One thing is for certain. There is a lot of running and make believe fighting in the Hunger Games movies. How did Natalie Dormer, who plays Cressida in the upcoming The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, get herself fit enough to play the physically demanding role? She trained for and completed a marathon. Yes, that’s 26.2 miles in case you didn’t already know.
Dormer ran the London Marathon last April, and it clearly helped her prepare for the physical nature of playing a role where characters are literally fighting for their lives. “When we were shooting, we shot the two movies back to back, Mockingjay – Part 1 and Mockingjay – Part 2, and so we were nine months shooting and I was training for the London Marathon at the time, so that really helped, because a semi-automatic rifle is quite heavy,” Dormer said. “But I’m quite physical and I really enjoyed the cardio demands. It’s more in the second movie than the first, I’m more with the camera.”
Dormer is also known for her roles on cable television. She played the ill-fated Anne Boleyn on The Tudors, which aired on Showtime. Additionally, the 32-year-old actress currently plays Margaery Tyrell in HBO’s epic fantasy Game of Thrones, which just completed filming Season Five. In the show, Tyrell is the widow of the evil King Joffrey. However, she is hoping to connive her way back to Queendom by seducing Joffrey’s younger brother King Tommen, who is the presumptive heir to the Iron Throne.
Here’s Dormer chatting with Conan about how she would prefer her character Margaery to bite the bullet on Game of Thrones.
It looks like the English actress will be busy for the next year or two. She currently has three films in pre-production: Patient Zero, The Girl Who Invented Kissing, and The Forest.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 opens nationwide in theaters on Thursday. Mockingjay – Part 2 is currently in post-production and is slated for a November 2015 release.