She had to be willing to shave her head. That was a deal-breaker.
Natalie Dormer had just received the call every actor wants — she was a contender for the final “Hunger Games” films, “Mockingjay” Parts 1 and 2, for a key role: Cressida, a documentary filmmaker who turns Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) into an icon of the revolution.
In the novel, Cressida’s head is not only shaved, it’s also tattooed with an elaborate vine. Would Dormer, who’s known for playing bewitching characters — Margaery Tyrell on “Game of Thrones,” Moriarty on “Elementary” — sacrifice her lovely mane?Dormer, 32, did what she always does: She convened her friends. “We went round the dinner table, and the opinion was unanimous,” she says by phone from Los Angeles. “You’d have to be an idiot to say no to ‘Hunger Games.’ And hair grows back.”
Ultimately, director Francis Lawrence decided Cressida would look edgier if she shaved only one side of her head.
For the next nine months, as the two films shot back to back, Dormer buzzed half her skull every day, and rocked some funky red carpet experiments by night. (“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1” opens Nov. 21.)
The full panel for Game of Thrones at the SDCC is up online. Enjoy it!
It is so funny!
