Emily Watson - IVTR

Interview, Jan, 1999 by Emily Watson

EW: - and I listened to her playing on a record at the same time. And that day it was as if she were on the set with me.

HDP: That's not superstitious, though. That was just Jackie. She was the music. It belonged to her. As she always said.

EW: Every time you play a role you learn something as an actor and as a person. What I learned playing Jackie was the fearlessness of her. For that reason alone, it was quite extraordinary to be in her company.

HDP: I hope you won't forget her.

EW: I never will, Hilary. What do you think she'd think of the film?

HDP: She would have been absolutely thrilled. I know that, because the three of us - Jackie, Piers, and I - always reacted in exactly the same way to everything. I think she would have particularly felt the pain of seeing herself swept away from the family when she became public property.

EW: I think one of the most powerful moments in the film is when I'm looking at my hands that certain way and the full orchestra comes in on the Dvorak concerto because that piece of music is, to me, so much about homesickness and everything Jackie missed when she began her international career. Does the film make you miss her more?

HDP: Of course. Because she's not around.

EW: Does it make the wound fresh again?

HDP: No, because it's always there. It's always there. Whenever I speak about it or see the film, it absolutely wrecks me. It batters me to bits, but I don't mind it. I love it. And I'm so grateful that I still do feel like that.