Vicky Krieps interview: ‘Movies are done so quickly now – we just deliver, deliver, deliver. It is wrong’

The Phantom Thread actor sits down with The Independent to discuss working with Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Thomas Anderson, and going back to ‘normal’ movies

(Andreas Rentz/Getty for Filmfest Muenchen)

There are few people who can hold their own aside Daniel Day-Lewis, let alone outperform the esteemed actor. Vicky Krieps arguably does. In Phantom Thread, she gives an utterly mesmerising performance as Alma, the poisonous partner of Reynolds Woodcock (Day-Lewis), the pair sharing an electric chemistry rarely seen onscreen.

Sitting down with The Independent, Krieps speaks about the character, and working alongside director Paul Thomas Anderson and Day-Lewis. Read our full Q&A below.

Hi Vicky, I really loved Phantom Thread. It’s so much fun!

I know. You don’t expect it, but it is.

What were your feelings towards the character when reading the part?

I had, from the beginning, a very intuitive feeling towards Alma that I can’t explain. Immediately, I had a very strong connection to the character. There were still many things I could not relate to – such as the ending, which was very ‘What! Huh! Why?’ – but I did not care, because... I didn’t need to understand.

Going through the whole process of working with Paul, I always trusted in something. During our conversations, we never spoke about, why is Alma saying this? Paul trusted me, sometimes asking me: ”What would Alma do? What would Alma say?” He would never tell me what she’s thinking. There were a few funny situations where, even though the script was so strong, I could have gone one way or the other, and I just went with it. Only after, I realised you don’t see their sexuality, but somehow you know they have one. We didn’t talk about it. That was something I could only guess at or feel. When we had conversations about, say, food, there was always the question of, what are are we really talking about? But we never actually talked about it. In other movies, we would sit down and actually talk about what the characters are doing. Paul never wanted to hear about what I was thinking. If I talked to Paul, he would go away or say: “No, no that’s your business.”

Myself and Daniel would meet like real people, having our own story, being in the moment. I would take from him, and answer as good as I could. As honest, direct as I could. In the restaurant, when she [Alma] says ‘Are you hungry? You look thirsty.’ I actually didn’t know what I was saying. I could feel there was something about the conversation — about her — only later. When talking to Daniel and Paul, it was clearly meant in a sexual way, but I didn’t know that. There was no one there telling me that it was suppose to be sexual. There was nothing in bracket saying ‘She’s thinking about this’. There were just the lines. And as you were saying them, you could feel something shift. The same thing happened during our fight over the asparagus. We knew that we had to learn the lines — and learn them well. It was the only time me and Daniel met beforehand to practice lines. But then we just went with it, like in an arena, and just went with it. At the end, I started to improvise. It was not something I planned, and I did not know what I was going to say. It was born out of the moment.

It sounds very liberating, almost like a dream job.

Yes, it was very liberating because you hope for this — it is what you hope for the whole time. It is what you need as an actor. You always think ‘Please, can we not talk about all this? Just trust me. Let me do my work. I will listen to you and you will listen to me. Give me the peace and quiet to do that work.’ To see Paul and Daniel, and see that’s how they work, to hear I was right about my intuition for this… Movies are done so quickly now. To just deliver, deliver, deliver. It is wrong. It just does not feel right.

It must difficult thinking about future projects where you may not have that again?

I know. I’m torn in-between two. I don’t have a plan at the moment — I’ve never had a plan and I don’t believe in plans. On the one hand, I loved this experience so much, it felt so natural. On the other hand, I am curious; looking forward to going back to a set where it is so different. I’m quite strong willed so I will really take this experience and confront whatever comes at me. Be ready to have a fight about it!

Paul is such an auteur. I was expecting someone much more controlling rather than letting you improvise.

It is this perfect symbiosis. He has a very strong plan — and you can feel that he has — but he is open to whatever may happen. Choosing you as an actor already does so much. In the same way, the set is so perfectly lit and everything is so perfectly laid out, you just have to go and take it. What I had to do is to become open enough to take everything in the most natural way. I tried to forget all my expectations and ideas about acting and filmmaking, because I knew Alma should not know this. She’s very naive.

Lesley had months beforehand with Daniel. And you came in on the day and met him?

This is what he wanted, it’s what I was told. I accepted and I agreed to.

Were you worried?

Yeah. I am always open to when someone says ‘Let’s do it this way’. Of course, I was nervous, but I could not give those nerves room — I could not let them get room, because there was no room. If you have to take on such a responsibility, such a task, then there is no room for fears and doubts. Then you will not be able to live up to it. From the moment I knew how Paul and Daniel wanted to work, I forgot all about them. I did not Google Daniel, watch any of his movies. I tried to forget everything. I did not think of the movie at all. I tried to prepare for the fashion world; I tried to understand a woman coming from the war who has lost her people she loves; a woman going to a new place and starting a new life. She had no room for doubt either.

Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) and Alma (Vicky Krieps) in Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest

How did you get into the right mindset?

I just read and went to an old country house, filled with old letters from my Grandparents. I tried to understand them, because they were Alma’s age at the time of the war. To understand what it meant to grow up in the war. It explains so much. If you grew up in the war, you would not expect life to be beautiful. You would not expect things. Everything is a bit like a miracle. Everything is like being saved and spared. You can understand Alma like this: she’s not worried about being respected, not worried about getting her place. She’s just open hearted, warm and caring because she knows what it means to people. That’s what it is really all about — if we are all on this planet, the only good things we can do are fall in love, meet people, and open ourselves.

Why do people build such strong social rules and boundaries like Reynolds? It is fear because they are afraid. Especially in England where there is this strong class system, it is born out of fear. Alma is free because she is not afraid. And why is she not afraid? Because she is grounded and knows what it means to really suffer and just decides to hope.

She goes from this lonely world to one that is very heightened. It is almost mind-blowing to think those two worlds still exist.

Exactly, and she sits there and thinks all these people, they are running away from something. Can someone just stop? She’s saying to him, stop it! Just stop it! Just stop being fake! Look at me! What I hope most is people go home and look at the person they are with and ask ‘Who am I actually with? Or have we started to play a game of behaving.’

I was reading beforehand about your views on celebrity culture. This film may project you onto another level…

You don’t have to say it. I’ve been doing movies and this is something else.

Does it worry you that you will have to engage in celebrity culture?

It did. Maybe for a second. I didn’t get scared but something was weird. But then it wasn’t anymore, because I know where I come from. Nothing will ever change. It just won’t. I have such strong beliefs. No money or anything could change that.

Phantom Thread is in cinemas now.