An Interview with Jessica Raine and Tom Cullen from ‘Becoming Elizabeth’

Jessica Raine and Tom Cullen are a pair of talented actors that have appeared in some iconic franchises, such as Doctor Who and Black Mirror. Currently, they are starring as Catherine Parr and Thomas Seymour in the upcoming STARZ series, Becoming Elizabeth, and we here at NTG were fortunate enough to sit down with both of them to discuss their roles.

John Betancourt: Let’s start off by talking a little bit about what attracted you to the roles of Catherine and Thomas?

Jessica Raine: I loved Catherine from the second I read Anya’s script. She's really passionate. She's really… she says what she thinks. But she also is very shrewd and manipulative, and good at holding back and watching what's going on and making a plan. I just thought she was so incredible to have survived what she has, and to pick up the series where she's released from a horrific marriage to Henry the Eighth and is finally allowed to live the life that she wants to live… it's a really exciting time for her and it’s a really exciting place to pick up a character.

Tom Cullen: Honestly, quite selfishly, what initially drew me to Thomas was the sheer challenge of playing him. When I read the script I first off, I was just blown away by the writing just as a kind of as a whole. It was so complex and nuanced. So well observed and the voice felt so unique, especially for a period drama. And then reading Thomas on the page, I mean, he's just electric. And funny and so complex, so hot headed, so passionate, so gentle, so vulnerable, so morally bankrupt. And I was drawn to it… because I was terrified, to be honest. I really had never played a character like this before. And I really wasn't sure if I could do it. And I was, I was kind of like, I almost didn't go for it. But there's a little voice inside of me, just telling the fear to be quiet and I went through with it.

John Betancourt: Now you both bring up a great point about our characters, in that they’re incredibly complex and layered. How did you as actors get into the mindset of playing such complex characters?

Tom Cullen: Yeah, I mean, it's I don't know. I mean, it's tough, especially because of the way that we shot. Justin Chadwick, our director, his energy is just like, it's incredible. And him and Adolfo Veloso, our amazing DP (Director of Photography), they shot on these sets… they built the sets 360 degrees. So, we could shoot anywhere we wanted to, and Adolfo lit everything by natural light. So, either light coming through the windows or candlelight. And we had a first kind of two weeks where it was just myself and Alicia. And it was in this kind of like, intense experience, where we would do 12, 13 takes of just constantly trying stuff out, not sure where it's gonna go. Not sure where the cameras gonna be, Adolfo would pick it up. And so, it was an intense experience playing these very, very complex characters all day every day. It was exhausting. And kind of thrilling. And I think with Thomas's complexity, I just kind of had to make him the hero of the piece, you know, I had to. It was the only way I could justify some of his actions, was by making every decision he made kind of righteous.

Jessica Raine: Um, yeah, there was something… so… when I was little, my mum and dad used to take me to like a day trip out to a castle in Wales or something, you know, and I used to kind of go rogue and run away and run down the corridors and find like little nooks and crannies in the castles and it was like going back to being a kid. But you're completely dressed up in incredible costumes and you have the hair, and it was like this magical experience of being lit by candles and it felt really good, intimate, and it felt like the camera wasn't meant to be there, almost. And those couple of weeks that, we filmed, Alicia and Tom and I, worked really hard on those relationships, and it felt like it was just us in the room, I suppose. And that was really magical. And that's, that's kind of all you really need to make it real and exciting.

Tom Cullen: So funny… just I used to do the same as a kid to castles in Wales, and I'd run around and pretend to be a knight or whatever. And honestly, being on the sets, it just is such an extension of being a kid. It's… exactly what it's like.

John Betancourt: They are amazing sets for sure, and I could ask a million questions about them. But I have to ask more about your incredible characters. Because when we meet them, it is chaos, and everyone is getting pulled in different directions and looking for something that benefits them. But ultimately, what would you say your characters are searching for? At their core.

Jessica Raine: I think she's looking for agency, and she's looking… she knows she could rule really well. And there's been a lifetime of frustration of being stopped. So, it's this chance to rule, to be married to the love of her life. And so, she is very power hungry. She wants the power because she knows she can handle it. So that's, that's a whole raison d'etre. That’s what she’s about. She wants power, and she knows she could handle it easily.

Tom Cullen: I think he's searching for love, and acceptance. I think that his childhood wasn't the nicest. And I think that he's in the shadow of his big brother. His smarter, cleverer, what’s the word… that's how smart I am, why it was written for me. “The Smarter Cleverer.” -laughter from all- His brother is the kind of more brilliant version of Thomas and, and he knows it. And so, he's, he's searching for acceptance, and he's searching to get out of his brother's shadow. And I think it's as simple as that. I think all of his actions, all of his choices, kind of boil down to this deep-rooted jealousy that he has.

John Betancourt: Last question for you today, what are you most proud of, when it comes to your time on this series?

Tom Cullen: Well, you know, and I can say this hand on heart, I am just so proud of this show in general. We're so proud of how it looks. I'm so proud to be on such an amazing project with such brilliant writing. We're so proud to work with these amazing actors. I'm proud of the work that we've done. I think the episodes are great. But I think the thing that I'm most proud of is, probably the thing that I had not nothing to do with, which is that most of the projects I've worked on have been written by men and they are definitely through a male gaze. And this feels so female, and Anya Reiss, our writer, she's written a project that is about very complex issues. And she's written it through her experience. And when I watch it, it definitely feels like that. And I watched it with my girlfriend, and she was deeply affected by the episodes. And I think that they really spoke to her in a way that anything that a man written, wrote, could never have done that. And I was so proud of it. And I'm so proud to be a part of this project. And I'm so proud to be in my small part in it.

Jessica Raine: There are two things I'm proud of. But one is the way that the relationship is handled between these three characters, Thomas, Elizabeth, and Catherine because in different hands, this could have been a bit grubby or a bit unseemly, and that is the nature of the subject matter. But here I just think it's so delicately handled. So, so complicated, and weird and dark, and not right. But intriguing. And you just want to, you want to get to the bottom of why or how this has happened. So, I'm really proud of that aspect of it. And I'm also… this is the first job I have done as a mother. So, it was my first job away from my kid. And I'm just proud that I got through that. Yeah, and everyone was very supportive and super cool about it. So, you can do that. Work and have kids.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

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