It’s a no-brainer that Elizabeth Debicki’s star is on the rise. She’s impressive in person; improbably tall, quietly thoughtful and strikingly beautiful.
But she’s quite unlike her contemporaries. The Australian actor exudes a rare, graceful charm that harks back to Hollywood’s golden age; something that has been evident on screen since her breakout role as Jordan Baker in Baz Luhrmann’s take on The Great Gatsby.
Not that being nominated as hot, young talent has gone to her head. When Debicki walked across a Sydney hotel foyer to introduce herself last week, there are no airs or graces. We seek out a quiet spot, as the area is suddenly crammed full of conference attendees, and she strides confidently into a private dining area while narrating the scene, a la David Attenborough.
“Here are the conference goers in their native habitat,” Debicki says in the manner of the naturalist, before adding in her own voice that she’s used to being an observer of people with more conventional careers. “It’s the story of my life, I’m always like, ‘oh, people have nine-to-five jobs, they’re functional’.”
As testament to her peripatetic lifestyle, Debicki has just arrived on local shores from US city Atlanta, where she’s in the middle of filming the sequel to the Guardians of the Galaxy. Her inclusion in the cast means if she’s not well known to mainstream audiences yet, she will be when the film is released next year.
She’s tight-lipped about her role in the blockbuster, but her excitement about stepping into the Marvel universe is palpable. “It’s fantastic. I love it but I can’t tell you anything; it’s completely in the vault,” she says.
She’s in Australia, however, to talk about the BBC drama The Night Manager. After working on location in Spain, Morocco, Switzerland and England for the John le Carre adaptation, she wrapped filming midway through last year and the thriller is about to debut on local screens.
It’s already been a critical and ratings success in the UK, but for Debicki the real joy came from showing up to work with co-stars Hugh Laurie, Olivia Coleman and Tom Hiddleston — a roll call of some of Britain’s best acting talent.
“When you work with people you really admire that you’ve never met before, you feel like the new kid at school,” she says, adding that she was especially starstruck by Hugh Laurie. “I’m a huge fan of his work. From Blackadder, really, but he was extraordinary in House, too. I’m also a fan of his music and he’s written a book. He’s disgustingly overachieving.”
When talking about the show’s reception in the UK, Debicki demonstrates more of her old-school charm. She’s not active on social media, and professes ignorance of the rapturous reception on Twitter to the recent airing of a sex scene with co-star Tom Hiddleston.
“I don’t read about any of it,” she says. “Someone told me about someone who’d written about ‘Tom Hiddleston’s peachy backside’. First of all I died laughing, and secondly, I don’t remember that.
“Those scenes are so strange to shoot, and with people responding so viscerally to it I’m pleased, in a roundabout way, because I guess it means they’re following the character’s journeys.”
And with that, her minders let us know that our time is up. In the photoshoot that follows, Debicki causes a muted commotion as she poses in the hotel foyer, and conference goers stare as they clutch their ratty computer bags. They might not know her name for now, but it’s obvious she’s a star. And in the not-too distant future, they’ll know exactly who Elizabeth Debicki is.
THE NIGHT MANAGER STARTS TONIGHT at 8.30PM ON FOXTEL’S BBC FIRST
