Nicole Beharie on Playing an Olympian

Connect with Deadline online! https://www.facebook.com/deadline/ https://twitter.com/DEADLINE https://www.instagram.com/deadline/

Transcript

00:00Your character is a former Olympian, actually.

00:04Yes, yes, a former.

00:05What was she in the Olympics?

00:07She was a runner.

00:08To be completely honest, I was begging, like,

00:10can I please be a gymnast?

00:11Because I'm petite.

00:12And I've actually been a gymnast.

00:14Like, when I was younger, I liked to dance.

00:15And it is what it is.

00:16So they made you a runner.

00:17I got to run.

00:18But that's also good for me.

00:20Like, I needed that challenge.

00:21And sort of, there was a gap between Christina and I.

00:26And I had to sort of fill it.

00:28And the research just kind of makes you, like,

00:30go into the mindset of an athlete or an Olympian.

00:33Specifically, like, gold medal winning Olympian.

00:35What it takes to be someone who wants to be on record

00:38as the best, the greatest of all time.

00:42Yeah.

00:43There's something inside that's, like,

00:44very different from what I have.

00:46You know what I mean?

00:47Like, I love what I do.

00:49But I'm never sort of, like, I'm the best at anything.

00:52So just putting that in, like, into my being

00:55and imagine, like, imagining having that as my driving factor,

00:59I think affected the way that I play Christina.