Quotes

The media was completely influential in the rise and fall of Bonnie and Clyde.

I did a year at Leeds, studying English. They basically threw me out, because I was taking too much time off to act. So I transferred to the Open University, because I could do it all online. By that point, I had admitted to myself that I had the acting bug.

You'll always end up filling out a character. It might be with aspects of yourself.

To be able to analyze plays and novels is so relevant to acting.

When I was younger, I was always being told I had a period face, but Bel Ami (2012) was my first shot at it.

True love, especially first love, can be so tumultuous and passionate that it feels like a violent journey.

As much as I'd love to be a successful actor, the thought of being recognised in the street is petrifying.

I admire my mother for being a single mum. It's ridiculously hard.

I auditioned for a musical, and I can't sing. It was a kid's film musical, not a stage show, so I thought I could get away with it.

I come from a very loving, stable background where I've been persuaded to just be myself and anything is possible.

I seem to play a lot of troubled kids.

I'd like to continue acting as long as I enjoy it.

I'd love to do more independent films.

I don't have any massive ambitions to be a movie star.

I don't really have any strategy for my career.

I'm developing a little crush on Michael Fassbender. Really unoriginal.

I'm very lucky, as I've never ever felt any pressure from any producer to lose weight, whereas a lot of actresses have.

Long scenes of emotion are quite difficult - you've got to build up to them and make sure you're in the right emotional space.

It's always really surreal, being on a film set, but inside a beautiful, massive scene.

Jack Thorne writes so well for messed-up teenage girls.

When you're a child, you take things for granted. For instance, my mum didn't have a lot of money, but I went to piano, ballet and gymnastics lessons, and tae kwon do.

I enjoy flitting around between hair colours. I find it fascinating when people think I'm naturally blonde, as I've only been blonde for about two seconds. People pay more attention to you as a blonde; it's also easier for people to assume you're a ditsy young actress. Of course, I am a ditsy young actress - well, maybe not ditsy.

I love the opportunity to do lots of different kinds of projects - independent films and big studio epics as well. I'd love to be able to do a mixture.

I was so tiny when my parents split up that I can't remember them ever being together. That was never an issue, as I guess I never went through the trauma of them splitting up.

I've got a massive actor girl crush on Carey Mulligan, so I'd love to be buddies with her. She just oozes this joyful, natural innocence and always brings a nice emotional depth to her character.

The Borgias (2011) is quite good because it does stick quite steadfastly to historical fact, so a lot of people who are interested in the historical element will love watching it, but they were also a ridiculously dramatic family.

The couple of biographies that I preferred on Lucrezia Borgia were written by women who saw her as a very powerful, independent woman who was maybe ahead of her time. A lot of the negative rumors that have circulated about her, after her death, were based on the fact that she was ambitious and she was powerful, in her own right. Maybe people weren't quite ready for that.