘regret’ after admitting hitting a child with a belt – and making another one cry.
TV and film star Olivia is currently starring in The Roses, alongside Benedict Cumberbatch. The black comedy – a remake of 1989 film The War of the Roses starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, and Danny DeVito – is currently the number one flick at cinemas in the UK.
As part of promotional activity for the release, Olivia Colman and her co-star have been interviewed by numerous news outlets. But when they were asked about whether they had been so vile (when scripted to be, in character) to another co-star they felt the need to apologise instantly, Oliva’s response may have raised a few eyebrows.
Olivia Colman on ‘belting child’
Appearing on Joshua Horowitz’s Happy, Sad, Confused recently, Olivia shared an anecdote from her experience on set for Les Misérables. Peep Show and Broadchurch star Oliva played Madame Thénardier in the 2019 BBC series.
The mum-of-three recalled: “I was meant to hit this little girl. She had padding down her back and I had a belt. I hit her once, half-heartedly, and I burst into tears. ‘I can’t do it, I can’t hit her.’”
She was hitting herself.
However, it seems the child may have been tougher than Olivia was expecting. Olivia went on with her story: ‘She was like: ‘No, do it, look, do it.’ And she was hitting herself.”
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‘I thought she was acting’
Additionally, Olivia also opened up about making a young girl weep with the ferocity of her performance.
Olivia continued: “There was also one little girl, who was the younger version [of the character], who didn’t speak English.
“She started to look like she was crying. And I went: ‘Oh, shut up,’ because I thought she was acting. But she actually started to cry. I went: ‘I’m so sorry!’ It was awful.”
In the comments section of the post that contained the clip of Olivia being interviewed on both Facebook and Instagram, there were users who seemed surprised by the Oscar-winning star’s response.
But amid the emojis shared online, many appeared tickled by the question and the answer.
“Ohh Olivia,” remarked on fan on Insta, also making use of a crying laughing emoji. “Best question ever, brilliant,” they added.
“This is probably one of the best questions I’ve heard someone ask. Brilliant,” agreed another.
A third person concurred: “Okay, this is SUCH a great question!”
But someone else wondered: “Why would the producers put children in such abusive scenes?”
Read more: Olivia Colman: Balancing family life with a stellar acting career
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