Sian Clifford, best known for playing Claire in the hit BBC Three comedy Fleabag, almost turned down her latest film role because she is chronically camera shy. Her new film, Lady, released in cinemas on August 14, has been described as “Saltburn on magic mushrooms.”
A Role Unlike Herself
In Lady, Sian plays deluded Lady Isabella Ravenhyde, a celebrity-obsessed aristocrat who lives alone in a sprawling 26-bedroom country manor and is searching for instant fame. The role is the polar opposite to her real-life personality. Sian, 44, says: "I am not like Lady Isabella at all. I would rather hide from everything. Definitely a camera. I have been told by every director I have ever worked with...that I physically turn away from the camera."
She was persuaded to take the part by British actor Riz Ahmed, while she was working alongside him on his TV series Bait, which sees him play a young Pakistani actor trying to become the next James Bond.
Overcoming Fear
Explaining how her anxiety kicked in, she says: "It was an immediate yes when I first got the script. I then met the director, Samuel Abrahams, and we went for a walk in Hyde Park, where we talked for hours and swapped ideas. I was so excited."
"But it started to get a bit closer and I got really really scared. I almost pulled out. I did not want to f*** it up. It was like nothing I had done before. My neurosis was getting in the way, telling me I could not do it. I was working with Riz Ahmed at the time and he said ‘you have got to do that film. You have got to roll the dice.’ So I was ‘yeah. Ok.’"
Of the 90-minute movie, made in 15 days, she says: "It was some of the hardest 15 days of my life, but we have made a really beautiful thing. I could not be more proud."
The Plot and Praise for Phoebe
In Lady, Sian’s character rushes around her country estate in outrageous outfits, as she dupes a young film-maker, played by Laurie Kynaston, into thinking he is making a new Netflix documentary about her flamboyant life.
Meanwhile, Sian, who won a BAFTA for Best Female Comedy Performance in 2020 after Fleabag finished, thanks her friend Phoebe Waller-Bridge for her success. The pair first met on the Tube, travelling home together from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). She says: "Phoebe and I went to drama school together. We have been very dear friends from the very first day. We always had a sort of fantasy to play sisters."
Auditioning for Claire
Despite being firm friends from the offset, Sian was forced to audition for her role in Fleabag and feared she would not land the part of Claire. She says: "I first encountered the script for Fleabag when Phoebe was developing it. She always had me in mind for Claire."
"But, for a long time, it looked like I wouldn’t be able to play her. The BBC were keen to get a profile attached for that part, because it was a new show and obviously with new shows they want there to be sparkly things in there to draw a new audience."
"But Phoebe was adamant. I had a horrible audition. I was just terrified. I remember just coming home that night and I messaged Phoebe and said, ‘listen, I know that was awful and I don’t mind if it doesn’t go my way.’"
"I can’t remember how quickly I found out, but the BBC were wonderful and said, ‘So sorry. We absolutely get it now. Yes, we’d love you to play Claire.’"
The Magic of Fleabag
Of Fleabag and Phoebe, Sian says: “Phoebe is just magical. She is also a composer. I mean, the script is watertight. That is the one script that for me is the holy grail, and I will honour every single dot and cough, because it is perfect, when you read it.”
Sian also feels proud that Fleabag tackled difficult issues, such as Claire’s miscarriage. She says: "The miscarriage story was based on something that happened to a friend of Phoebe’s. I just think it’s so, so important. Miscarriage is unbelievably common and people don’t know that, because it’s not spoken about."
"So, if we in any way have contributed to the beginning of a conversation that will take down that taboo, then I am honoured to be a part of something that did that."
