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Madonna 'doesn't do small talk'

Friday, 20 January 2012

James D'Arcy

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Madonna isn't "big on small talk", says James D'Arcy.

The British actor stars as Britain's King Edward VIII in the superstar's latest directorial offering W.E. James says there wasn't much time to admire Madonna, as the filming schedule was so busy.

He also revealed that the 53-year-old Queen of Pop didn't engage in much conversation beyond discussing the script.

"[The awe] is over in ten seconds. There's no time on a film set to be in awe. Once you start talking to a human being, they become a human being. They stop being a cardboard cut out or a poster or a video," he told Cover Media. "And particularly because I wasn't talking to her about her life that she is very well known for in the public arena - we were talking about this film. She's not big on small talk, Madonna, so we talked about the work we were doing.

"We did have a laugh as it happens, but we weren't chatting about the other part of her life. It obviously exists and we weren't focused on it. There is unquestionably ten seconds when you meet her and go, 'I'm standing in a room with the most famous woman in the world.' But then she's normal, so now it's me being not normal.' She starts talking about the film, and suddenly I'm back on familiar territory."

W.E. details the controversial love affair between Britain's King Edward VIII and American divorcée Wallis Simpson. The forbidden relationship led to the king abdicating the thrown in the 1930s to marry his love.

W.E. highlights what Wallis gave up to be with Edward - which James admires.

"That's the thing I liked about this film. It's a film about women, about strong women. And it's a film that is made by a strong woman, and honestly there aren't many films that are made like that. Most films are very male-centric, and so I've actually found it something of a privilege to be involved in a film that is skewed slightly different. I thought that it's important for all these different stories to be told," he explained.

"I really liked that it was a story about women."

W.E. is released in UK cinemas on January 20 2012.