I only started to watch the series Sherlock Holmes, because I read that Louise Brealey would be attending FACTS convention. I always thought that Sherlock wouldn't be my cup of tea. I've never seen one of the Sherlock Holmes movies, so it was completely new to me! And I must admit: I loved it from the start! Great storylines, awesome actors. Louise Brealy plays the lovely role of Molly Hooper and she does a great job! Ofcourse I was very excited to be able to meet her at FACTS convention. I always liked the whole Sherlock Holmes thing. I love the older movies,but also the new ones with Robert Downey Jr. (in my opinion one of the most talented and most underrated actors of the last decades). So Sherlock was on my watch list for a long time, but somehow I never got to it. Needless to say that I was glad that FACTS gave me the final nudge in the right direction (Thanks!). And yes, I love it! Benedict Cumberbatch is brilliant as Sherlock Holmes, as is Martin Freeman as Watson. And then there is Louise Brealey as Dr. Molly Hooper. She is a pathologist at St. Barts Hospital and has a big crush on Sherlock. I love this charachter, she is absolutely endearing.
Louise made a big impression as from the first moment we saw her. She laughed out loud and talked with the people at her table. She had so much fun in being there. Even if I wouldn't have known her, I would have loved to see her Q&A, just for who she is. The first part of her Q&A, I was sitting there on my own, because Liv was at her Richard Dean Anderson photo op. I can promise you this: it wasn't a Q&A to get bored. Louise had so much fun: it was very catching. She's very spontaneous, laughs a lot and is a bit chaotic. At first she did remind me of Molly Hooper. Her way of moving and laughing. But soon I noticed she's very different: More confident, self-conscious and zappy.
Q&A Louise Brealy
It was fun to listen to her talk. It didn't sound rehearsed or repetitive. She seemed rather surprised sometimes by her own answers. Followed by giggle. It was impossible not to like her. She's very open too. Telling a lot about herself, not only telling the pretty and glamorous parts. She would answer the questions seriously, but also saw the fun in everything. Laughing when she went on too long and her story wasn't about the original question anymore. But no one cared: Every word was interesting. Liv joined during the Q&A. And I immediately loved it...I had a big smile on my face already, because of my photo op with Richard Dean Anderson. But when I joined Louise's Q&A my smile got bigger and bigger. I loved the way she interacted with the people in the audience and the whole atmosphere in the room. It was like listening to an old friend. She talked about her acting, but also about her writing for movie magazines, like Empire and Total Film. She told about how she got into film journalism to be close to the job she really wanted, which was acting. When asked what shows she would like to play in and if she would like to play in Dr. Who she answered:
"I grew up with Dr. Hue..Dr. Hue? Who is that? Hmmm...I could have
got away with that as well, because I could have pretended that's
how I pronounce it...but I've blown it now. Anyway, Dr. Hue
would be marvellous, that well known international tv show.
Uh...I don't know, I mean God I just want to do interesting
work with nice people. I don't want to work with people who are
dicks, because life's just to short. So that's my main sort of filter.
Uhm well I don't know, I mean I like stage. I've been on stage
for a year, doing two different plays in the UK and that's where
my heart is, so I wanna do a lot more of that. But also...
I don't know...just good writing., good writing. And uhm a
different colour hair I like as well. I particularly like it when I get
to be a different colour hair, cause that's your character... sorted.
Or an accent I like doing accents...I've just been doing Derbyshire,
which is quite a peculiar English accent, for seven months. And now
unfortunately I can never do another accent at all, because I've forgotten how to
do them all"
She also talked about how she loves Game of Thrones. And about where she would go to if she had a submarine (that was a question being asked):
"My favourite thing in the whole world is snorkeling. I've never done
diving, because I'm afraid of the creatures that go deep. But I love
to just look at them, from the top. And even if it's like that much water and there
is hardly anything down, I'm upset because it messes with your perspective. 'Cause
you can imagine, that you're like Gulliver and there are all just like tiny trees,
when it's just seaweed....Anyway, where would I go uhmm...Well the deep, deep
deep is amazing. You know you'll have seen those animal programs, where they go
really deep. And they're so weird, those creatures...weird. Like proper aliens,
so I'd like to have a look at those bad boys, down there..deep, deep under
the sea.."
