You may remember Hayley Atwell as Agent Peggy Carter (or at least I do) but she will now be remembered as “Evelyn Robin” in Disney’s latest film, Christopher Robin. Her character as a wife and a mother exhibits so much strength and I loved that. While I couldn’t get her to share whether or not she will be reprising her role as Peggy Carter in any upcoming Marvel films, I still think she was Fabulous.
Here is what Hayley Atwell had to say…
How she became involved in the project
I was on holiday on a boat in Greece. I was sunbathing and I got call from my agent saying Mark Foster, the director is directing Christopher Robin. She said will you skype with him and I said yeah of course. I had quite an erratic reception there in the ocean so I went to the captain and I said I need to find a spot where I can skype someone and he said you see that rock over there. I went yeah. He went go passed that for about ten minutes and you’ll find a spot.
So, I got my life jacket on and I went on a jet ski and I put my phone down the life jacket and I went very far until pretty much couldn’t see any form of civilization and then I was able to get reception…”
That initial phone call with Mark Foster
“…he was talking about how he wanted to tell a story that was classic to the philosophy of Pooh Bear that everyone knew so that these characters are familiar to everyone, not doing anything kind of left field within these characters because they’re complete in themselves.
But wouldn’t it be interesting to explore the idea of what happens when Christopher Robin grew up and have that being the access point for adults who would identify with being an adult now and being burdened and lost a little bit by the pressures of everyday life and being on a bit of a hamster wheel and not realizing that your ambitions are kind of getting the better of you and so we talked a little bit about that…”
Fun Fact: Hayley likes to host game nights at her house and enjoys escape rooms
Her characters relationship with Christopher Robin
They wanted to “…create the relationship between Evelyn and Christopher as one where it began with genuine love and joy…” so that you know “…what is at stake for him to lose and you kind of route for them…”
“…someone who had compassion to know that this man who’s come back from war, who’s struggling to provide for his family, whose heart’s in the right place he’s struggling within himself rather than anything that she could probably criticize him for and she’s taking on the pain of what’s happening on the child as well. So rather than in any way seeming kind of unsympathetic or moaning or whining or anything like that, just someone who she’s taking care of her own feelings and experiences in this, feeling lost and left behind by her husband but knowing that he’s in a lot of pain as well. …”
Thoughts on the movie
“…. So I think although this is a good feel children’s movie it does touch on things that I think families will identify with…”
Fun fact: She was given the gramophone that was used in the set.
Her thoughts on the characters
“I think in a way all the animals are kind of archetypes of different versions of ourselves based on the day of the week or moods that we’re in or circumstances…”
Her thoughts on Piglet
“…I always found Piglet to be just totally adorable and so vulnerable and it always made me want to kind of reach out and look after Piglet. Having worked with Piglet though it’s just neurotic. It’s like he’s got what we call, in today’s kind of vocabulary, anxiety and like treated with hay corns which seem to kind of exasperate his issues. I think he needs like maybe some therapy and medication.
Her thoughts on Winnie The Pooh
“…Pooh to me ended up being like the kind of Zen master because almost he’s a bit of an unknown guru without realizing it which makes him so endearing because he doesn’t have that self-awareness to know really what he’s saying. He’s just pure love without agenda…and what makes me cry about that is because the way Pooh processes pain is that he just takes it in like a dog would and instead of attacking back or being defensive about it or finding ways to seek revenge or go well, fine and walk away as well he just absorbs that pain but still loves Christopher Robin and that seems to be a very human quality between people that love each other and a very necessary quality to our own civilization and for our own sense of belonging to each other. The ability to absorb pain from someone who knows that they can cause us pain but see beyond that and I would just find that moment was so moving and so evolved of Pooh without him realizing it that it made me fall in love with Pooh.”
Fun fact: Hayley’s dog, Howard, was on set every day
Want to know more about the Christopher Robin movie? You can check out my Christopher Robin World Premiere Recap and my interviews with Ewan McGregor (“Christopher Robin”), Bronte Carmichael (“Madeline Robin”), Jim Cummings (voice of “Winnie the Pooh” & “Tigger”) and Director Marc Forster.
Christopher Robin is officially in theaters!