Lady Sybil (Jessica Brown Findlay) is alive, and fighting with us. Just that it has shed its skin: she is no longer the sensitive daughter of the Earl of Grantham, the idealist who marries the chauffer in Downton Abbey (and dies giving birth to a girl, a record-breaking episode). In The Hanging Sun-Midnight Sunthe thriller directed by Francesco Carrozzini e based on the book by Jo Nesbø (from 12 December exclusively on Sky Cinema and Now), is Lea and lives with her son in a village in the middle of nowhere in Norway, victim of her religious fanatic father and brother-in-law. But the meeting with a fugitive (Alessandro Borghi) which – as she hides a secret triggers a compelling story.
Jessica Brown Findlay on the red carpet of “The Hanging Sun” at the 79th Venice Film Festival on September 10, 2022. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)
“I loved how wild and free and exposed she was. I didn’t want make-up or hairdressing” He says.
Jessica Brown Findlay after Downton Abbey
Intolerance of costume dramas? Is this why he left Downton Abbey, forcing the author, Julian Fellowes, to “eliminate” it?
No no, I love them! I grew up reading Jane Austen. Actually, in 2010, acting was my second job, I was still in art school: when we weren’t shooting, I always had traces of paint in my hair (laughs). We all had a three-year contract and when I was asked to renew it, I wasn’t ready, however financially it would accommodate me. I wasn’t even sure about continuing to be an actress. That wasn’t my dream.
And which was it?
Be a dancer. A flash of lightning – I must have been two and a half years old – when a little girl entered kindergarten in a tutu. I overcame my mother’s reluctance and she enrolled me in a course. I was so in love with music, dance: I felt freer in that space than talking to people. It was the first time I was good at something I loved (I was bad at school, even though I tried really hard). I had no money, but my teacher helped me find scholarships. I even performed at the Royal Opera House.
Then what happened?
I had ankle surgery just as I was about to join a company. I said to myself: “Ok, closed”. It’s strange, at that moment I didn’t feel brave or powerful. I simply knew that stopping to cry would kill me because my identity passed through there: I felt like “Jessica, ballerina”, almost as if it were my surname, I couldn’t separate the two. And around 2005 I ended up at Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design: London was creative and chaotic, and it was so exciting, for the first time in my life, to be surrounded by people who had never taken a ballet class before! Suddenly I found myself with people who, for their art, explored every avenue, and didn’t bother turning it into a job. They made me laugh, they were kind and original. It was like taking LSD, everything was in Technicolor and suddenly it made sense! She unlocked something in me, pushed me to find new ways of expressing myself. So came acting.
Jessica Brown Findlay in Winter story 2014 of Akiva Goldsman.
Do you tend to see the bright side in everything?
Yes, I consider myself very optimistic. When you’re young you only act on instinct, and my instinct was to keep going. Every change in my life hasn’t been intentional, nor planned, sometimes even scary, but it has taught me to get rid of plans that don’t work out and that’s exciting. It doesn’t mean not having hopes, ambitions or dreams, but embracing the new, although this attitude doesn’t come naturally to me, on the contrary.
How did you “work” on your inner balance?
With psychoanalysis. There’s this idea that – to be an artist – you shouldn’t heal the cracks you feel in yourself because that’s where your creativity comes from. I think it’s important to be kind to yourself. So I would say therapy, good food, unconditional love and just a little relativizing of the important things. I do yoga: I love it, it makes me happy. My husband and I (the actor Ziggy Heath, ed) are often in the kitchen: at a certain point, every day, we meet in the kitchen, we sit down, we chat, we eat well. There were times when I was careless with myself, and I screwed it up.
The Hanging Sun: Alessandro Borghi and Jessica Brown Findlay
The recovery of Jessica Brown Findlay
What is it alluding to?
I have suffered from eating disorders. Food is something you control, but it’s essential to life, you can’t just throw it away like a drug.
Remember when she said to herself: stop, stop!
When I realized I couldn’t dance anymore, I couldn’t stand up. And I thought: if I can’t move, I can’t express myself…
Still love to knit?
Yes, I’m attempting to make a hat. But alas, it doesn’t look like a hat (laughs). Maybe I “convert” it into a strange toy… I’m distracted when I knit, because at the same time I’m listening to something or watching a film. When I look down, I see that I’ve made a long gut that doesn’t fit anything, and I have to throw it all out. She would be offended if I gave her something I made (laughs)!
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