Rose Williams Answers Fans’ Sanditon Questions
When MASTERPIECE asked devoted Sanditon fans to send their questions for Rose Williams, Sanditon‘s Charlotte Heywood, they did not disappoint! From Charlotte’s character to her journey, from #heybourne to hats, from Season 1 through Season 3, discover Rose Williams’ answers to your questions and more, and watch all three seasons of Sanditon with PBS Passport, an added member benefit!
Contains spoilers through Season 3, Episode 4. Check back after the finale for more questions and answers!
Jill S. of Huber Heights, OH asked, “Which are the moments when you felt like Charlotte was truest to herself?”
When she’s voicing her real opinion—when she tells Colbourne on the cliff in Episode 3, “You’re too late.” When the truth just comes out like that. Or when—for better and for worse—in the very first ever episode, on the balcony when she’s just honest; those moments of honesty. Also, when the gun was in her hands, in the first ever scene. And when she is interacting with the kids. I think she really does love kids.
Dana R. from Brownsville, TX asked, “What’s a characteristic that you feel Charlotte has maintained from Season 1 through Season 3?”
Her moral compass.
Antoinette S. asked, “When you portray a character as beloved as Charlotte, is it ever difficult for you to fully extricate yourself from a part and move on?”
Yeah, 100%. I think for me it’s more that I didn’t go to drama school, I didn’t train, so I don’t have a method of just…I don’t know, I just try and do it. But what I find more difficult is merging with the character’s emotions. People might say that’s pretentious, me saying that, but it’s true. When I did a horror film, I was very psychologically affected. And when I did this one, I felt that spirit of transition—especially when you’re in every day, 12, 13, 14 hours, and you go home and you just crash and then you go back to it—without realizing, I think sometimes I accidentally take on emotions that I’ve created for the character and then I’ll go home with it. So that is a real thing that 100% happens.
Karen Hochberg asked how Ben Lloyd-Hughes and Rose Williams created such romantic tension, and Audrey N. from Taylorsville, UT expressed that, “Rose and Ben have a ton of chemistry. We fans love to analyze every single touch and look and nod. I’m curious just how much time and effort goes into making these small details really meaningful.”
Because we were shooting the back-to-back seasons and all episodes at once, with two units, I was very much with my Filofax, attempting to make a very clear track and map of all of the moments of intimacy, so that it had a journey and so that it built up and it wasn’t too much too early, and when it had its climax, it had its climax. So just from memory, from doing this however many months ago, I really remember being like, okay: the emotions, they had to be different in each interaction—they had to have a different flavor. And sometimes you end up shooting the same day, a couple that are right next to each other but they have to be completely different in tone. So tracking them and then talking about it was really important. Jennie [Paddon, director] was great with details.
The hand touch at the opera performance, that was a very considered, curated. That wasn’t, “Oh, let’s get the hands,”—it was considered and communicated about. So my answer to the question is: a lot of planning and mapping it out and making sure that it built, and had a story, so we were all on the same road as that. But we were also good in the moment, me and Ben. There were a lot of moments that we were on completely on the same wavelength.
Ellen F. from Napa Valley, CA asked, “If you’d been able to choose a different Sanditon character to play, who would it be and why?”
I think Esther. Esther’s such a good character, especially her arc across Season 2. But no one else could have played that other than Charlotte Spencer—that is her character 1000%. But I thought that she was a really deep woman.
Margaret J. from Albuquerque, NM asked, “Has your impression of wearing hats changed since filming Sanditon, and would you now be more or less likely to don a (currently in fashion) hat in your personal life?”, while TeriLu A. asked “how all the ladies kept those hats on their heads so securely given how windy it often was.”
I love hats. I love bonnet, I love hats. I think hats bring drama, hats are underused, and a hat can make an outfit. Hats are very expressive and they tell a story. Especially in the Regency period, the bonnet is such a weird look. Because I had a wig on—I had blonde hair underneath this wig that was really pinned into my head—I was already quite strapped in with the wig, so the addition of the bobby pins really nailing a bonnet into my head didn’t make that much of a difference to the wig that was already quite nailed into the skull. But they really had to be hammered in with bobby pins because of the wind. If wind catches it from the front, you’re in trouble. And for continuity, it’s an absolute nightmare. If you stitch it too much or stick it down, then these bits will flap and it looks unnatural. It’s an art form dealing with the bonnets. But they give a very unique silhouette that immediately conjures the Regency period and Austen that you don’t need to know about from literature. Just from being a human and being around on the planet for 20 odd years, if you see the silhouette of a bonnet, you think Little Miss Muffet or you think Old Mother Hubbard, or you think Jane Austen or also, Bridgerton, now. So they evoke something. So I’m a big fan.
Among many others, Byron M. from Twin Falls, ID wanted to know what’s next for Rose. He shared, “My wife and I have fallen in love with Sanditon and Rose Williams. It has become our weekly joy to anticipate. Our question is, “What projects does she have planned for the future?”
Well, it’s very opposite to Sanditon, but if you feel like watching a thriller, I just did a Netflix film, and it’s not very light. It was really fun—it’s a dark, sexy thriller inspired by late ’90s, early ’00s thrillers, and it’s set in this big manor house, with me and Famke Janssen. It is worlds apart from Sanditon, so only pay attention to it if they’re a fan of thrillers. There’s no tea and cakes in it! That’s the next thing that’s going to be out, but I don’t know when.
Sara R. from Santa Rosa, CA asked, “How do you feel about the overall journey of Sanditon from Season 1 to 3? Are you proud and satisfied with the production?”
Yes, it’s really been an amazing experience that definitely expanded my horizons in a number of ways. Yes, amazing.
