Mumbai: Oscar nominee Rosamund Pike says she gravitates towards characters that do not come across as likeable and believes such roles generate an excitement in the audience as well.
The 42-year-old actor is best known for her role as Amy, who who sets up her own murder and frames her cheating husband in Gone Girl , for which she was nominated for the 2014 Academy Awards.
“I like playing people who are morally ambiguous, I like playing quite divisive characters, characters that you find yourself wanting to watch even though you might not agree with what they’re doing. I think that creates an interesting feeling in an audience, Pike told PTI in a Zoom interview.
Most recently, Pike was seen in black comedy I Care a Lot that saw her playing a court-appointed legal guardian, Marla Grayson, who defrauds her older clients and traps them under her care.
Citing the example of her role in I Care a Lot , the British star said she was interested in where the line was, so that she could make Marla as someone who was “morally reprehensible and yet fun to watch”.
“I never wanted to cross over into a place where you just thought this is just boiling and I’m not enjoying this at all. It’s a line I’m really interested in, she added.
Up next for Pike is another fascinating role in the upcoming Prime Video series The Wheel of Time .
Pike features as Moiraine, a member of the mighty all-woman Aes Sedai organisation, who embarks on a perilous journey around the world with a group of young men and women, one of them is prophesied to save or destroy humanity.
The show is based on Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy series of novels, which are set in a world where magic exists and only certain women are allowed to wield it.
The actor, who received international recognition for her film debut as Bond girl Miranda Frost in 2002’s Die Another Day and followed it up with movies like Pride and Prejudice , An Education , What We Did On Our Holidays , State of the Union , said the series once again gave her the opportunity to play a layered character like Moiraine.
The idea that attracted me was that this fantasy world has a mysterious guide figure who takes the central heroes through the story, who is a woman. And the fact that Robert Jordan in 1990 created this world where women have this extraordinary power.
There are plenty of shows and books that have a very masculine world and there is one amazing female, but he’s given us so many amazing females with intrigue and different political allegiances, there are layers of deception as it becomes apparent later on in the show. So, there are so many layers, twists, and that’s why it’s very exciting for me, she added.
Pike, who also serves as a producer on the series, praised author Jordan for dwelling deep into the minds of not one but several characters through his novels.
As far as our show and the book it is based on is concerned, he doesn’t get inside the head of Moiraine. We got the internal voices of some of the younger characters, but you don’t get the internal voice of Moiraine, which is something that will be interesting for fans, she said.
Pike shared that she read the first book when she began to explore this universe through the show, which has Rave Judkins as showrunner.
I immediately looked into the book and saw that this was an incredibly rich and complicated world. And actually, I can see now, why fans of the series read the books again and again. There is just so much more in it, the more you understand the world, the more amazed I am by the depth of his imagination… It’s colossal, this world.
She said she hopes the ardent fans of the books will like the show, also starring Daniel Henney, Josha Stradowski, Madeleine Madden and others.
The fan base of the series is so passionate. It’s inspiring to us. Frankly, the care with which they read the books, we know they’re going to apply the same care to watching our show. As an actor with the amount of content that’s currently on the screens, we are lucky if people study the work that we put in with as much detail, she added.
The fantasy tale has two episodes helmed by cinematographer-director Uta Briesewitz, who has also executive produced the show. Harriet McDougal and Brandon Sanderson serve as consulting producers.
The Wheel of Time , co-produced by Amazon Studios and Sony Pictures Television, has already been renewed for a second season.
The first three episodes of the first season will debut on November 19, with new episodes available each Friday, leading up to the season finale on December 24.