There was a subtle power shift last season onGame of Thrones when Margaery Tyrell—the cunning noblewoman played by Natalie Dormer—toyed with King Joffrey’s crossbow inside his bedchamber. Viewers had previously seen the ambitious beauty vow to become queen, relocate to the capital, King’s Landing, and win the hearts of its masses. Now that she was wedding their ruler, the future queen caressed Joffrey’s favorite weapon, making it clear that she would not be intimidated by him or his boyish sadism, and effectively checking her (future) mate.
When not finessing television’s most merciless monarch, Dormer has been busy lately. After outsmarting Sherlock Holmes himself on ABC’s Elementary as Moriarty last May, the British actress seduces both Chris Hemsworth, in Ron Howard’s Rush this month, and Brad Pitt, in Ridley Scott’s The Counselor. But as Dormer told us when we spoke last month—shortly before it was announced that she had been cast in The Hunger Games’ final two installments as Cressida—she’s keen to leave behind the clever-love-interest roles and emulate her favorite movie stars of the 40s.
To coincide with our Spotlight of Dormer inV.F.’s November issue, we’ve transcribed our full Q&A with theHunger Games—Mockingjayco-star, below. (At the very end,Game of Thrones fans, note a semi-significant Season Four spoiler about Margaery and Joffrey.)
Julie Miller: Margaery feels like a very contemporary character. When you were brought onto Game of Thrones, did you look to any modern politicians or politicians’ wives for inspiration?
Natalie Dormer: Margaery brings this whole new dimension, a very modern P.R. savvy, to the power play in Game of Thrones. You see all of these different tactics on the show, be it brute force with a sword or terrorism, all the way down to the subtleties of politics in court. Margaery is more hoping to win over the populace, the hearts and the minds. I think she is more of a hybrid of our royal family—if you want to nod back to Lady Di or the modern-day version, Kate Middleton—and a First Lady in that she is more the power behind the man.
Do you think she is sincere?
I do! I always tell people this: to be a savvy politician or a good head of state and to be charitable are not mutually exclusive things. I believe that she is very concerned in the welfare of the orphans and the populace. And it’s more interesting to play if she is sincere, to be honest.
What do you think makes her able to understand and influence Joffrey, this past season at least, when he listens to so few other characters?
I think it’s because Margaery is very good at psychological analysis and figuring out what makes people tick. Sometimes it takes her awhile—you saw her struggling at first to figure it out with Joffrey. Whether it’s Joffrey or Sansa or her brother, she knows how to handle people. She would probably make a very good therapist! [Laughs.] Also, when she talks to someone, she works out what that person wants. With Sansa, it’s a family and to feel that sense of belonging again. Or with Joffrey, he wants violence and excitement. Margaery figures out what people want and is able to figure out a way to combine their interests with her interests, which is a very modern politician’s perspective.
Have you gotten any feedback from modern politicians who respect your game play?
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and myself went to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in D.C., and we were just overwhelmed by the response of the D.C. community who loved the show. [Laughs] We were really made to feel special that evening. People wanted to come and say hi. Maybe the machinations and politics and wrangling and negotiation and power play went down very well on Capitol Hill.
That’s so funny. Did you have any memorable exchanges that night?
Oh you know, everyone just kind of came up to say, “We love the show. It is so amazing.” It is kind of a metaphorical embodiment of what really goes down [in Washington]. The bloodletting! I’m sure that in some partisan forums they would really like to draw the swords at each other occasionally. I think it’s just the psychology and power plays of the show. And there are so many storylines that I think no matter what you do, you can kind of find “your” character that you want to cheer on. Their personality, their storyline that speaks to you as well. I think that is a beauty of the show.
