How would you feel about sending your own son to war?
Well, there’s a similar situation going on in my own family at the present moment. A young man in my family wants to go to war. Even though my 18-year-old nephew’s grandfathers and great grandfathers served in World War I and II, there is no way I want to see him sign up and serve in Iraq. And I have been anything but silent about it.
Sounds very familiar...
My young nephew has bad vision, like Jack Kipling in our film, and can only see clearly through his right eye. Still, his desire to serve and become part of what he perceives as the greatest battle being fought in his lifetime is stronger than all the arguments made.
You are dead set against him going, then?
I don’t want my nephew to be part of any war but I am powerless to stop him should his passion continue and he be accepted. Ultimately it is his decision. This doesn’t stop me emailing and sending him articles to try and stop him.
Things are very different for women now than in Carrie's time.
Unlike Carrie Kipling, I live in a time when women can and do speak out publicly and privately against war and my hope is that my nephew and other young men and women like him will get a chance to see My Boy Jack and think more clearly of how it will not only affect their lives but their families for generations.
This is quite different to your previous work. What attracted you to it?
So my reasons for doing My Boy Jack were personal as well as professional. I think most people know Rudyard Kipling was a great writer but they don’t know that much about Rudyard ‘the private man’ or his family. His work immediately captured people’s imagination and still does today.
You play his wife, Carrie, in this film. Did you enjoy the experience?
Being involved with My Boy Jack was a wonderful experience. I enjoyed playing a woman not just so different from myself, and other roles I’ve played, but a woman living in a time where she didn’t have the freedom to speak her mind or even cast a vote.
What is Carrie like?
Carrie was fiercely protective of her family but never crossed her husband, even though she doesn’t want this war or her son to serve in it. I’m reminded of the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Everyone was rallying for vengeance and retaliation. I can imagine the same kind of fever in 1914 and a young man like John Kipling wanting to sign up and defend king and country.
Have you read much Kipling?
I grew up reading Kipling. He wrote a book called Kim that my father gave me a copy of when I was a little girl and I read the Jungle Books and some of his poetry. The Way Through The Woods is still one of my favourite poems.
