Hayley Atwell is well known around the world for her thrilling turn as AgentPeggy Carter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but for the actress, it's the quieter roles, like Margaret Schlegel in Howards End, that truly cause her to geek out.
A four-part Starz miniseries adapted from the literary classic, Howards End follows the Schlegel sisters as they navigate their decidedly unusual and independent lives in England, circa 1910. Atwell's character, Margaret, is a woman who has given her all to her younger siblings, caring for them after their parents' untimely demise. Because of her commitment to raising her siblings, Margaret finds herself unmarried at 28 -- a wildly uncommon position to be in at the time .
When Margaret does find love, it's in the most unusual of places: with Henry, (Matthew Macfadyen), the husband of her recently deceased friend, Mrs. Wilcox. Since Margaret was a great comfort to Mrs. Wilcox toward the end of her sickness, Mrs. Wilcox leaves her beloved home, the titular Howards End, to Margaret. But Mr. Wilcox and his children see fit to ignore Mrs. Wilcox's last request, only to run into Margaret in London a year later. In a slow, enchanting tale that spins out over years, Mr. Wilcox finds himself drawn to Margaret's independence and her willingness to stand up for herself, even if it puts him right in the firing line.
That's exactly where he finds himself in the series finale, in which Margaret's beloved sister Helen (Phillipa Coulthard) returns from Germany, pregnant and unwed. At the time, this was essentially tantamount to social exile, and things take an explosive turn as Margaret asks her new husband to help her sister. The subsequent fight manages to be both quiet and earth-shaking, and to Atwell's chagrin, it was one of the first scenes filmed.
Three days into shooting, before the cast and crew had fully established a rhythm, director Hettie Macdonald had Atwell and Macfadyen jump straight into the fire. After multiple emotional and angry takes, Macdonald gave Atwell a note that changed her whole perception of the character. "[Macdonald said], take the emotion out of it. I don't believe it, it's not about you, it's not about what you feel, appeal to him," said Atwell.
With that direction, Atwell fully grasped the connection between a headstrong woman of 1910 and modern audiences. "The thing with Margaret and the playing of her is that she's incredibly present, so she exists literally thought by thought," Atwell said. "So, as an actor wanting to give each beat its time to land for Mr. Wilcox and the audience -- that does something to you emotionally as an actor, but then I was having to fight the instinct to want to emotionally react to it."
Atwell, as her riveting performance showcases, nailed that delicate balance. "The liberating thing about that is, you're jumping into the deep, and when we finished filming that particular scene we knew where the story needed to get to," said Atwell. "It informed all other scenes."
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