Even if she’s not a household name quite yet, Morfydd Clark is everywhere as of late – popping up in the BBC’s Dracula and His Dark Materials, Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History Of David Copperfield, and taking the lead role in Rose Glass’s startling religious psychological-horror Saint Maud. And now she’s heading into her biggest role yet, joining Amazon’s Lord Of The Rings series – actually more of a Middle-earth prequel, set a literal age prior to the story of Frodo Baggins – as ethereal Elf Galadriel, memorably played in Peter Jackson’s trilogy by Cate Blanchett.
While the show remains tightly under wraps, Clark spoke to Empire about being “a really nerdy fan of the films”, and opened up about her feelings on taking up the mantle of Galadriel. “You have imposter syndrome with every job you get, and at times you have to be like, ‘Look, I’m not being rational, I do deserve to get this job.’ But I think with this, not having imposter syndrome would make you mad, because it is so ridiculous for it to have turned out this way,” she says. “I’m trying to normalise elements of it to maintain my sanity, while not losing my sanity by normalising it too much, because it isn’t normal!”
How closely Clark hews to Blanchett’s performance remains to be seen, but the actor has a clear reverence for the Peter Jackson movies. “I don’t think I could possibly forget about the films,” she says. “I was 11 when the first one came out, so I was at this age where I had just let go of magic and whimsy, and these films came out. I was like, ‘Oh my God, grown-ups can think like this.’ There’s a huge amount of respect for the films.”
The series is currently shooting in New Zealand – following a pause due to the Coronavirus pandemic – with filmmaker JA Bayona in the director’s chair. The series is being developed by JD Payne and Patrick McKay, and is expected to stream on Amazon Prime Video in 2021. Saint Maud comes to UK cinemas on Friday 9 October.
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