Miranda Otto, who plays the heroic Éowyn in “The Lord of the Rings” films, takes a dark turn as a sinister cult leader in the new Hulu series “The Clearing.”
“I’m really fascinated by cults,” Otto, 55, told the Post.
“My aunt really was [Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh] Cult in the 80s, when I was a really young kid. So, when they said the role was that of a cult leader, I thought it would be a real challenge.
“The Clearing”, based on the novel by JP Pomeray, is a fictional story partly based on the real-life Australian cult The Family, which ran from the 1960s to the 1980s.
In the show, the group is called The Kindred and is led by Adrienne (Otto), who considers herself the “mother” of a large group of kidnapped white children.
Adrienne rarely gets her hands dirty and has grown-up minions, including Tamsin (Kate Mulvaney), who kidnap and discipline children on her behalf. His friend Dr. So has Bryce Latham (Guy Pearce).
In the present day, the series also follows Freya (Teresa Palmer), a young single mother with a background in cults – and is horrified when reports of kidnapped children lead her to believe that It is not old, because he thought.
Otto said that although his aunt was in a cult, he did not ask her about it.
“I didn’t really talk to him,” he said. “She’s grown up now and doesn’t remember much. But, I have read a book called ‘Breaking the Spell’ by Jane Stork.
He said he did not base his performance on any particular cult leader, such as Charles Manson.
“I really worked from my imagination and scripts. [The show] Mess with your brain a little,” he said. “What I was really trying to do was work [Adrienne’s] There were motivations. At first I thought it was power, but I didn’t find power as a tool really useful. It becomes about someone who is unable to empathize emotionally … he is able to feel it through a strange affinity. [her followers]. This is the quirk of my character.
“On the one hand, as an actor, I know what my job is. I’m a contrarian,” he said. “I don’t think of it as a character [Adrienne] Must be forgiven. I don’t want to say ‘it’s not really his fault.’ He is what he is. But I have to play it from within her reality and how she sees things.
“Adrienne thinks she has all the answers and that she knows how people should be and that her ideas about the world are right. She thinks she’s coming from a good place.”
The veteran actress (“The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” “War of the Worlds,” “Homeland”) said it’s her role in Peter Jackson’s big-screen “LOTR” trilogy that endures.
“People still come to me. The fans carry torches and are so kind, so it’s always a pleasure,” he said.
“I did not see [the Prime Video] Show,” he said. “It’s funny, it was a special experience for me, and I have this thing in life where you can never really go back to something.
“So, for me watching it is like trying to go back in time – and I can’t.”
