The Dakota Blue Richards/Freya Mavor Interview from Diva Magazine.
I know a lot of people wanted to read the interview but don’t have access to the magazine so I though I’d type the whole thing up for you all. Enjoy! :)
(Full interview after the break)
The following article is taken from DIVA Magazine Jan/Feb issue and is written by Eden Carter Wood.
Speaking to two of the young stars of gritty teen drama Skins in the middle of their shooting schedule is rather tricky. They’re incredibly busy, for one thing, and due to the need for secrecy regarding forth-coming plot developments on the popular Channel 4 show, now about to begin its sixth season, the conersations can get a little cryptic.
Case in point : when I ask Dakota Blue Richards how last season’s ambiguously blossoming relationship will progress between her character, androgynous bow-tied Frnaky, and Freya Mavor’s popularity-obsessed Mini, Dakota gives me a charmingly vague response about something happening in the first episode that will shape the rest of the series and perhaps put a barrier up between the characters.
It must be difficult trying to keep these things secret, I suggest.
“Yeah,” she breathes. “I always want to just tell everybody what’s going to happen, but I know obviously I’m not allowed,” she laughs.
Mavor, who plays Mini, gives away a little more : “Mini, I think especially, has a really, really challenging situation on her hands and it’s how she basically deals with it, being a child herself, late teens. She;s still a child but is faced with these issues that are massive, too mature almost, too complicated for her.”
“What was interesting was a lot of it played on suggestion last year so it was never fully explained exactly what was going on in a lot of the relationships,” says Dakota perceptively when I ask her thoughts regarding speculation from fans about an imminent “Minky” hook-up.
“It was left up to the viewer to decide what was going on, to decide the reasons why certain thing happened, For example, with Mini and Franky, nothing actually went on betwen them. They never kissed other than once for the play in episode seven, and most of the time for the series, actually, they hated each other or, you know, appeared to. Quite a lot of people have read into that and said ‘oh they’re obviously destined to be a couple’. I think it’s interesting that people think very different things about it.”
They are able t elaborate a little more, albeit fairly circuitously.
“The basis of their relationship is all about infatuation,” Freya explains. “I think they compliment each other a characters. They’re very different but they have these qualities that the other person lacks, so they hold on to each other to sort situations out. They feels as if they have control over the situations around them because they’re quite good as a team.”
“Things that happen in both their storylines keep them separated from the beginning of the series and then half way through they find each other again,” Dakota adds enigmatically. “They have this kind of… understanding that passes between them that nobody else knows about and that forms this really strong bond which plays out a lot in episode nine, which is the one we’re shooting at the moment. I’,sure it will have a lot of significance in episode 10 as well although we haven’t actually seen the script for that yet.”
Having found out all I can about the future of Franky and Mini, I turn my by now finely-honed investigative skills to the actresses who play them. Taking my cue from Mini’s profile on the C4 website, where the character professes her love for Heat magazine, Legally Blonde and shoes, I ask Freya what five things she couldn’t live without. To my surprise, she produces a small plastic crustacean from her bag. “My lucky lobster!” she says. “This baby… it’s my little lucky emblem.” She laughs. “Yes, I carry a small lobster on my at all times which I know probably sounds a bit weird.”
Eighteen-year-old Mavor, who jokes around a fair bit during the interview and occasionally puts on silly voices, also likes TV sketch show Smack The Pony, Wes Anderson films, physical theatre and cats. Dakota, an almost preternaturally mature and articulate 17, comes across as more serious.
Neither are currently in a relationship. “Not at the moment,” says Dakota. “I’m too bust, working so hard! I would be such a crap girlfriend at the moment because I’d be so grumpy.”
Originally auditioning for the role of Liv, Dakota was asked fairly late in the casting process to read for Franky, and eventually cut her hair for the part. “I had long hair before Skins but they said to me before I got the role that I wanted to carry on being part of the process I would have to cut my hair. So I just agreed todo it, because there was no point in turning down Skins because I didn’t want to get a haircut, which would grow back anyway. They’ve let it grow out a lot this year as well, which is nice,” she adds.
Expect Franky’s slightly formal masculine style to become “much more relaxed” in the next season. “I liked the outfits last year and I did think they looked good on screen, but to be honest, I’m glad they’re gone,” Dakota says. “Most of the time they were really uncomfortable. I was wearing corsets underneath my clothes because they wanted to flatten my figure, and her shoes! It was like walking around in blocks of concrete, they were so heavy! Because I have really tiny feet it was difficult to find ones that fit me as well. The clothes this year have definitely been better in terms of practicality.”
When we come to the topic of defining one’s sexual orientation, Dakota has strong opinions.
It’s stupid because it’s almost become cliched to say ‘I don’t believe in labels’,” she says. “But I think that love is just love and you can’t define it with just like a couple of words. I think that putting people in boxes like that, it’s not helpful for anyone and it makes people feel segregated. I’ve loved lots of different people in lots of different ways, and they’re not all necessarily sexual and they’re no all necessarily romantic. But you know, it’s definitely been love . And I think I’ll continue to love lots of different people in lots of different ways and for lots of different reasons, as well. If I fall in love with a man then I fall in love with a man, and if I fall in love with a woman, I fall in love with a woman. It doesn’t make me straight or gay.”
It’s not a particularly original question, but I have to ask. Have you ever had a girl crush?
“Oh yeah! Oh god, yeah!” Freya says, going ever-so-slightly pink. “When I lived in France, when I was about 12 or 12, I had my first girlfriend. I went out with a girl for a few months,. I broke up with her on Valentine’s Day!” she adds, laughing but also mortified at the memory.
“God I was so cruel! I think if you meet someone who’s extremely intriguing then you can’t help but be attracted to them. I don’t know how you cannot be attracted to different people of any sex.”
She would “definitely not” describe herself as straight, she adds. “I’d love to be in a relationship with a girl, if she was the right person. My exes for the last few years have been men but I haven’t put myself in enough potential…,” she trails off. “I like girls who are quite androgynous,” she explains. “Like Franky’s character, and models like Agyness Deyn who are very tomboyish. I like that side to girls. It’s nice when a girl has that interesting twist to them. Like Tilda Swinton or someone like that, they’ve got that interesting beauty. So yes, I have many a girl crush.”
“Do you know who I think is really beautiful?” Dakota says. “Rosie Huntington-Whitely. I think her face is perfect. I have a bit of a girl-crush on Angelina Jolie as well, since I watched Gia. It;s about the first-ever supermodel,” she explains. “It was one of Angelina’s first roles and she’s really, realy good in it. It’s one of my favourite films.”
Fittingly, the 1998 supermodel biopic crops up again later, when I ask if Dakota’s motto would be anything like Franky’s which the C4 site perhaps rather glibly notes is : ‘Why so serious, son?’
“Oh gosh. Oh actually… ok, this might be a little bit lame, but it’s in my head ever since I mentioned Gia,” she says. “There’s a line from that film, which I think is a very good way of looking at life, which is just that ‘This is life, not heaven’, You don’t have to be perfect. I just think people spend so much time worrying about the way they come across and how they’re going to deal with certain situations and how to make themselves and other people happy that actually they don’t find time to just be themselves, and just enjoy the present. You don’t have to be perfect but I think you can be the perfect you and that’s all you need to be.”
Which is, we agree, a lovely note to end on.
