'F*** it' - Hilary Barry and Wicked star Olivia Colman talk dirty

Seven Sharp presenter Hilary Barry was sat at her desk, pondering how to write about her very colourful conversation with British actor Olivia Colman. And then it all fell into place...

I want you to be able to experience every glorious, profanity-filled moment I had with Colman. Yet, I know our Digital Editor, in line with TVNZ's rules on obscenities, will be forced to astericize (if that's even a word?) some of what was said between us.

I don't want you thinking for a moment that I started any of this. Colman's latest film, Wicked Little Letters, which she stars in and is co-producer of, has been described as "scandalously sweary", and the bad language at the core of it is a character in its own right.

So, as you read on, please know that as I sat at my desk writing about my encounter with the actor, I didn't censor a single word. And I hope you get a giggle out of imagining the actual words rolling off our tongues.

Of course, you might think the whole conversation is utterly "unladylike", and you're entitled to that opinion too, but sadly, you'll miss the movie's point entirely.

(Source: Seven Sharp)

I was about to meet Olivia Colman, but our paths had crossed before.

She wouldn't remember, but back in 2019, when she won an Academy Award for her stunning work as Queen Anne in The Favourite, I was on the red carpet outside the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood when she emerged at the end of the night.

No other media were there; they'd all cleared off. It was late at night, but the time difference between LA and Auckland meant we were standing by to go live with Seven Sharp.

The Oscars heavies had told us we weren't allowed to talk to or film anyone leaving the theatre. They figured those movie types would all be so drunk and disorderly by night's end that it should not be caught on camera.

However, we couldn't help but squeal when the effusive Colman wandered out of the theatre. Clutching her gold statuette, she didn't mind a bit and squealed and giggled back to us, thrilled by what had just happened inside, and I hasten to add, not the least bit drunk or disorderly.

(Source: Seven Sharp)

How amazing this year that Emma Stone, one of her co-stars in The Favourite, won the same Best Actress award.

Colman was thrilled for her.

"We had a little exchange of voice messages to each other. Oh, and her speech, [it was] so beautiful. I had a little cry. It just couldn't happen to a lovelier person. I mean, twice."

I asked Colman what winning an Academy Award had meant for her career.

"I mean, I don’t know. It’s impossible to know what would have happened if I hadn’t won it. I think it hasn’t been a bad thing. It was an incredible thing to have happened. I'll cherish that, and I hope I keep working. I do things I want to do."

One of those things she wanted to do was Wicked Little Letters.

Based on a true story, the film is set in the early 1920s in an English seaside village rocked by rude letters sent anonymously to resident Edith Swan. The letters were hilariously filthy.

Police investigated and immediately suspected Swan's neighbour Rose of writing them. Rose is a rowdy Irish immigrant and a single mother who is charged with the crime and sent to prison until trial.

Sensing that something is amiss, the townswomen, led by the local policewoman, investigate who's responsible.

The story appealed to Colman immediately.

Swearing double standard

"I loved the fact that we just assumed in the 20s that nobody swore and everyone was very well behaved, and they weren't because 85% of the letters are from the real letters. They were foul-mouthed.

"There are still double standards with swearing. You still meet women who think it’s ‘unladylike', which is a phrase which needs to be buried," she said

Colman played the conservative Edith, who received the letters, and her great friend Jessie Buckley played Rose, accused of sending them.

Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley in Wicked Little Letters. (Source: StudioCanal)

It wasn't an accident Buckley got the role. With Colman as one of the producers, she also had a hand in casting decisions.

"I did say I want Jessie to do it because I thought going to work with one of your best friends is, you know, why wouldn't you? And we swear at each other for free anyway, so we might as well do it and get paid."

Wicked Little Letters has plenty of swearing but is nowhere near the most profanity-filled film ever.

Colman was delighted I'd researched the top sweary films and demanded to know what they were.

"So I looked at the top three," I said, "and I don't think the top two count because the top one is Swearnet: The Movie, which is about swearing, so, of course, there will be swearing.

"Then there’s 'F***", a documentary which is obviously about the word f***, so that doesn't count. And the next blockbuster that has the most swearwords is Wolf of Wall Street."

"Yes, that would have a lot," Colman said.

"Six hundred and eighty expletives," I continued, "and five hundred and six f****."

"No, wow," said Colman, "any c****?"

"I don't know how many c****," I said,"'and I can’t believe I'm swearing like this with Olivia Colman."

"I’m enjoying this so much. It’s so much fun, isn’t it?" she said, "it’s a lovely release, isn’t it? We're instantly giggling."

And we were giggling, and I imagined there was plenty of that on set, too.

'Got the giggles'

"Oh god, we got the giggles so badly. There was one in the market square where Jessie ran at me. It took ages to do that because we just kept giggling.

"Also, you know when she flashes her bum? She wasn't meant to do that. She just thought she’d entertain everybody, but they liked it so much she said, 'Oh, I’m going to have to do that ten times now because they said, yes, keep that'. That's hilarious. Ah... f*** it.'"

Colman added: "We did have so much fun making it, and there is a serious side to it. The swearing is real; it really happened.

"Edith has no agency, no power, and she has to have a release of some kind. Repress a woman, and it's going to backfire!"

(Source: StudioCanal)

There is no repressing Olivia Colman. She's effusive and fun and busy with a project currently being filmed in Adelaide.

She has another connection down under through her husband, Ed Sinclair, with whom she owns a production company.

She was thrilled to tell me he'd spent the first 11 years of his life growing up in New Zealand.

Colman couldn't quite remember where but told me it started with a 'K'. We worked our way through a number of spots before settling on Kohimarama in Auckland.

"I'm sure my husband would say, 'Please say hello to New Zealand'."

Discovering Broadchurch secret

There was one more thing I wanted to canvas.

It was about the crime drama Broadchurch, which, like hundreds of thousands of other New Zealanders, I was addicted to it back in 2013. Colman played the part of Detective Sergeant Ellie Miller alongside former Doctor Who David Tennant.

Word had it that Colman was the only actor on set who'd been told who the killer was. Every other cast member was entirely in the dark.

She explained how the accidental disclosure happened.

"When I first went to meet the producers to sort of talk, 'Will you do the part?', 'yes' and then I said 'Who did it?' and then they told me. I went ‘No!’ and they said, 'That’s exactly what we want, good, that’s a good reaction, great'.

"I hadn’t even got home on the 20-minute train journey back, and they phoned and went ‘We really f***** that up. We’ve decided we don’t want anyone to know; we'd love everyone to experience it.'

"I went 'okay'. 'So, can you pretend you just don't know?' 'Okay.' So I had to not tell all of my mates. You know, we became really good friends, and [I was] just lying all the way through it.

"So they didn't think you knew?" I asked.

"No. When David Tennant found out that I knew, he said, ‘You’re f***** kidding! You knew?’ I'm so sorry!"

I suspect Tennant forgave her.

I don't imagine anyone holding a grudge against Colman, who, after our colourful exchange, was so sweet she wanted to help me down the makeshift stair beside our interview spot, concerned that I might get my heels caught up on it.

"Thanks so much," I said, safely on the ground.

"I feel like the Queen!" I said, which was probably a stupid thing to say to someone who has played more than one real-life Queen.

Oh well. F*** it.