Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/555971
D or mer g rew up i n Read i ng, E ngla nd, where a t h r iv i ng Hol ly wood ca reer seemed about as probable as an invite for a play date with Prince William. "I didn't know any actors and had no idea how to get into t he profession, so I kept rea lly qu iet about it ," she say s. Her fa t her worked a s a computer prog ra m mer a nd her mot her wa s a housewife, but it was her grandmother who inspired Dormer, t he eldest of t hree, to per for m. "She would t a ke me to see Shakespeare's tragedies in the ruins of the Reading Abbey, k nocked dow n by Henr y V I I I a nd Cromwell, a nd my eyes totally opened up to the possibilities." A st ra ight -A st udent who spea k s mu lt iple la ng ua ges, Dor mer was accepted to Ca mbr idge Universit y but chose instead to enroll in drama school in London. Just months after she graduated, director Lasse Hallström cast her as a bum- bling virgin opposite Heath Ledger in Casanova. Dormer's role was written as a bit part, but Hallström gave her more screen time when he saw she had real potential. David Goyer, the screenwriter behind Christopher Nolan's Batman trilog y and the writer and a producer of The Forest, says, "When you meet Natalie, what distinguishes her is this sense that 'Here's someone who's going to be a star.' It's partly her ambition—she has clearly decided she's going to be a big success—but it's also her rare combination of razor-sharp wit, unusual intelligence, and unique, timeless looks." That mix made her a natural to play Anne Boleyn in the 2007 Showtime series The Tudors. By the time another costume project, Game of Thrones, came along, Dormer might as well have stitched herself permanently into a corset. "You say t hat ," she says a touch defensively when asked about the period roles, "but I've actually only done three cor- set dramas in 10 years. Kate Winslet's spent more time in a corset than I have. Helena Bonham- Carter has spent more time in a corset than I have. What Americans tend to forget is that I can carry a semiautomatic weapon and run around in jeans and T-shirts, too." That's true. Her performance as Sherlock Holmes's only love, Irene Adler, on the CBS series Elementary showed that Dormer could be powerful and sexy without ruff les. But it's the character of Margaery Tyrell on Thrones that is her greatest creat ion. Here, too, t he role was not conceived as a major one—Margaer y is a marg inal fig ure in the orig inal fantasy novels—but Dormer turns her into a politically savvy woman in charge and dominates whatever scene she's in. Last season found Margaery in what might have been the most uncomfortable sex scene ever broadcast on television that did not actually show any sex. The boy king, Tommen Ba r a t heon , played by Dea n C ha rles C hapma n , ma de Margaery his queen—with all the carnal clutching and gasp- ing such a royal union involves on a show like Thrones. Fans were agog. Chapman is 17 but playing 12, an age gap that set of f a Tw it ter stor m even t hough t he hook-up wa s most ly implied (v iewers saw t he couple wa k ing up in bed w it hout their clothes, and there was a brief kiss). Dormer finds the fuss a litt le ir r it at ing. "A fter what we've done on t his show—t he rape, the incest, the child murdering—it baff les me that two people in a rea sonably good, rea sonably a f fect ionate rela - tionship is what gets the wide eyes and the questions." As for questions about Dormer's own relationship, let's just say it might be easier to extract answers from Ser Pounce, the Game of Thrones cat. Her partner of four years is filmmaker A nt hony By r ne. He d i rected Hoz ier's latest music v ideo, which features Dormer. Byrne is across the pool today, tap- ping on his phone as she talks, but Dormer doesn't say much about him. "I couldn't possibly comment" is all she says when asked about recent reports that the couple was spotted shop- ping for a r ing or about t he double date t hat t he papa ra zzi caught them on in Serbia last June with Lady Gaga and her fiancé (and Dormer's costar in The Forest), Taylor Kinney. Dormer treasures her privacy, which is partly why she stays off social media. "I've been busy enough playing four differ- ent roles in t he last four yea rs," she says, "a nd I don't have energy to put out some perfect image of Natalie Dormer that's not t he rea l me a ny way." To st ay g rou nded, she spends a s much time as possible with friends she's had since childhood. "Most of my closest pals have nothing to do with the industry. They watched me struggle financially. They know my sob sto- ries and the roles I missed out on and the nights when I never thought I'd work again." She is also devoted to philanthropy. Last year Dormer ran the London Marathon to raise money for Barnardo's, the larg- est children's charity in the United K ingdom. "She put us all to sha me by somehow ma nag ing to t ra in in t he middle of Hunger Games," Nina Jacobson says with a laugh. If Dormer's schedule a l lows, she'l l r u n t he New York Ma rat hon t his November in sup - por t of Tea m for K ids, t he New York Road Runners' cha r it y. She a lso appea red i n a ca mpa ig n on behalf of Plan UK, which works to el i m i nate forced u nderage ma r - riage and female genital mutilation around the world. Whether future roles will involve bod ices a nd bu st les rema i n s unclear. Margaery did not appear in t he Game of Thrones f ina le la st season, leav ing fa ns to wonder if she might become yet another vic- t i m of br ut a l it y i n Westeros a nd E s sos. But Dor mer w i l l be ok ay no matter what happens. She says she'd love to do a comedy ("I'm a huge fa n of Veep") or a nat ura lis - t ic dra ma, a nd being a Bond g irl might be cool, too. Dormer looks out at LA, her eyes glimmering, as that confident, cryp- tic facial expression returns. "My five-year—no, 10 -year—hell, my 55-year take is that I'm going to keep doing this as long as I ca n keep doing t his," she says. "You look at my count r y- women, like Judi Dench and Vanessa Redg rave and Diana R igg—they're gonna drop [dead] doing what they love to do. That's where I'm heading." Corset or not, she says, "Someone's going to have to carry me out." BC "You look at my country women, like judi dench and vanessa redgr ave and diana rigg – they're gonna drop [dead] doing what they love to do. ThaT's where i'm heading." —Natalie Dormer