Tamsin Egerton gave director Michael Winterbottom a list of what she would not reveal when she portrayed former nightclub performer and soft-p*rn artiste Fiona Richmond in his new film.
‘I’ve had to put my foot down,’ Tamsin told me when the movie, The Look Of Love, about Soho tycoon Paul Raymond and his family, was being shot in the West End.
‘Full-frontals I won’t do. Sexual acts I won’t do. There are things on a list and there are certain things in the script that I’ve spoken to Michael about.’
Tamsin — who appeared in the St Trinian films and Chalet Girl — is superb in The Look Of Love.
It’s the best piece of acting she’s done on screen and, for the most part, she keeps her modesty intact. When she does have a revealing scene, it’s not done for titillation.
As she remarked on the set: ‘Fiona did take her clothes off, and part of the performance has to reflect that. You’re always going to be wary, but Michael was a gentleman.’
It’s also the first time Tamsin (left, and above as Fiona) has had to inject a character she’s playing with some depth, and she succeeds. In fact, the whole film surprised me.
Steve Coogan captures Raymond at different points in his life, from post-war, end-of-the-pier showman to central London impresario and property czar.
We see him as a family man, with a very good Anna Friel as his wife, Jean, and Imogen Poots (one of the best actresses of her generation) as his daughter, Debbie.
Raymond’s mistress, Fiona, is family, too. So it’s not all about sleaze.
‘For me, it was going from teenage actress to playing a grown-up role: my gateway to showing more serious work,’ Tamsin said.
‘I communicated with Fiona via email, asking lots of questions. She kept saying this happened or that didn’t happen, and I had to explain that I was playing the essence of her and I wanted to get that right.’
The picture was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in the U.S., and will be part of the Sundance London Festival, too, screening at the Sky Superscreen at the O2 on April 25, before going on general release the following day.
Not long after Sundance, Tamsin was picked to appear in a Fox TV drama pilot called The List, now filming in Los Angeles. She’s playing the programme’s bad girl, Delilah.
The premise is that Delilah and her boss are in possession of a list of people enjoying police and government protection. And folks keep being bumped of that list.
‘Delilah sets up the various life- threatening deals with these tough men, but after meeting her they’re like putty in her hands,’ says Tamsin.
Her next project is a film called Love, Rosie, which also stars Lily Collins and Sam Claflin.
