Natalie Dormer previews film at Edinburgh Festival
The Game of Thrones actress appeared with her director husband Anthony Byrne.
Game of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer and her director husband Anthony Byrne were on hand at the Edinburgh Film Festival to show off their new film.
In Darkness is a psychological thriller set in London, which follows Sophia, a blind pianist who hears a murder in the flat upstairs.
The film was written by the couple in what they call a "love letter" to their favourite genre.
On playing a blind character, Natalie called the experience challenging, saying: "Making eye contact with your co-stars is an actor's crutch.
"Whenever you can feel your own BS levels sliding or you feel you've lost the truth of the moment, the way to do it is to lock eyes with whomever you're talking to, which you don't have that capacity when you're doing this.
"I relied very heavily on Anthony to support me with eyelevels.
"In real life, a lot of partially sighted and blind people are actually very good at making direct eye contact with you because they hone that skill, so people feel less social discomfort around them.
"And they're really good at it, especially the plethora we met. So that's actually a bit of artistic licence in skewing the eyeline."
Anthony said he he tried to incorporate that into the narrative, but that there was an accepted narrative on how blind people act.
He added that the film was "being more truthful than a lot of movies have in the past".
The couple were excited to finally get to work together, feeling that the experience had brought them closer.
Natalie said: "I've always been wanting to be on a set with him ever since I met him.
"I still think Anthony is one of the most talented directors that I've ever worked with.
"There's very few directors who understand the camera the way he does.
"The ability to talk to actors with such depth. Directors normally have one skill set - they're either techies who work well with the camera or they're lovies who get on well with the thespians.
"Very few have both skills - and he can cook."
Anthony added: "A control freak is basically what you've got.
"Likewise, I've wanted to work with Nat for so many years.
"And it's so difficult in this business to get anything made, to get anything going.
"So this has been a real gift to spend that time - It was really intense but incredibly collaborative and creative."
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