In the film, The King, we meet Catherine de Valois. The daughter of King Charles, Catherine is offered as a bride to the newly crowned King Henry V (Timothée Chalamet). During her crucial scenes, Catherine proves to be intelligent, observant and one of the few people who's unafraid to tell the King the truth.
Catherine de Valois is played by Lily-Rose Depp, and we got to talk to her about her new role.
Screen Rant: Director David Michôd said that Catherine needed to be the voice of reason. She needed to be the mirror that's held up to Hal. How aware were you of knowing that about your character?
Lily-Rose Depp: Yeah, we definitely had those conversations, but I think that was obviously really evident to me in the way that the character was written. As soon as I read the script it is really evident to me how much of a voice of reason she is especially when you compare her council to the council that Hal gets from the men that surround him in the movie. Her intentions are kind of untouched by thirst for power or greed, and you can't say the same for the men around him.
I feel that was really beautifully depicted just in the writing and I was really excited to dive into that and talk about that with David.
Screen Rant: I kind of want to talk about Catherine's first scene. Where she sees her father talk to this very young king. What do you think is going through her head while this is happening in front of her?
Lily-Rose Depp: It's interesting, you're the first person to talk to me about that scene…
Screen Rant: Oh...wow!
Lily-Rose Depp: Yeah! I think it's a really interesting scene too. I was trying to...we don't see me for like the first part of that scene...it's just between the two of them, but I was there the entire time, watching this all happen and trying to get inside her head and everything. I think that she's observing him with curiosity, and trying to suss him out.
She knows of his actions, she knows the kind of king he has been...the many people he's killed and everything...I think that, in that scene, and just in general, that first meeting and getting to know each other... whose this man that I've been betrothed to. And trying to separate, not separate the man from the action, but try to figure out… I know of his leadership, I know of his actions, of his battles. Who is this person that I'm meant to now, make a life with. I think she's trying to figure him out in that way. She's observing him. She's curious and trying to figure out who he is.
Screen Rant: Do you think that she's trying to control the situation when she finally has the chance to start talking to him?
Lily-Rose Depp: I think she is making what she can with the situation she has been placed into. For women in that time period, the paths and the purposes of their lives are basically decided by their families. By the men in their lives. So I think...she doesn't have a choice about who she is going to marry, about what kind of life she's gonna have. She has been observing all of this from behind the scenes.
So I think she has a perspective on all of these actions in this whole story that Hal couldn't possibly have. So when she delivers this kind of truth to him, it's almost like a revelation to him when to her it is the obvious truth to what's been going on this entire time. She delivers that with such a level headedness and assuredness that I think only a person whose been put into the position that she has and could have that perspective.
