Cynthia Erivo revealed that filming Prima Facie sometimes pushed her beyond her emotional limits and triggered panic attacks.
The three-time Oscar nominee took on the intense drama after years of filming and promoting the Wicked movies. Erivo said she prepared for the demanding material with help from both an intimacy coordinator and a therapist.
Cynthia Erivo reveals how filming intense scenes for Prima Facie pushed her too far and triggered panic attacks
In Prima Facie, Erivo plays Tessa, a successful London barrister who defends men accused of sexual assault. Her understanding of the legal system changes after her colleague and boyfriend Julian, played by Daniel Ings, assaults her.
The story required Erivo to portray both the assault and its emotional aftermath in considerable detail.
Erivo worked closely with intimacy coordinator Lizzy Talbot to establish boundaries and determine how the production would approach the most difficult scenes.
“It really was about where my limit was, how far it goes — and if we get lost, how to get back into the room,” Erivo explained to The Hollywood Reporter.
Despite those preparations, the emotional demands sometimes overwhelmed her.
“There were moments where we would slip, where it would go too far for me,” she said. “I would go too far and it would be hard to come back — there were moments of having little panic attacks, where I’d get way too emotional. But Lizzy was right there.”
The courtroom sequences also placed significant pressure on Erivo. Some takes lasted more than 30 minutes as she performed Tessa’s cross-examination from beginning to end.
“There were times when I’d feel sick and angry or I’d feel betrayed,” Erivo recalled. “I’d look into the box and [Julian] would be there and it was hard, really, really hard…. And it was hard to come away from that sometimes.”
The Cynthia Erivo post-Wicked role also gave the actress a sharp change from playing Elphaba.
Erivo said she prefers moving between dramatically different characters rather than repeating the same kind of performance.
“They’re polar opposites, but I think that’s kind of how I like it,” she said.
Director Susanna White adapted Suzie Miller’s stage play for the screen and expanded Tessa’s world beyond the original one-woman production.
Erivo also served as an executive producer on the film. She approached the emotionally difficult material by pushing the performance as far as she could while maintaining a strong support system around her.
