Matthias Schoenaerts has come a long way since his 2011 role in Bullhead in which he wowed critics with his performance. Following up with his breakthrough role starring opposite Marion Cotillard in the passionate and brutally affecting Rust and Bone, Hollywood came a-knocking. Roles came flooding in from both American and British productions like Saul Dibb’s Suite Française, the late great Alan Rickman’s A Little Chaos, Michaël R. Roskam’s The Drop and Thomas Vinterberg’s Far from the Madding Crowd.
Related: Red Sparrow Premiere Interviews
Many performances later, we land in 2018 and Schoenaerts is about to star opposite Jennifer Lawrence as her uncle, Vanya Egorov – a character that has a striking resemblance to Russian President, Vladimir Putin – in Francis Lawrence espionage thriller Red Sparrow. We sat down with Schoenaerts to talk about his role in the film. He tells us even though Vanya isn’t the kind of character he necessarily connects with, he still thought he could have fun with the role and to try and humanise the man. He also goes on to tell us exactly what it was like to work with Jennifer Lawrence and her similarities to the seductive Dominika.
You can read our review of the film here. RED SPARROW is released in UK cinemas March 1st.
Red Sparrow Synopsis
Based on the book by former CIA officer Jason Matthews, “Red Sparrow” Jennifer Lawrence takes on the role of Dominika, an ex-ballerina turned trained Russian Security service seductress with some killer operative skills that includes using her brains as well as her body to take down the enemy.
She emerges as the most dangerous ‘Sparrow’ the program has ever produced. She must now reconcile the person she was with the power she now commands. She must also deal with an American CIA agent who tries to convince her he is the only person she can trust.
