She’s already played some famous women — Margaret Thatcher and Wallis Simpson among them, the latter in Madonna’s W.E. — but British-born actress Andrea Riseborough has remained, Stateside at least, something of an unknown. After stealing scenes from Tom Cruise in this spring’s Oblivion, however, that will remain difficult.
Her latest film is director James Marsh‘s Shadow Dancer, based upon Tom Bradby’s same-named novel. In it, Riseborough plays Collette McVeigh, a single mother in 1990s Belfast who, after getting nabbed in an aborted IRA bomb plot, is given a choice by a steely MI5 officer (Clive Owen): lose everything and go to prison for 25 years, or spy and provide information on her hardliner brothers and other IRA members. Recently, I had a chance to speak with Riseborough one-on-one, about her movie, her curious past in avant-garde music, what she enjoys about life in “terrifyingly Republican” Idaho, and what’s next professionally. The chat is excerpted over at Yahoo Movies, so click here for the fun read.