Trainspotting star Kelly Macdonald has said she would tell her younger self “don’t worry so much” and remind her that “you were cool too”.
The Scottish actress, 50, stars as town sheriff Kerry in the new DC Studios series Lanterns, which follows two intergalactic cops, veteran Green Lantern Hal Jordan, as he takes on his new partner John Stewart to investigate a series of unexplainable deaths in a small town in Nebraska.
Rise to fame
Macdonald shot to fame nearly three decades ago when she was 19, starring as Diane opposite Ewan McGregor in the 1996 film adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting.
Speaking to the Press Association, she said if she could speak to her younger self she would say: “Don’t worry so much. It was so overwhelming to me, and everybody seemed so cool. I would tell myself, ‘You were cool too’. I didn’t feel like one of the cool guys, and to a certain extent I still feel that with the cast that I’m working with here, but yes, I need to start believing that I’m one of the cool guys.”
New series role
Macdonald acts opposite Rebel Ridge actor Aaron Pierre and Friday Night Lights star Kyle Chandler in the new HBO series – a project she said she could not believe she was even considered for.
She said: “It was a very exciting project to get involved in. I can’t believe my name was even on a list. I don’t know how I ended up on that. I was just very excited to work with Kyle Chandler and Aaron who I have seen in Rebel Ridge, and he’s just like, it’s mesmerising.”
She added that the role, which involved wearing “big cowboy boots”, a badge and cowboy hat, felt as though she was playing her own version of Calamity Jane, a wild-west character, with whom she was “obsessed” when she was a child. “I was very happy,” she added.
Other credits and release
Macdonald is also known for Line Of Duty as Detective Chief Inspector Joanne Davidson and played Margaret Thompson in the drama Boardwalk Empire.
Lanterns is out and can be streamed on HBO Max and Now.
