Ruth Bradley was obsessed with Slow Horses co-star Gary Oldman's Dracula | Film Firsts

Yeah, Gary, I'm in love with you in that film, yeah... Hi, I'm Ruth Bradley, and these are my Film Firsts with BAFTA. The first film I saw at a young age that I definitely shouldn't have seen was probably Interview With The Vampire. I was completely obsessed with it. When I was about nine I used to like, like save money and ask people to give me money so I could buy Premiere and Empire magazine. When I was a kid, I was like obsessed with film. I had seen like a cutting from it in an old Premiere magazine and something about the images and obviously the -- I think just Brad Pitt. And as a kid I was like, God he’s just such a beautiful man. I just became obsessed with this story. And I was really into the gothic for some reason. So I did a whole school project on it that was rejected because obviously, like nine year olds, there were a lot of naked women in my projects. They were like, no, you can't enter that into your school project. And then eventually, I think when I was about 11, my parents let me see it. I don't know if they had seen it or knew much about it, but it was wildly inappropriate probably. And a lot of it went over my head, but I didn't notice, and I just loved it. Mmm, okay, so the first film or TV show I was obsessed was Interview With The Vampire Neil Jordan's film. Yeah, that really was an obsession that went on for years before I'd even seen it. So, so that I don't know if that counts, because I was obsessed with it based on nothing except for little pictures I'd seen from Empire magazine. But then the obsession continued when I finally saw the film. Hang on! I was also -- The first film that I was really obsessed with that I had seen was probably, Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet. I saw it on a VHS. And I was just... I didn't actually know anything about the story. I didn't know the story of Romeo and Juliet because I was so small, and I was shocked that they died in the end. That’s a spoiler for anybody who doesn't know the Shakespeare story Romeo and Juliet. But, something about their chemistry was so interesting. Yeah, they were -- It seemed so relaxed and free, and I didn't even notice the language was other And the production values, the music... that Radiohead song Talk Show Host. Him kind of looking up from writing his poetry. Venice Beach! Yeah, the costumes, all the performances. Claire Danes was so incredible in that film. Yeah. Paul Sorvino yeah, that definitely is the first film I was obsessed with. I used to look out the window at school and like, just think about the frames. Yeah. The first quote or moment from a film that stuck with me was in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, where he's like, under that amazing stage on the beach the first time we meet Romeo, and he's writing his poetry, and I think he says, “Ay me! Sad hours seem long.” and that Radiohead song Talk Show Host is playing, and he kind of looks up through his beautiful blonde fringe. And yes, something about his delivery of that line and the music and his face. And then you kind of see vignettes of people on Venice Beach. Yeah, that whole section really seared into my memory. Ah the first film that reduced me to tears was The Little Mermaid. The cartoon. I distinctly remember being really heartbroken in the end when she, can't go back to the sea when she's, like, waving her dad and her sisters off. And she's, like, really happy that she gets to marry this prince who she barely knows. And now she has legs and she doesn't have a tail. And I was just, like, heartbroken that that's the end of her amazing life under the sea, where she's got her pals and her dad and her sisters. And now she’s going to this castle with this guy who seems quite dull. And, she can never swim again. I found that really heartbreaking. The first film I remember seeing is probably Batman Returns. I was probably too young to be seeing it, but I was totally, like, transfixed by the production values and by the story and the music. And I think was probably the first time I was like, there's a whole world there that I want to be in. I was obsessed with the Danny Elfman soundtrack and with Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman. And her line when she comes in, she's like, “Hi honey, I'm home!” And I was fascinated by how she shredded teddy bears in the sink because obviously we didn't have that shredding facility like they did in the States. So yeah, there's so many things about it that I was really, really struck by. The first character I was obsessed with was probably Dracula. Gary Oldman's Dracula in Bram Stoker's Dracula. It was just such a -- now as an adult I’m like it was such a, like a huge choice and a bold choice. That voice that he had and his physicality. And I was kind of obsessed