we would have to have the head cut off I'm sure he would come up with something much more creative sometimes we think you know us better than we know ourselves hi Kareem how are you I'm good how are you I'm doing great um I really enjoyed fire brand especially as a fan of the musical 6 Katherine par always being one of the wives that uh interested me the most and there's so much of her life that has been unexplored how did you Whittle down which aspect of her story which aspect of the novel you were really going to hone in on yeah listen I think there was so many and I think in one hand it was really exciting to enter this terrain which I think was very Uncharted I think the novel was amazing I had also done a lot of lectures with a woman who was a historian of Katherine in particular and of in the condition of women in the time and so there was a lot of choices that needed to be made and I think it was sort of thinking what was what was more interesting and what was relevant to today you know so I think the first one was the question of soft power I thought there was something there of having been trapped in a marriage that she didn't choose to be in and yet not sort of forgetting her beliefs and and I think ultimately it was a woman looking for emancipation in all senses so I think this was an important issue that I was looking into the character and then I think the other question of the question of Legacy from a famili perspective I think that um it was very interesting because the legacy of Henry is about violence it's about war it's about the Empire and I think the legacy of Katherine is education um it's generosity it's the way that she raised these kids that were not her biological kids but yet she raised them as if they were her own kids and the fact that she was the woman who educated Elizabeth you know and I think that for me was a really important aspect and and Beyond it all I think she was an amazing stateswoman and she was it was very tricky to do a movie about a queen and I felt a queen is such a privileged space you know the space of a queen but yet there was a lot of vulnerability there there was a lot of things that she needed to constantly fight for to remain alive so those are the things that I think excited me most you know and thinking of Henry and her I felt there was something very about now you know I think there are so many men running countries and institutions that are just like him and we know so little about the women that are like you know by their sides or working with them or against them so that that's what really made me go through it and think that this is this is a story that takes place in the 1500s but it's also a story about now absolutely um Alicia really disappears into the role at times I forgot that I was watching her I what aspects of um Katherine did you really want her to bring out most or what did you work with her most on I think there was a question of strategy of how she she had very strong convictions particularly about religion which were very very um dangerous you know uh in relationship to where she was so it was how to have a character which is unpredictable who was you know sort of understanding at every second which direction she could go without forgetting her her goals and without forgetting her convictions and I think one of the most incredible things about an actress like Alicia is that she has a lot of mystery in the way that she plays Katherine and I think mystery and um an eloquence in her silence you know in the way that she didn't speak sometimes and that she was just present I think this is something that Alicia does beautifully and uh with the strength that I think it's you know it's it's uncanny and it's um it's very very uh powerful absolutely well thank you so much um I cannot wait to see what historical figure you may tackle next oh thank you thank you very much the five wives who came before her all met untimely ends but Catherine's fate was to change the kingdom forever [Music]