Aimee Lou Wood on her special friendship with co-star Bill Nighy in Living; navigating tragic scenes; and how she’d spend her last day on earth

I love the idea of Margaret being generally aspirational in how she lives her life, not just in her career. Do you feel like you’ll be taking some of those lessons into your career, though? 

I’ve got a thoughtful, critical brain when it comes to making decisions, and I definitely tried to take some of that Margaret energy with me from the film in terms of going with my gut. For instance, when I get a script, thinking, “I’m going to do it”, rather than “I’m scared”, or considering why I shouldn’t do it – which I think Margaret’s very good at. She’s in her experiences rather than thinking about how she will be perceived. Like Mr Williams says, “I wasn’t totally sure that your attitude was right”. But she’s got that rebellious streak, and it’s great. It makes her into a bit of a maverick.

I’m actually reading Alan Rickman’s diaries [Madly, Deeply: The Diaries of Alan Rickman] at the moment. And one of the things he talks about a lot is the fact that he thinks he said “No” too often to jobs, and then he sees the films that he said no to come out, and he goes, “Oh shit.” A lot of the time, it’s great to have that ownership. But sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and do things that are outside of your comfort zone – and, if it fails, so what? So I’m trying to be a bit more like that.

That’s so interesting that you’re now reading Alan Rickman’s book as well, as his experience leading up to his death almost mirrors the film [Alan was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2015, which he kept secret until his death in 2016].

Yes – there’s a lot of mirroring in the lessons that I learn from the film, and I’m kind of relearning them by reading Alan Rickman’s book because he had such a full life. He really saw people – even the child actors he worked with, he really saw them as their own people. He hasn’t got that adult thing, where he sees children as just children, and that’s it. He’s got that endlessly curious, open notion of “we can learn so much from these kids.” I find it incredibly inspiring how much he notices people and the small things, and that’s kind of what Living is about too.

That brings us back to the film, and one of its central themes: intergenerational friendships. I think it’s a really beautiful thing, seeing this purely platonic, intergenerational friendship between this older man and younger woman. It’s a celebration of youth, and of reverse mentorship, in a way.

It’s so true that people can dismiss young people, you know, they can overlook young people and not really think that they have any wisdom to impart. What I love about Mr Williams is that he says, “No, she has the answers, and I need to listen to her.” That’s a wonderful attribute in a person: to be open and listen. You can always learn from people. Curiosity is the most important thing in life. If you are thinking that you’re a finished product – that you’re done and no one can teach you anything – then you’re gonna have a miserable life. I love having friendships with older people – whenever I’m in a play, for instance, it will always be the oldest person in the cast that I make best friends with. So I really related to that aspect of Margaret. I actually feel a lot more relaxed being with older people than people my age.