Sophie Kennedy Clark Video Interview On ‘Philomena,’ Judi Dench, Stephen Frears

Sophie Kennedy Clark plays a young Judi Dench in Philomena, the story of one woman’s search for her long-lost son. In the film, based on a true story, Clark performs the title role as a young woman whose son is forcefully removed from her care. “That kind of emotion is animalistic. It is without any self-awareness that you throw yourself into it,” Clark told uInterview exclusively. “[The real] Philomena was on set and that gave it a push and a gravitas to me because I wanted to do her justice. Because, ultimately, she’s watching some little actress trying to emulate what was quite possibly the most heart-wrenching and awful moment in her life that she has gone over and over and over and over again in her head and I wanted to do her justice.”

Working with a legend like Dench was an epic experience for Clark. “I think every female actor can quite happily say that if we are doing the same projects [Dench]’s doing at this stage in her life, what more could you want as an actor?” said Clark. “She’s even more wonderful than you’d even try to imagine that she is. To be able to be in the same film, playing a younger version of her, it’s something I will remember for the rest of my life and hold incredibly dear to me just because she is who she is.”