Sarah Lancashire has explained why her portrayal of American chef Julia Child was not at all influenced by Meryl Streep’s earlier performance in the same role.
The Happy Valley star plays Child in upcoming biographical drama series Julia, which chronicles how she pioneered the format of the cooking show as we know it today.
Academy Award winner Streep disappeared into the role for 2009 film Julie & Julia, co-starring Amy Adams, which could well be what Child is best known for here in the UK.
Nevertheless, in an interview with RadioTimes.com and other press, Lancashire was adamant that consulting Streep’s interpretation would have been an unhelpful method of preparing to play this complex individual.
“I had seen the film [Julie & Julia], I saw it when it first came out,” she said. “And that was the first time that I became aware of Julia Child, mostly because of the marketing surrounding the film.
“But I didn’t revisit it [for] this piece because really when I am developing a character, any character, it’s first and foremost informed by the writing; by the raw material.”
Lancashire continued: “That has to be the foundation on which everything else is built because there are so many clues in the writing about the choice of language, the precision of the language or the rhythm of the language.
“And our piece is completely tonally different. And the writing is tonally different, completely different to the film. So it would have been a futile exercise to have used that as a form of research.”
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Notably, Julie & Julia was not a conventional biopic of Julia Child, as the focus of the film is split between the chef’s training in post-war France and the life of New York resident Julie Powell (Adams) at the turn of the millennium.
In contrast, Child takes centre-stage in the brand new drama series, which is set in the 1960s as she attempts to secure a television gig off the back of her cookbook’s success – but comes up against tough opposition.
Julia marks the first US-based role for Lancashire, best known for British shows like Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax, with the BAFTA winner co-starring opposite Frasier‘s David Hyde Pierce.
Julia premieres on Sky Atlantic and NOW on Tuesday 12th April. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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