At the end of the Q&A I knew two things for sure: I had to see her second Q&A and I wanted to meet her in person...
After day 1, we decided to buy a photo op for day 2. On sunday, we directly bought it, to be sure we wouldn't miss it. Before the photo op, we attended Louise's 2nd Q&A. She started her Q&A by talking about her evening in Ghent and about a little green alcoholic drink she tried, which gave her quite a hangover. That was really funny.. I had read somewhere that Louise studied history for a while and I've always had an interest in history too. So I wanted to ask her wich historical figure she would want be and I did:
"Aaah that's such a good one...what would you be? Who would you be?
She says, buying for time obviously.....
(Normally I would always have my answer ready for this question, because I've always
had a special interest in Columbus and in the old Roman times and I love Leonardo DaVinci and
Vincent van Gogh, but as always my mind blanked, haha. I had been repeating the question in
my head over and over again, so I hadn't thought about what I would answer).
I'm not thinking I am just looking at you, I'm sorry...
God...you know the thing is there's loads of amazing women in history, but women
generally have quite a shit time. They're being completely ignored or killed...I mean
they're all dead because it's some time ago...I don't know...oh God I can't
think of anyone...I can only think of like....I'm losing it by the minute...
The guy who's presenting the Q&A points out Joan of Arc....Well yeah, but she had
rather a sticky end, didn't she? I'm not sure I would like to be burnt at
the stake. I'd like to play Joan of Arc, that's just amazing. Have you seen
the Falconetti one, you know the really old black&white one? Oh my
God it's incredible. It's just basically loads of close ups of her amazing
face. I have not answered that, I'm gonna have a think. I mean...
someone like really...cool. Elizabeth the First maybe, I think she was pretty
amazing. But if you've got anyone better, that would be brilliant. I will
think of something, in case I get to answer that again. And I'll be really funny
and interesting...Thank you!"
She also talked about how she got the part of Molly in Sherlock and how she was pretty relaxed going to the audition, because it was a little part and how she was quite cool with it:
"Had I known how massive the show was gonna be
and how much it would change my life and everything
about my career I would have been very nervous..but as it was
I was like Yeahh...the lipstick and the coffee thing and it was
all fine, but then ofcourse it grew and grew..."
Then she talked about how she had to get on the train that evening, because she had the read through for season 4 of Sherlock the next morning and about the fact that she had the script for epsiode one on her phone for two days, but still hadn't read it through. So she had to read it on the train back to the UK. Someone asked why she thinks Molly broke it off with Jim (Moriarty), she started laughing and said:
"I noticed what went through my head, which I won't be sharing with you..
Uhm, wasn't he allergic to cats or something? I don't know..I feel
funny talking about Andrew in those terms, because he's such a buddy.
I don't think of him like that. He's just the nicest man in the world.
Have you met him? Isn't he the nicest man in the world? How is he so
nice? He's just lovely.."
When she talked about her journalism, she told about her fear of acting. She always wanted to act but she was too scared of failure to try. But then she just tried it, because she was afraid she was gonna regret it for the rest of her life if she didn't:
"As long as you try, it's not a failure because you've given
it a shot."
She also talked about writing a non fiction book and how's she loves the combination of acting and writing...After the Q&A I was siked about meeting her.
Photo op Louise Brealy
This was a chance we couldn't miss! The queue for the photo op wasn't that long, but we had a while for Louise to arrive. Which was fine because we just kept on talking to each other. Then, she arrived! Let the photo making begin! Something happened in line which gave us the giggles. Watching Louise's pictures was as much fun: She was very enthousiastic and energetic. Making all kinds of poses. I saw two girls carrying her on the photo and another girl with wings who was trying all sorts of poses. Louise was very positive and relaxed. Also the FACTS crew was relaxed, allowing to check if you pose was fine. (You could see the picture on a screen directly, which was awesome!). She was so relaxed and that made me feel relaxed too. She even took her time to have a talk with us after the shoot. She still didn't know the answer to my question, but still thought Elizabeth the First was the best option at that moment. She was absolutely adorable. It was a real pleasure to meet Louise Brealey and in my opnion she is one of the nicest persons I've ever met in my life!
Cheerio!
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