ALISON BOSHOFF: Lesley Manville lands role as ‘bone-chilling’ villain in new £210 million spy series Citadel
Lesley Manville is playing wildly against type as a chilling villain in the hotly anticipated mega-budget new spy series Citadel.
She plays British ambassador Dahlia Archer with a ladylike but distinct menace — and Bodyguard star Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas are the elite spies who are caught in her web.
Showrunner David Weil says: ‘She’s the villain of the story, but as all the best villains are, she’s the heroine of her own story.
‘So we needed an actor who could achieve both: to be both bone-chilling and elegant.’
The show has been created by the Russo brothers — behind the Avengers movies — and is said to have come in at $250 million (£210 million) for seven episodes — $90 million more than the initial budget.
One to watch: Lesley Manville is playing wildly against type as a chilling villain in the hotly anticipated mega-budget new spy series Citadel
Word is that Jennifer Salke, the head of Amazon Studios, did not care for what she saw at first.
A new executive was brought in to rewrite, and a new director to take care of reshoots.
Its subsidiary, Prime Video, who made the most expensive TV show ever in The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power, is praying for a hit when it streams in April.
It has been conceived as a global TV series with a main show plus offshoots. It has so far seeded spin-offs in India and Italy.
Manville recently spoke about her successful life on stage and screen – saying she owes it all to the sudden collapse of her marriage.
She was married to fellow star Gary Oldman, who walked out on her when their son Alfie was just three months old.
But the Oscar-nominated actress told Desert Island Discs’ Lauren Laverne that becoming a single parent made her more determined to pursue her own acting dreams.
She explained: ‘I had always imagined being married to Gary for a long time.’
Pricey: The show is said to have come in at $250 million (£210 million) for seven episodes — $90 million more than the initial budget
‘We were having the most amazing time together and we loved each other. We got married. I got pregnant on my honeymoon. We were having the best time, but then the rug was very severely pulled from under my feet.’
Manville and Oldman met in 1984, married three years later and divorced in 1990 – the same year he wed Pulp Fiction star Uma Thurman.
Manville says: ‘I thought we’d be together for ever – we’d have a big family. But maybe if that had have happened, maybe I wouldn’t have the career I’ve got now.’
She says of the split: ‘I wasn’t going to fall apart. There was absolutely no question about it for me. I was going to carry on working. And I was also going to be the most brilliant mother. Somehow, I did it. It made me incredibly disciplined about my work.’
Exes: Manville recently spoke about her successful life on stage and screen – saying she owes it all to the sudden collapse of her marriage to Gary Oldman (pictured in 1985)
