Glass listens to Cherry Jones in conversation with Michelle Dockery

US actor CHERRY JONES turns inquisitor in this conversation with her friend and colleague MICHELLE DOCKERY, whose latest screen appearance sees her in a gripping court drama involving a UK politician accused of rape.

Michelle Dockery is one of those actors whose otherworldly ability and deep anchored passion for performance has been her sword and shield since she was a young girl. Her career spans close to two decades, starting out on stage at London’s National Theatre and becoming a regular fixture on the big and the small screen.

Best known for her role as Lady Mary Crawley in ITV’s Downton Abbey (2010–2015, with the film, Downton Abbey: A New Era, to be released this year) her portrayal garnered global attention and copious award nominations.

Not straying too far from performing, the actor is turning to music with Michael Fox, who together, are set to take to our ears with their debut EP in May, cementing her preternatural ability to flourish on any stage. For this issue of Glass, Dockery speaks to her great friend, the American actor and five-time Tony Award nominee Cherry Jones. The two discuss Dockery’s latest project –playing lawyer Kate Woodcroft in the upcoming Netflix drama series Anatomy of a Scandal– and the early stages of her career, as well as the current focus on female-led narratives.

Michelle Dockery Glass 49Michelle Dockery. Photographer: Rokas Darulis

Cherry: Having just watched you in Anatomy of a Scandal, as an actress, I actually want to be playing with you as Kate Woodcroft.

Michelle: I took a lot of inspiration from working with you on Defending Jacob [American TV court drama, 2020] –though they are very different types of courtrooms; we didn’t get to move around [because of the way the UK courtroom is arranged].

Cherry: You didn’t get to perform like shameless US lawyers [laughs].

Michelle: I was quite sad that I couldn’t walk the court. There’s a different challenge in trying to make each question and each part of the interrogations interesting because you can’t just gesticulate quite as much. I slightly underestimated that before going into it because you’re just in one place.

Cherry: But being restrained served Woodcroft’s character beautifully in that courtroom because, as the audience, we get to see each attack, and each attack is so different. But no matter how distressed you are, the new tactic is so clear and so strong. As an actress, what was it like putting on that barrister’s wig for the first time?

Michelle: It was amazing because we got to go to Ede & Ravenscroft, where every barrister gets fitted in London for their garb. The first time I put that robe on and put the wig on, it felt like putting on the weight of the law, which is the only way I can describe it. People kind of react to you differently as well. We have scenes where you’re walking down those corridors. And when you’re in that authoritative dress, people move out the way a little more for you. Or there’s this sense of power. I think some people can kind of make fun of those wigs but, actually, there’s such a sense of status and the law when you put them on.

Michelle Dockery Glass 49Michelle Dockery. Photographer: Rokas Darulis

Michelle Dockery Glass 49Michelle Dockery. Photographer: Rokas Darulis

Michelle Dockery Glass 49Michelle Dockery. Photographer: Rokas Darulis

Michelle Dockery Glass 49Michelle Dockery. Photographer: Rokas Darulis

Cherry: Not giving anything away with your [Kate Woodcroft’s] backstory, sometimes as actors it’s not quite as important to have one because it’s so in the present, but with this, it’s deep.

Michelle: She has a deep backstory which the audience eventually discovers. Prior to knowing more about her, every scene that she is in there is something going on which relates to her past. The backstory was incredibly important for me to always have in the back of my mind. There is an advantage to having the book that you can delve into and there’s so much that you can gather, but it’s about keeping it in your head all the time – who you are and what your past means.

Cherry: It’s just a fantastic cast, the way you all work together. And it’s so important to this script that you are each represented so well. Did you get to spend much time together.

Michelle: We did a little. The most time we spent together was in the courtroom. Sienna [Miller] and I, our characters don’t really meet until much later on. We did a scene very early on and then sort of top and tailed, and then we depart at the end in the courtroom. She was always upstairs above me. Every morning I’d walk in and put on my wig and then she’d be like, “Morning Michelle” and I’d be waving up to her in the gallery.

And of course, due to Covid-19, the restrictions were really strong. At the time, we had the pod system with this plastic wall between you and the other actors. It’s such a social world that we work in, so it was the first job where it was quite a different experience. But for me in those courtroom scenes, it was vital because I couldn’t get too distracted. I had to really stay in the zone before those big scenes, so in some ways that isolation was helpful.

