Olivia Colman: ‘Losing The Favourite weight was quite depressing’

Actress Olivia Colman found it “quite depressing” as she struggled to lose the extra weight she had packed on for The Favourite.
The star plays Britain’s Queen Anne in the period drama, about two cousins who fight for the 18th century monarch’s attention, and instead of making use of prosthetics to plump herself up onscreen as the real-life monarch, she decided to indulge.
“I had to put on a lot of weight for it, so that was quite fun,” the 44 year old told Britain’s Daily Express.
“She (Queen Anne) was very big and (director Yorgos Lanthimos) wanted to see that on camera… and I didn’t want to use prosthetics, so I spent a few months eating, which was enjoyable,” the actress explained, admitting there was “no technique” to her approach.
Olivia ended up gaining about 35 pounds (15.9 kilograms) for the role, but shedding the excess weight proved to be much more difficult than she had envisioned.
“But then (it) became quite depressing,” she continued. “Because it goes on so easily but, gosh, it doesn’t come off as easily!”
The historical movie required the Broadchurch star to get steamy with castmate Emma Stone’s character Baroness Abigail Masham for one love scene, but while the 30-year-old Oscar winner was eager to strip off, Colman recently revealed she had refused.
“There wasn’t actual nudity (on her part),” Olivia explained. “Yorgos asked and I said I absolutely won’t. There is no way. I think he said it would be great if everybody was able to. And I said, ‘No’. And he replied, ‘Right’.”
Colman’s performance in The Favourite doesn’t appear to have been affected by her reluctance to bare all onscreen. The film, which also stars Rachel Weisz, has become an awards season hit, with Olivia among those tipped to score an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress next year (19) after winning numerous critics’ and film festival prizes.