I had an awareness of the dangers of focusing too much on [beauty] very early on. I came from quite a socialist background with the belief that everything physical was superficial. It was a very healthy viewpoint to have – a sort of an antidote to being in a world where so much emphasis was placed on appearance. I had this feeling that [beauty] was quite superficial, all the hair and make-up and everything that we do all the time.
But when I became a mum, I think I really began to appreciate beauty as a way to pamper myself and feel good and glamorous. It’s often a way for women to pamper and take care of each other, when we're so often responsible for caring for other people, whether it's children or parents. It’s quite a beautiful ritual to have these moments together.
One of my best known [beauty transformations] is in Star Wars as Queen of Madala. That hair and make-up was so original and recognisable – it was a big one. Shaving my head for a V for Vendetta was another moment of real transformation. It was so liberating. Meanwhile, Black Swan, was a huge physical transformation. It was quite extreme in terms of getting to a point of being strong enough to play a dancer. When I played Jackie Kennedy in Jackie, there was a lot of pressure because people are so aware of how she looks and sounds and so to go through that transformation was quite intense.
Having a different appearance for a role is really helpful for getting into and out of a character when you’re able to go back to yourself. It’s dangerous to look too much like your character. I’ll often do something quite different with my hair or make-up.
When it come to my skincare, I'm quite simple. I recently saw an amazing facialist called Keren Bartov and I started using her products for washing and moisturising my skin. I'm not very high maintenance with [my skin] - I can't really do a lot with my routine because I'm not good at keeping up with it. I only really use face wash and moisturiser. I try and get massages pretty regularly, perhaps once a month, and I've been vegan for 12 years now.
It's such a privilege [to age]. I see it as such a positive thing. Unfortunately, so many people don't get to age and so you have to appreciate it at every moment. It's very exciting that we're in an era where it feels like everyone's allowed to continue being interesting into their forties, fifties, sixties, seventies. We're seeing actresses do their most extraordinary work as they're getting older and there's like a preponderance of roles for women as they're getting into their forties, fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties even. It’s probably the first generation where this has happened. Prior to this, women would kind of evaporate when they turned 40.
‘Celebrate your own difference,’ is the best advice I could give to my daughter. It’s something that a long time to figure out. You're not trying to look like everyone else – you should look like yourself because you’re unique and no one else can look like you. Don’t conform to some standard.
When it comes to scent, when I was in grade school it was trendy for everything to be vanilla-scented, but as I’ve aged I've gotten much more into floral scents. It's been fun to explore this through this character [of Miss Dior] and see the iterations of the scent. With the many different layers of flowers you can get, it really feels like you're in a flower field when you smell the perfume. The character has retained that joy, freedom and independence.
