Actress Ophelia Lovibond on 'Tommy’s Honour'
It seems like a new sports prodigy pops up every few years to break a world record and remind mere mortals of their inadequacy in any number of sporting endeavors. The record for the youngest golfer to ever win the Open Championship, however, has been in place since 1868 when golf’s first phenom, Tom Morris, set it at age 17.
This month, Morris’s life story is getting the biopic treatment care of Tommy’s Honour, a charming film that follows Morris (rising star Jack Lowden) as he works alongside his father in a gentlemen’s’ golf club and then takes up the game himself, initially battling resistance but ultimately finding fame and fortune. He also finds a life-changing relationship when he meets Meg Drinnen (the exceedingly talented Ophelia Lovibond), the woman with whom he’ll fall in love.
Here Lovibond - you know her from TV’s Elementary - tells T&C about taking on the role and why her own bad golf game never got in the way.
This is a story about golf in 19th-century Scotland. What makes it right for the big-screen today?
It’s a love story, but there’s also the story of golf. It’s something that’s so popular all over the world and this is a film that gives you a look at the passion behind it. It’s a story about something that’s so important to so many people. And it works even if you’re not into golf; Joy with Jennifer Lawrence was about the woman who made the Miracle Mop, on the surface it could sound like a hard story to sell, but because it was about passion, it became interesting.
Meg isn’t a golfer, but her relationship with Tommy is tied to his success. What made the part meaty enough for you to want to play her?
She’s a real person. Considering when she was living, she was really something of a feminist. That was something [director] Jason Connery and I agreed on, actually. He came to visit me at one point to talk about the character and to be sure we were on the same page and he said what I was thinking about the character without me having to lead him! She is so forthright, which wasn’t typical in that period. Married couples then weren’t a partnership, but for these two it was, and that was something I thought would be nice to see.
Since she was a real person, were you able to research her?
I read as much as I possibly could; there’s not a huge amount written about her, but I found what I could. I also learned a lot about where she was from, and since she was a maid in a big house for quite a long time, I read about what that kind of life would be like. She had a baby out of wedlock and at the time that was considered really heinous, and she was punished in the local parish where she was from but she wasn’t ousted from the community which was unusual. That was because she was so charismatic and people didn’t want to continue punishing her. There wasn’t much about her, but what little there was I used.
Is golf something you’re passionate about?
Not particularly! My golf swing is probably the most horrendous you’ve ever seen. I look like I’m trying to attack the ball. What appealed to me here was the love story, and I don’t think you need to be any good at golf to appreciate that.
[related id='0b00699d-579b-40a8-9850-88be52ca2c2e' align='center'][/related]
You Might Also Like
