Claire Foy Felt ‘High-Maintenance’ After Sharing Stunt Concerns Filming 2017’s ‘Breathe’
Claire Foy has no problem mentioning it all when it comes to her past roles.
The “Women Talking” star opened up about feeling “uptight and high-maintenance” during the production of the 2017 film “Breathe” after voicing her concerns about unsafe stunts involving wild elephants. Based on the true story of Kenya-traveling couple Robin (Andrew Garfield) and Diana Cavendish (Foy), “Breathe” was actor Andy Serkis‘ feature directorial debut.
“One thing that does really, really get on my nerves is things not being safe. Stunts — I can’t tell you the amount of situations I’ve been like, ‘No, it’s alright! You’re about to meet an elephant! Doesn’t matter! You don’t need to meet the elephant before — just drive at it at high speed and get out of the car and meet the elephant!'” Foy recalled during the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast.
Foy continued, “I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t be OK with that, and now I’m being made to feel really uptight and high-maintenance because I’m quite scared of meeting a giant elephant.”
She added, “Maybe I was a bit of a baby about it. But I was a bit like, ‘I feel like this is a bit unsafe, guys. It’s not a trained elephant. It’s just a random elephant that we’re driving up to.'”
And that experience was not limited to “Breathe”: Foy noted that she has commonly dealt with unsafe stuntwork.
“I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve been involved in stunts where I’ve just gone, ‘This isn’t OK,'” the “Girl in the Spider’s Web” actress said. “And then everyone goes, ‘No, it’s fine!’ And then you go, ‘OK, I’m going to trust that you know what’s going on here,’ and it turns out no one does. It’s bad. But then I haven’t done anything like that in a few years, so I think it’s probably changed.”
Foy previously told The New York Times that she feared for her life on the set of “Breathe.”
“We had to drive at speed straight at the elephants and brake suddenly. I was screaming, ‘Oh my God, this is a bit, like, kamikaze isn’t it?!'” the “Crown” actress said. “And [director] Andy Serkis is like, ‘No, Claire, it’s fine, just hold my hand.’ Andrew Garfield is in the Jeep, being passive — like, ‘Come and sleep in the Jeep with me’ — and I’m just terrified. I nearly [lost it].”
Foy concluded, “I could just see the headline: ‘Two actors die in a jeep after being charged by elephants.’ But then the female elephant smelled me, and that was it. She moved on, and it was an incredible experience.”
