In the new Apple TV+ fiction “The New Look,” Maisie Williams lends her features to Catherine Dior, the great fashion designer’s sister. The actress underwent drastic preparation to portray these stubborn camp survivors.
The rest below this ad
The new look, Apple TV+'s new prestige drama follows fashion icon Christian Dior and his contemporaries Coco Chanel, Pierre Balmain and Cristóbal Balenciaga during World War II. The first three episodes will be available on the platform from Wednesday, February 14th, followed by one episode every Wednesday until April 3rd. In the cast, Ben Mendelsohn (Christian Dior) and Juliette Binoche (Coco Chanel) are surrounded by Maisie Williams (Catherine Dior), John Malkovich (Lucien Lelong), Emily Mortimer (Elsa Lombardi), Claes Bang (“Sparrow”) and Glenn Close (Carmel Snow). The actress underwent intensive preparation for the role of Catherine Dior, the sister of the great fashion designer and a resistance fighter who had escaped from the Ravensbrück camp.
The new look: Maisie Williams actually had her head shaved for the role of Catherine Dior
For the role of Catherine Dior, Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones) admits she “cut herself off from the rest of the world.” “I moved to Paris my entire life, where I spent a lot of time alone to mentally prepare for this role and had regular meditation sessions. The book “Miss Dior” by Justine Picardie, which goes into detail about passages in Catherine's life “Dior, which the series had no time to explore, was my companion every day and every night,” confided the actress, who is also closely worked with the costume and hair department. “All this preparation was very helpful in telling this story as authentically as possible.” This role has special meaning for Maisie Williams, who, at 26, is the same age as Catherine Dior when she was arrested and tortured by the Gestapo. And she threw herself into this role to interpret it as realistically as possible. “For much of the series I wear a wig that changes my stature, and at one point I shave my head,” she says.
The rest below this ad
The new look: To play this stubborn camp survivor, Maisie Williams lost 12 kilos
“I lost a lot of weight,” the actress continued. The already petite actress lost 12 kg when she returned to Paris at the end of the war to accommodate her emaciated appearance. This strenuous diet was monitored by experts, with regular blood tests and heart rate measurements. As she explained in Vogue. “I ate very little, meditated all the time, lit candles and incense in my apartment,” reveals the actress, adding that a lot of the weight loss came from sweating just before filming, similar to boxers and jockeys Reach your goal weight for the day of a fight or race. “I had to get up at 4am to sweat. The night before, around 7 or 8 p.m., I was allowed to have something salty and dehydrating – smoked salmon and a small glass of wine. Then I took a boiling bath with lots of water.” of salts. […] I slept for about three hours, then woke up and ate a handful of nuts. At this point I couldn't sleep through the night. I kept waking up…” “I had a strong feeling of restriction, […] and nightmares of being trapped and attacked, with horrific visions of men in uniform.”
The rest below this ad