and in love with that character. Yeah, I think just him and, and how he'd been through this whole centuries trying to find this person and, yeah, his little blue glasses and how he’d crossed oceans of time to be with her. Yeah, I was completely obsessed with that character. And also, I think that particular film is so theatrical in the music as well. It had the most incredible soundtrack, and so it was within the context of the whole film. Yeah, that was my first character I was obsessed with. [PRODUCER] Did you ever tell Gary Oldman about your obsession? He doesn't now how obsessed I am! [LAUGHTER] I've briefly spoken to him about that. But when he sees this he’ll know. There wasn't really a film or TV show that made me think I want to be an actress, because I kind of knew I wanted to be one before, from stage and from just the concept of of playing and being somebody else. I used to do these drama classes in Dublin, with a place called the Gaiety School of Acting, which was a kind of professional course for adults, but they would do a kids drama class on a Saturday. So I was like, obsessed with getting to this class and I don't know how I knew this is how people became actors in Dublin. But anyway, I was like, I need to be there. I decided it's important for my career. So it's like a kids improv thing. But we were allowed to do a piece of improvization to some music. It was a piece of music called In the Hall of the Mountain King, and I basically made up this improv where I played an obsessed and possessed tree, where I would like, take their the kids and pull their souls out. So it was like an improvization to music with no dialogue. But I remember looking into the audience of parents and them all being really upset and disturbed, and my two year old sister like crying. And I remember thinking, wow, I want to kind of command an audience like this just based on what I'm doing with my feelings. So this is quite wild. But that's probably the first time I thought, this is what I want to do. The first thing I acted in professionally is probably what I remember, which was a play when I was ten through that school and stuff, I had got this one line in a play and, yeah, I remember that. I had one line which was kind of, “Mammy” I said I was like playing the child of these parents who were addicted to heroin. So they had this huge scene, like a fight scene. And then at the end from from the bed in the corner, I just said, “Mammy.” And I remember the audience like gasping that there was this tiny kid in this scene. And I just remember being struck by how powerful theatre can be. So the first line I ever said in a film or TV show, I think was probably in the first professional... Yeah, it was the first professional thing I did was a BBC film called Sinners. And I think I said, “ He was testing me on my catechism.” And I said catechism like that, like quite Americanised. And the film was set in the 60s. So I had to really work on saying catechism because it wasn't -- it didn't come naturally to me. We didn't have any American, huge American influences in Ireland I guess in the 60s, like we did when I was a kid. Oh, my first, my first audition was actually that BBC drama Sinners that I went for that I actually got. It was a true story about the Magdalene laundries, the system in Ireland that was in place for years. Yeah. And it was quite a harrowing part. I was playing a child who had been a victim of abuse, but in the laundries everybody had the same haircut. And at the time I had like really long, long hair. And they were like, if, if we cast you in this, would you cut your hair off? I was like, I'll shave my head! Yeah, it was my first audition. I think my very first day on set of Slow Horses I was just so excited to be finally doing my job. It had been such a long process up to then of like, meeting and auditioning and figuring out Emma Flyte’s look, and her voice and I had done so much prep that by the time I got to the first day, I was like, great, I can finally sink my teeth in. And it was pretty much just a scene of me driving past Regent's Park, like looking out a window. So it was like all revved up to do nothing really. Which weirdly, is kind of more difficult. I'd rather like start a day with a huge kind of load of dialogue, or like a big two hander because you can really just get into it, but you're kind of like, I don't know if I'm in the right, like frame of mind or what's happening really yet with the character. So yeah. When I first read the script for Slow Horses, I thought, this is one of the most brilliant pieces of writing I've ever read actually. All the characters are so brilliantly drawn. I was like, “What's going to happen? What's going to happen?” It’s a real page turner. It was laugh out loud funny. It was shocking. Yeah, I really did think, this is one of the best things I've ever read.