Lesley Manville Covers AMAZING Magazine | Issue 2
From a cleaning lady to Princess Margaret, there is no typecasting the multi-award-winning actor Lesley Manville. She talks to AMAZING about flying the flag for the over 60s, the perils of social media fame and the transformative power of a beautiful dress.
Lesley Manville is a picture of elegance in a burnt orange linen trouser suit teamed with cream satin camisole and black high-heeled sandals when we meet at a central London hotel to talk about her new film, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris.
There’s a story to tell about Manville’s outfit, by Budapest-based fashion label Nanushka, that has charming parallels with the fictional Ada Harris’s quest to buy a dress at the fêted House of Dior in Paris. The actor first encountered Nanushka while filming in the Hungarian capital, standing in for the French city, and learnt that the founder Sandra Sandor was about to open a London boutique on Bruton Street.
It was her two Mrs. Harris co-stars Lucas Bravo, who plays Dior accountant Andre, and Alba Baptista, as house model Natasha, who came across the Budapest store while on a break from filming. An invitation to Manville to visit was duly issued. “[Sandra] said, ‘When you are doing press, we’d like to give you some clothes to wear,’ so this is Nanushka today,” she says, gesturing to her tailored togs and clearly delighted by her own Ms Manville Goes to Budapest moment.
Based on Paul Gallico’s enchanting 1958 novel Mrs. ’Arris Goes to Paris, the movie is about a cleaning lady in post-World War II London, whose yearning for a different, more fulfilling life is channelled through her desire to own a haute couture gown. It’s an unashamedly feel-good fable about pursuing your dreams while remaining true to who you are, that cinema audiences everywhere will undoubtedly embrace as a welcome distraction to the current global economic and political woes.
For Manville, CBE, one of Britain’s most accomplished and celebrated screen and stage stars, it was both a breath of fresh air and something of a departure for her “in the grand scheme of my career”.
For Lesley Manville's full interview and shoot, plus other AMAZING women, fashion and lifestyle features, order your copy of AMAZING issue 2 now.
There’s a story to tell about Manville’s outfit, by Budapest-based fashion label Nanushka, that has charming parallels with the fictional Ada Harris’s quest to buy a dress at the fêted House of Dior in Paris. The actor first encountered Nanushka while filming in the Hungarian capital, standing in for the French city, and learnt that the founder Sandra Sandor was about to open a London boutique on Bruton Street.
It was her two Mrs. Harris co-stars Lucas Bravo, who plays Dior accountant Andre, and Alba Baptista, as house model Natasha, who came across the Budapest store while on a break from filming. An invitation to Manville to visit was duly issued. “[Sandra] said, ‘When you are doing press, we’d like to give you some clothes to wear,’ so this is Nanushka today,” she says, gesturing to her tailored togs and clearly delighted by her own Ms Manville Goes to Budapest moment.
Based on Paul Gallico’s enchanting 1958 novel Mrs. ’Arris Goes to Paris, the movie is about a cleaning lady in post-World War II London, whose yearning for a different, more fulfilling life is channelled through her desire to own a haute couture gown. It’s an unashamedly feel-good fable about pursuing your dreams while remaining true to who you are, that cinema audiences everywhere will undoubtedly embrace as a welcome distraction to the current global economic and political woes.
For Manville, CBE, one of Britain’s most accomplished and celebrated screen and stage stars, it was both a breath of fresh air and something of a departure for her “in the grand scheme of my career”.
For Lesley Manville's full interview and shoot, plus other AMAZING women, fashion and lifestyle features, order your copy of AMAZING issue 2 now.
Lesley Manville wears Louis Vuitton & Alberta Ferretti
Photographed by Simon Emmett
Styled by Toni-Blaze Ibekwe
Words by Juliet Herd
Makeup by Amanda Grossman at The Only Agency
Hair by Raphael Salley at Saint Luke Artists using Sam McKnight
Producer Ellen Miller at Laird & Good Company
Digital Tech Claudia Gschwend
DOP Martin Roach
Lighting Assistants Tom Frimley & Bradley Polkinghorne
Fashion Assistant Yasmin Williams
Production Assistant Kai Roberts
Special thanks to Croft & Moss Sans Flower Company
Styled by Toni-Blaze Ibekwe
Words by Juliet Herd
Makeup by Amanda Grossman at The Only Agency
Hair by Raphael Salley at Saint Luke Artists using Sam McKnight
Producer Ellen Miller at Laird & Good Company
Digital Tech Claudia Gschwend
DOP Martin Roach
Lighting Assistants Tom Frimley & Bradley Polkinghorne
Fashion Assistant Yasmin Williams
Production Assistant Kai Roberts
Special thanks to Croft & Moss Sans Flower Company