HM #012 - Interview Charlotte Larsen

Retrouvez l'interview VF dans HypnoMag#12, pages 25 à 28.

You are an actress and producer. When did you know that you wanted to follow this artistic path? What training did you follow?

I was in my first play at school when I was 10, and that was really the start of the acting bug! I did some more acting in school and decided I wanted to be an actor around the age of 14. After that, I went to college, got my degree in film and theater, started a production company and ended up producing. Acting fell away as I was busy running my company but I was still really wanting to act, so I headed to LA and the Stella Adler Academy of Acting. I also trained at the USC summer film program in producing which was a fantastic training experience.

These are two different professions. Which side of the camera do you prefer to be on?

They are both different and I love them both. I love using my business brain when I am producing, trying to troubleshoot problems and organize the production, but I also love getting to be creative and emotional and delve into characters that may not be familiar to my own personal experience. I could be an astronaut, or live in 18th century France. The human condition is amazing and I love exploring that. I love feelings and crying and being vulnerable. My favorite place to be is on set, so I don't mind what I am doing as long as I am there!

You produced '' Great Expectations '' in 2012, a period drama with a very nice cast Ralph Fiennes, Jason Flemming, Sally Hawkins, Helena Bonham Carter ... it's impossible to mention them all! It's an adaptation of a novel by Charles Dickens. What are the difficulties to overcome in bringing a literary work to a screen?

Adapting anything that is already written, whether it is a novel, poem, or even a biopic of someone's life, is always going to create challenges. You want to be as faithful as you can to the material, but you also want to make the film visually enticing and create a narrative people will want to be drawn into. Hardcore fans can be hard to please with such a beloved story!

What are your priorities in a project?

A good story, a good team of people, and for it to be seen by people who will be affected by it - to make them think, or take them away from their own life for a couple of hours.

The series '' Laurelgrove '' is expected in 2020. You produce it and you play the role of Miss Evans. Can you introduce us to the show and your character?

The show is a drama series set in a hospital, centering around the doctors and staff who work there. It is written by my amazingly talented friend Michael Benzaia. Miss Evans is the head of the department, she's friendly and sympathetic but she has an edge to her!

You were born in New Zealand, you grew up in England and now you live in the United States. What did you get from these three countries?

They are all very similar, but I have definitely learned a lot in each place. New Zealand is home, so I will always be attached to it. It is very laid back and beautiful, so I love to go home and work on a project there where I can step away for a minute and get back to my roots. Growing up in England in a small village was an interesting experience. I learned a lot about myself there, being in a small place where everyone knew everyone really taught me about community which is important in my work on a production. Living in LA taught me about the business a lot, and it's more about the hustle so I had to get used to that pretty quickly!

Could France in turn attract you to work there? Which French actor or French actress would you like to collaborate with?

I love France. My grandmother lives just outside Nice, and it's so beautiful. I would love to work there and work with Marion Cotillard. I think she has transcended from French to English films so well.

As a spectator, which TV series do you like to watch?

I watch so much TV! Right now, I'm watching New Amsterdam, All Rise, Bluff City Law, The Good Doctor and comedies like The Goldbergs, Modern Family and Carol's Second Act. I'm also addicted to Jeopardy!

You are still young and you probably have dreams that you would like to achieve. How do you imagine yourself in 10 or 15 years?

Doing this. I love it and wouldn't want to be anywhere else.