Shirley Henderson: ‘There’s a need to understand how to write for women at any age’

Shirley Henderson, 50, has starred in numerous television, film and theatre productions, including Wonderland, Topsy-Turvy, Happy Valley, Southcliffe and Hamish Macbeth. She plays Jude in the Bridget Jones films, and Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter franchise. She studied drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and lives in Fife with her partner. Her new film, Tale of Tales, is directed by the Italian Matteo Garrone (Gomorrah, Reality) and also stars Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel and Toby Jones. It’s based on a trio of Neapolitan poet Giambattista Basile’s ancient fantasy morality tales, which predate the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. Henderson plays Imma, an old woman who yearns to be like her sister, Dora, who has been transformed by magic into a beautiful young maiden, who has beguiled the king.

Tale of Tales is Matteo Garrone’s first English-speaking film. How did you find working with him?
Fascinating. Obviously there’s a language barrier, but he knows enough. He doesn’t tell you too much until you begin, then he’s very clear about what he wants. It was an Italian set, and you think everybody’s shouting at you, but they’re not – it’s just a hyped-up atmosphere. He’s very exciting to work with and I’d jump at the chance again.

The film has been described as “fairytales for adults” and your sequence seems to be about youth, beauty, losing it, trying to recapture it. But Imma doesn’t want it for its own sake – it’s to fit in with Dora?
To me, it’s about a seed that was planted that wasn’t there at the start. As soon as the old women know there’s a world beyond their four walls, they’re curious. It’s just human nature. But, yes, Imma thinks that the way to be with her sister again is to change her skin – and they do change it, by removing her skin.

It works as a modern metaphor – the way that society overvalues youth and beauty. Some scenes made me wince – the flaying and mutilation of Imma and her asking for it to happen. To me, it evoked plastic surgery.
I never thought of it like that, but it’s a point of view. I thought it was about being with Dora again, to be like her, to be pretty, to fit in. But, yes, I suppose it’s a desire to be other than what you are.

Society’s hard on people ageing, but your industry is particularly hard and harder still on women, with roles drying up…
I don’t know. There are obviously fewer parts for women. Then there are people who get fantastic roles as they get older. I think there’s a gap, jumping from “mum” to “middle-aged mum”, to… what’s next? You may have to wait another 20 years for another meaty role. I worked with Julia McKenzie, who’s fantastic as Miss Marple, and she said there was a gap, where you have to hang on in there. But look at Sally Wainwright [creator of Happy Valley] – she’s writing fabulous roles for women of all ages. Hopefully, more like her will come through.

You don’t like to discuss your private life. Is that about privacy or remaining credible in roles?
Both really. I don’t like reading about that myself. And if people don’t know too much about you then they might just accept what you’re trying to do.

Would you classify your background as working class?
I’d class it as “normal”. My dad worked in a power station and my mother worked in bars and pubs – so whatever that is, that’s what I was brought up in. We’d watch Opportunity Knocks, Generation Game, telly like that. I didn’t know about drama schools, the Royal Shakespeare Company or anything like that. As a child, I was a tomboy, out climbing trees, gathering all the kids from the street, making up games. My life was all about playing, inventing and creating, right up until I left school.

You were only 17 when you went to drama school. Did it seem like a different world?
Yes. I was probably too young in the sense that I’d not gone out, I’d never been to a pub, I’d never sat and chatted over coffee with other people my age. I was very unworldly.

There’s a debate about people from less wealthy backgrounds being increasingly locked out of the arts, not least finances-wise.
Well, when you’re a student, it’s hellish and you’ve also chosen a career that’s so up and down. But I didn’t know a single thing about showbusiness and somehow I found a way in. Persevering, knocking on doors, putting feelers out.

Your message is: don’t give up.
Of course – write a million letters, knock on a million doors.

You have a reputation for delivering the off-kilter, left-field and unexpected. Your character in Happy Valley, Frances Drummond, was very disturbing.
I just thought she was lonely, in love with the wrong person. I wanted to underplay it, to have this idea that she’s dangerous, but, in the end, she might not be. And I like to think that if she was sitting in the room now, she’d be over there in the corner [points] and you might not actually see her.

You’ve said that the director Michael Winterbottom helped you to learn how to improvise.
Yes, the first time in Wonderland, it was nerve-racking because I didn’t know we were going to be doing it. He’d send me to buy clothes for the character and hang out with the wee actor who played the boy and, at a certain point, he said: “Forget the script, just see what happens.” When I understood what he meant, I loved it. Now that’s become my way of working, when it’s possible. It frees me.

Were there any actors in your head when you were growing up, people you wanted to emulate?
I liked Natalie Wood, and musicals like Calamity Jane. And Judi Dench. Her play was the first play I saw when I was 16 – The Importance of Being Earnest.

Does theatre remain important to you?
I go to see it all the time. And acting in it was very important to me for a long time; I just wanted to try doing other things. But theatre is something that I might go back to. Recently, I’ve been dabbling in workshops; there are people writing things that are interesting to me. If the right thing came along, I’d be very interested.

Tale of Tales is released on 17 June