Michelle Dockery Glass 49Michelle Dockery. Photographer: Rokas Darulis

Cherry: Because she’s so isolated and I know how chatty you are.

Michelle: I had to go into my shell a little more on this. It was necessary for the part.

Cherry: I have a quick story about that party that we left at, like, four o’clock in the morning, where we went from the woods of Massachusetts back to the Burlington Mall parking lot. We were both exhausted and ready to fall asleep in the back of this car that we were going to be in for 30 minutes to get back to civilisation. And this gentleman [the driver of the car], we asked him one question and he went into this breathless rant about his life. He didn’t even come up for air, and I started drifting off because I was just desperately tired and I fell asleep listening to you going [in a soft voice] “Oh, oh no. Really?” I thought, Michelle Dockery is a fine girl. She is the best. There’s not a set in America or the UK that isn’t happy to see you coming on.

Michelle: [laughs] I should have probably had a nap with you in that cab.

Cherry: I want to add that the moment I had a sense of jealousy was having watched you on Downton Abbey, then Godless [TV mini-series, 2017] and then the first shot of Anatomy of a Scandal, [which] is you from overhead in that barrister’s wig. I thought “oh my God, what a career”. You seem to lead projects that seem to be very female-centric, like when you think about Downton, it’s the women you remember. It was the same with Godless and the same with Anatomy.

Michelle Dockery Glass 49Michelle Dockery. Photographer: Rokas Darulis

Michelle: Yes, absolutely. You’re so right about Downton because we should celebrate that more. Julian [Fellowes, creator of Downtown Abbey] writes so well for women. I’m really proud to be involved in shows that are so female driven. Of course, [Anatomy of a Scandal] is the fall of a politician, his world has been imploded – David E Kelley [the co-writer] is so good at this; think of Big Little Lies [2017 TV series created by Kelley], this is the same. The unravelling of this perfect life, but it’s also about this journey of these two women who are on different paths but reach a point at the end where they’re changed.

Cherry: You’ve been acting since you came out of the womb.

Michelle: I was always performing from a young age –doing plays for mum and dad.

Cherry: Do you remember as a child a particular creation of yours that you pull out of your bag of tricks to entertain the troops with? Or were you a leader in your neighbourhood of ideas for playing outside that day?

Michelle: I think it started with just toys, doing their voices. My mum said that I would do a whole set for them, and I’d be like, “don’t touch it”. I went to stage school, so we did a lot of choreography competitions, and I was definitely a leader in all of those and directing everybody. So, it started very, very early, really.

Cherry: And when you came out of school, did you work right away?

Michelle Dockery Glass 49Michelle Dockery. Photographer: Rokas Darulis

Michelle Dockery Glass 49Michelle Dockery. Photographer: Rokas Darulis

Michelle: I worked at the National Youth Theatre, which I was member of, but I needed money to pay for drama school auditions because if you wanted to audition, you paid for each one. It was really all about putting some money away for drama school. I got into Guildhall [School of Music and Drama] and I trained there for three years and then went straight on to the stage – I did that for most of my twenties. I was doing theatre until Downton, which was sort of one of my first TV roles.

Cherry: When people ask about the difference between stage and film, I always find myself talking about the acting. It’s the familial thing around when you’re working in a theatre every night with the same group of people at the same hour in the same clothes. And yet with film you are travelling all over, it’s sort of like being in the army. Like when you get into that courtroom to shoot Kate Woodcroft and you’re surrounded by all that extraordinary crew that are always two feet away from you. There’s a bond in that.

Michelle: Especially if you’ve been on a series, something that’s been going on for a long time, something like Downton. We had a lot of the same crew for six years. We’ve all been on that journey together and grown up together.

by Imogen Clark

Photographer: Rokas Darulis

Stylist: Michelle Jank

On-set Stylist: Annie Hertikova

Make Up: Andrew Gallimore at Agent of Substance using YSL Beaute

Hair: Ken O’Rourke at Premier Hair and Make-Up using Hair by Sam McKnight

Manicurist: Cherrie Snow using Dior Manicure Collection and Miss Dior Hand Cream

Photography Assistant: Damian Flack

Styling Assistant: Frankie Chartsuwan

Producer: Diane Vincent

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