Who was your first favourite actor?
Dakota Fanning. I watched Hide and Seek and War of the Worlds over and over when I was 12 and I remember thinking, “I want to do that’. Act twisted and run away from aliens. I wanted to experience those things. I made up a lot of my own stories when I was younger and would act them out by myself, but after watching her I realised you could do it on a much bigger scale, and it was a job. It was a done deal after that.
What was the last book you read?
A Life Inside by Erwin James, which is in diary-form about his life sentence in prison. I wrote my dissertation on male prison culture and am really interested in it. I’m about to start Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.
Without picking anyone who is still alive, pick a director and a cast for any remake or adaptation of your choosing.
Stanley Kubrick directing Peter Pan with Heath Ledger as Peter, Alan Rickman as Hook, and Robin Williams as Smee. But I’d want to be Wendy.
Dress by CHRISTOPHER KANE.
Generally, what is your favourite mode of transportation?
Horse riding or really, really fast car. I’d actually love to be a racing car driver.
If you could be interviewed by anyone in history, who would you pick? (Let’s pretend I’m busy…)
Someone funny or who would challenge me, politically, academically or personally. Or someone I could just talk about dreams and passions with.
What is your favourite twist ending of all time?
The ending of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. It’s so damn heartbreaking. But I also love when Bruce Willis’s character is revealed as a ghost in The Sixth Sense. Sorry if I ruined it.
If you could pick any creative outlet other than acting to be adept at, what would you pick?
The other things I’m trying do alongside acting – writing and photography. Otherwise, contemporary dancing.
You appeared in the Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything. Would you rather have Hawking’s capacity for understanding of the universe or would you rather that you live to be 130 (for the sake of argument, lets say you would also age half as quickly in this option)?
I think I’d prefer to forever wonder about the universe than know everything about it, so I’d rather live a bit longer.
What is the hardest accent you’ve ever tried to imitate?
Scottish, though half my family is from Scotland and I was born in Aberdeen. We have videos of me singing when I was around three or four and I had the thickest Scottish accent. I should have it down, but no.
Would you rather have a live-in chef, or a live in masseuse?
I get way too restless during massages and I often have just sweet potato chips or vegan ice cream for dinner, so neither of them would have a fun job. I’d rather have a live-in person who can teach me whatever skills I wanted, like martial arts or sword fighting.
If you had to work at any museum or tourist hotspot to work, where would you pick?
Somewhere you can see the Northern Lights.
Top & trousers by DKNY.
Would you rather get to go to the moon for three days or have an all-expenses paid trip anywhere on Earth for two months?
The moon.
With respect to contemporary society, what is one thing you love about it and one aspect that you don’t like?
I could write an essay about this, but one aspect that I love – people being able to express themselves in any way they like and put it on any platform for the world to see. Creativity is pretty limitless now. An aspect that I don’t like: people don’t go to libraries anymore. There’s something so nostalgic about it – I like actual books, browsing for them and getting them stamped. I actually have an overdue loan now I’m going to stretch out for as long as possible so I can keep saying I have an overdue loan. Another thing I don’t like is general over-sharing. About what you’re doing or where you’re going or how this movie or tv show is being made. Everyone wants to know the details, but there’s no mystery. I want to keep a little mystery.
Would you rather live above a great bakery or a great pub?
I’d be lying to myself if I said I didn’t want to live above a bakery. But a pub would be fun too, if it was really old and haunted and creepy. And I could help write the quizzes.
Lucy Chappell can be seen in FirstBorn at the Edinburgh International Film Festival June 19 & 20.
As told to Paul Vaughan for TPJ
Creative Director & Photographer: Jessie Craig
Stylist: Francesca Turner
Hair: Leigh Keates using John Frieda
Makeup: Carolyn Gallyer using YSL Beauty
