Who was Katherine Parr? Henry VIII’s final—and surviving—wife was somewhat eclipsed by the dramatically beheaded Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard. But no longer. As Firebrand Director Karim Aïnouz told Deadline on Sunday, “I was just really interested that there were so many things that were done about Henry and his other wives, but nothing about Katherine.”
Firebrand tells the tale of a Queen that broke the mold.
Alicia Vikander, who plays Katherine, said, “It’s like just because she survives, it’s almost like it’s not as interesting [in history]. One of the first things that I read up about was realizing she was the first ever woman who published under her own name in British history.”
And at its heart, this is a story of domestic abuse and how Katherine came to survive that. As the king (Jude Law) rages with paranoia and persecution, taking it out on those around him, Law points out, it’s not a story that’s confined to the history books.
“I think the approach that Karim had just immediately engaged me,” he said. “He saw it as a film about this marriage and this surviving a marriage, rather than seeing it as this untouchable historical fable. I like the idea of humanizing Henry and understanding when someone is behaving so appallingly… there’s other things going on,” he said.
Law walked with a cane and used a prosthetic leg to show the vicious ulcers that plagued the king, and he remained in costume whenever he was on set.
“Michael O’Connor, our wonderful designer, found a team who made it authentic so we could wear [the costumes] very loosely and open and play with them and take them on and off and all the underwear and everything was authentic so we could really live in them,” Law said. “Just personally, how that helped me was just that the scale of it all added so much volume to me and impact.”
“To me, the really important thing with him was the pain and just finding a physicality that showed both the weight he was carrying and the pain he was enduring. Because as much of a monster as he is, it is an extraordinary fact that he survived as long as he did with that much pain, without anesthetic, without painkiller.”
Vikander said there were moments when she felt close to the sheer terror of being a woman facing brutality. “[There was] one particular scene, when I deep down had a sense of what a lot of women go through out there, just this very deep fear that never, never leaves. That’s what acting does. And the wonderful thing is that it’s able to kind of get yourself into the perspective, and you use your imagination with these sets and these actors to make you really understand people even deeper.”
Aïnouz said he hopes the film will promote an understanding of the violence women have endured over centuries. He views this story as a call for the end of oppressive patriarchal systems, stating, “certain things need to end. Patriarchy needs to stop, and tyrants need to go.”
Check out the conversation in the video above.
The 2023 Cannes Film Festival runs May 16-27. Follow Deadline’s complete coverage of the deals and doings on the Croisette here.
