Once Minnie Driver stepped into the elaborate Tudor-era gowns, distinctive wig and steely aura, she knew first-hand what happens when you play England’s Queen Elizabeth I.
“I think with every portrayal I’ve ever seen so far onscreen, you see how that character takes over from the actor. It really does,” Driver, 54, said in a phone interview, citing memorable turns by “Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett. Glenda Jackson.”
Driver’s Virgin Queen is an essential figure in Season 2 of Starz’s “The Serpent Queen,” which continues the amazing story of the 16th century French Queen Catherine de’ Medici (Samantha Morton) who came from Italy at 14 to marry into a powerful family and eventually ruled for 30 years.
In S2 Elizabeth visits France where Catherine hopes to arrange a political marriage to better international relations between the two nations.
“They never actually met in real life. They wrote to each other. They had a huge correspondence through their lives. But this is an imagined meeting of two women jostling for political power,” Driver explained. “Of course, Elizabeth’s ‘virginity’ and her hand in marriage were highly contested.
“I don’t think in this imagining Catherine realized that Elizabeth never had any intention of marrying anyone, much less Catherine’s sons. But she did want to ‘poke around’ and see what was going on in France. To see how she can manipulate the situation, not for her own benefit, but for England.
“Here’s a wonderful game then of cat and mouse, where each woman feels like they have the upper hand. There’s a great spilling of revelations, especially when you put on the gowns and the wigs.”
Ah, yes, those elaborate period gowns and wigs! As “Serpent Queen” filmed in France’s picturesque Loire Valley with its castles and timeless settings, there was a heatwave. Did cast members really tape ice packs to their thighs under those gowns?
“Yes! I absolutely did,” Driver answered. “It was 100 degrees-plus. Our costumes were lined with neoprene, and they weighed 60 pounds. So it was intense, it was incredibly hot. Taping ice packs, actually, was the only way of not fainting — and you had to keep drinking enough water.
“It means,” she emphasized, “that you have extraordinary focus. That is part of being an actor.
“Anyway, it was very busy, it was uncomfortable for everybody. But it’s funny — you just get on with something when there isn’t really a choice.”
Looking back now, she added, “I find it unbelievable that we all did that. But we did. I lost 10 pounds by the time I finished. My corsets weren’t really holding me in anymore.”
Season 2 of “The Serpent Queen” streams on Starz July 12