Spotlight on: Elizabeth Debicki
What is it about the Land Down Under that makes it such a consistent supplier of grade-A talent? Australia has gifted Hollywood with a Tasmanian Devil (Errol Flynn), several Academy Award winners (Mel Gibson, Geoffrey Rush, Heath Ledger, Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett), an X-Man (Hugh Jackman), a Marvel superhero (Chris Hemsworth), and a member of the Suicide Squad (Margot Robbie). The latest talented stunner to make her mark is Elizabeth Debicki, who co-stars alongside Henry Cavill, Armie Hammer, Alicia Vikander, and Hugh Grant in Guy Ritchie's Swinging Sixties espionage caper The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Paris-born, Melbourne-raised twenty-five-year-old certainly cuts a striking figure with her towering six-foot, three-inch frame and slim build. As the glamorous and seductive schemer Victoria, Debicki swans about like some haughty Antonioni anti-heroine and calling to mind the likes of Faye Dunaway in The Thomas Crown Affair and Camilla Sparv in Murderers' Row. Her emotional intelligence aside, Debicki has a supreme physicality that enables her to embody the era in which her characters exist. Take, for example, her breakthrough role as Jordan Baker in Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby. Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan may have been the headliners, but no one made more of an impression than Debicki, who conveyed the Jazz Age attitude with such ease that she seemed straight from the Roaring Twenties.
At the time, Debicki had only a small role in the Australian romantic comedy A Few Best Men but her audition reel was impressive enough to spark Luhrmann's interest. "That whole audition was one of the strangest experiences of my life," Debicki recalled in a 2013 piece in The Australian. "I'd never been to L.A. before, it was like a crazy whirlwind - I got on a plane and then I was in L.A., the sun was shining and I did this crazy audition and came home."
Debicki landed the role a mere three months after graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts (whose list of famous alumni includes Kidman) and it wasn't too long after wrapping up the film that she made her stage debut as Madame in Jean Genet's The Maids. Her co-stars? Only two of the most formidably talented actresses in the world: Cate Blanchett and Isabelle Huppert. Debicki's impressive portrayal garnered her a Sydney Theatre Award as Best Newcomer. The New York critics were equally rapt when the production played as part of 2014's Lincoln Center Festival. Ben Brantley of The New York Times wrote, "That Ms. Debicki sometimes resembles the Cate Blanchett of 20 years ago makes the parallels [between the characters] all the more disturbing. And the double act they perform toward the end of the production's uninterrupted 115 minutes makes you uncomfortable in ways I imagine might have pleased Genet, who was notoriously hard to please."
Comparisons to Blanchett, physical or otherwise, are no small matter but Debicki possesses a command of her craft that is sure to keep her well-employed and well-praised for many years to come. Like Blanchett, Debicki intends to divide her time between her native Australia and Hollywood and seek out compelling roles whether they be on stage, film, or television. Debicki's next roles appear to adhere to her intentions. She co-stars as Lady Macduff in the highly anticipated Macbeth starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, and has a supporting role in the all-star disaster drama Everest. More intriguing may be her roles in two television miniseries, the Australian The Kettering Incident and the BBC/AMC The Night Manager. The latter is an adaptation of the John Le Carré novel featuring Tom Hiddleston, Olivia Colman, and Hugh Laurie.
For now, Debicki can concentrate on the more practical achievement of getting her driver's license having learned how to drive during the production of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. "I actually got driving lessons on the set. . .so I learnt to drive in a manual E Type Jag! There are so many amazing stunts in the film but my greatest stunt was taking off in a manual car and just driving in a straight line," she laughs.
Watch The Man from U.N.C.L.E. trailer below
