Elle Fanning has revealed that playing Catherine in her popular TV show The Great made her want to do it for real.
Since 2020, the actor has played the title character Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great, in the satirical dark comedy.
In real life, the historical figure reigned as Empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796, after deposing her spouse Peter III, who is portrayed in the show by Skins’ Nicholas Hoult.
Elle opened up about what it was like playing as if she was pregnant after her character’s pregnancy was disclosed in season one, before giving birth to her son Paul I of Russia in season two, ahead of season 3, which is set to premiere next month.
‘I was obsessed with it,’ the 24-year-old told Harper’s Bazaar UK. ‘I had a bespoke bump with boobs moulded onto me that went all the way up to my neck.
‘The costume team told me that this is pretty accurately what my body will look like when I’m pregnant… which did feel quite crazy. I loved the way it looked. It made me want to do it, to be pregnant.’
Before taking on the role of playing Catherine the Great, Elle admitted that she only thing that she knew about the empress ‘was the rumour she’d had sex with a horse’, remarking that the rumour felt like ‘one of the earliest forms of slut-shaming’.
‘So I wanted to reclaim her name a bit – to bring to the fore how progressive she was in championing science and female education, being an engine behind the Russian Enlightenment, separating church and state,’ she stated.
Elle has earned several award nominations for her work in The Great, including Golden Globe nominations in 2021 and 2022, as well as an Emmy mention last year.
As a producer on the show, she told Metro.co.uk’s Sixty Seconds last year that playing Catherine taught her “a lot” about “how to own my power and speak my mind.”
‘I’ve definitely become a bit more bossy because of her,’ she said at the time.
‘I’m still young like her – on the cusp of growing up. But I’m also still feeling like I’m in my youth, and grappling with all that through a character has been really fun.’
The May issue of Harper’s Bazaar UK is on sale from April 6.
The Great season 3 premieres on Friday May 12 on in the US. The show airs on Lionsgate Plus via Amazon Prime Video in the UK.