Imelda Staunton names her least favourite character of her career: “She’s a bloody monster”
A prolific star of both stage and screen, Imelda Staunton has given her fair share of impressive performances over the years, but there’s one that no one can forget, a character that she describes as a “bloody monster”.
Bringing a villainous character to life is never going to be easy, especially if, in real life, you’re actually a decent person; yet, it’s often the nicest actors who are able to deliver the cruellest performances as antagonists, tapping into a side of themselves that they don’t usually get to access.
Staunton proved to be the perfect actor to play Harry Potter villain Dolores Umbridge, one of the most detested characters in the whole franchise, who doesn’t appear until the fifth film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, eventually reprised in Deathly Hallows – Part 1, but her performance left such a lasting impact on fans that you’d think she’d been a part of the series from the very beginning.
The actor took inspiration from the tyrannical Margaret Thatcher, a prime minister responsible for so many terrible decisions that it’s hard to select just one that stands out as her worst, although the homophobic Section 28 was particularly heinous. Shw remains one of the most selfish political figures in British history, so it was only suitable for Staunton to partially base her performance as Umbridge, the powerful high inquisitor for the Minister for Magic, on her.
Talking to Out Magazine, Staunton once revealed how she and director David Yates discussed the similarities between the political monstrosity and the Potter antagonist, saying, “We had very good conversations, him and I, about the seriousness of this woman and about how dangerous she is to be in charge of children. It was the ultimate nightmare of having someone like that who is really, really interested in ethnic cleansing, which is what she’s interested in. Pure blood. It’s horrible.”
She continued, “We were thinking of having to compare with terrible atrocities and Margaret Thatcher. These people who absolutely believe they are doing the right thing. So it’s not like, ‘I am evil, and I’m going to do…’, and that’s so much more frightening.”
This source of inspiration clearly worked wonders in informing her approach, because few villains have been reviled as much as Umbridge, whom Staunton played to perfection, with the key to mastering her performance was getting to the bottom of the terrifying motivations and behaviours belonging to the character, a heartless and selfish individual, even if she can’t personally understand them.
She remains Staunton’s least favourite character, at least personality-wise, and she delved into her hatred for the antagonist in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, ranting, “I think she’s a bloody monster and to be played as such. I don’t need to understand what she does, but from a character point of view, she believes she’s doing the absolute best for that school. Yet again, I have embraced a completely and utterly deluded woman.”
Emphasising the political nature at the heart of the character, she added, “I’m not just a lady in a very nice array of pink outfits. This is madness and cruelty dressed up”.
