Rosamund Pike on her Shape-Shifting Beauty Looks: “As an Actor, You Can Cheat Time”

At heart, Rosamund Pike is an actor’s actor. It’s hard to name just one film when she comes up in conversation. There’s her turn as the ice queen renegade Miranda Frost from Die Another Day, which she took straight after reading English Literature at Oxford University. Then: Pride and Prejudice, An Education, I Care a Lot, Jack Reacher, Saltburn, Gone Girl, and parts as far ranging as Marie Curie to the late war journalist Marie Colvin. I have a deep dislike of saying that actresses are skilled at playing “complex women”, but Pike takes that stereotype and runs with it—often landing at the knife’s edge of her characters’ humanity.

To that end, one of her defining roles is Gone Girl’s Amy Dunne, for which she earned an Oscar nomination. As Pike tells me during our conversation, it was a “layered” role, though that is an understatement. She slipped into Dunne’s psychotic mania seamlessly, moving from “Amazing Amy”, the bonafide New York rich girl with a brownstone, to a murderer who staged her death. It was the part of a lifetime, and it tells us something about Pike’s notorious work ethic.

She is a traditional actor in that sense. When she arrives on my screen to speak about her collaboration with Dior Beauty, she is warm, animated and enthusiastic. It came as a little surprise—from reading her interviews, it’s often noted that she can be discerning, and (understandably) wary when it comes to questions that pry into her personal life. And maybe it was some internalised misogyny on my part, but I wondered if questions centred soley around beauty would pique her interest. I was wrong. Pike has always used beauty as a vehicle into her characters, and as a vital storytelling device. Below, we dig into it.

Nessa Humayun: How has beauty—whether it's make-up, skincare or fragrance—helped you create narratives either on screen or in your own life?

Rosamund Pike: Well, I've had pressure lately because of the Amazon Prime series I'm in, The Wheel of Time. It's from a 14-part book series, and I'm part of a group of women known as the Aes Sedia. They have this ageless look, and obviously, "ageless" can mean so many different things to different people. For me, it's got to be about vitality and spirit. I think an ageless energy is as important as an ageless look, you know? Spirit, health, energy, and vibrancy in the skin are something you can't define, and it's something that I've always sought.

As a teenager, I was always flushed. I had very rosy cheeks, which I hated, because I'd see my friends with their even skin. So, I would cover it up with green make-up that I got from No7. Then, of course, in my later years, I've appreciated that that is vitality; it is actually the glow of youth. I've come to understand a lot more about my skin. It's fine and translucent, which means you can see the blood vessels underneath, and that's why you always see the flush.

So I protect myself in the sun always, I've worn a hat since I was, gosh, 14. You will never see me out in the sun without a hat. It's even become a meme in the show, as we were filming in the desert, and I requested hats from the costume designer. I've never had the kind of skin that you can just leave... It's delicate and it needs support.

NH: Can you remember the first time that you used beauty as a way to tell a story about yourself... Like dark ringed eyeliner because you were going through a goth phase...

RP: I remember there were these eyeshadows that you could get in Boots, by Bourjois, because someone told me that they were made by the same people who made Chanel make-up—I was about 15. And in the range, there was this green, iridescent eye-shadow, which I would wear right under the corner of my lower lash line, and blend across as a smudgy line. I thought it was cool. I went to Japan when I was in university, and my eyes are quite Asian-like in shape, so when I met Japanese make-up artists, I understood my face a lot better. That's when I mastered how to do the 50's flick—that was my signature for a long time. The trick I was told is that you never start it on the top lid; you look at the lower lash line, and use that to guide it, rather than trying to flick up from the corner of your top lash line.

NH: It takes a long time to figure out your own face.

RP: Yeah, and eyes are so expressive. When I was younger, I always felt like I needed to strengthen them and make them stronger... Do smoky eyes and put lashes on to make them bigger. I think as I've gotten older, I've started to realise that I don't have to be like everybody else; that their vulnerability is what they're about. I'm not going to have massive eyes, but I'm going to have my own thing, which is more delicate. It's cliche, really, but age has let me be myself, rather than copying trends.

NH: Have you ever used beauty as a vehicle to get into a particular character?

RP: Yes, for instance, with Elspeth in Saltburn, we used lots of mascara. Lots on both sets, and actually in my own real life, I could never wear mascara on my bottom lashes because I smile too much and too broadly. It smudges because my lower lashes are longer than my upper. But Elspeth was so controlled, she did smile, but not fully. And obviously, with Gone Girl, beauty told a huge story, as there were so many versions of Amy Dunne. There was Amy Dunne "cool girl" with her very blonde hair and very dark eyebrows. She went for the eyeliner, and everything was angular and geometric. Then, there was Amy Dunne on the run. I bleached my eyebrows, dyed my hair and took away all the tools. We also put little plumpers on my face. I wore them under my lips to hang my face, because I had to gain weight and drop it two to three times during the shooting, as Amy was hiding inside her own body.

I've also done anti-beauty, so prosthetic make-up, but I find the beauty in it. When I played Marie Curie, I went from her 20s to her at 80, and there was real beauty in her face growing older. It's not everybody's idea of it, but it is mine—there's wisdom in the experience.

NH: Was it quite confronting to see yourself with older age make-up?

RP: It's interesting, but it's not frightening, and you don't know if that's how you will end up looking. It's about working with your contours and enhancing with prosthetics, and where someone might imagine gravity taking its toll. The hard thing is, on film, you still have that light in your eye, so you have young eyes looking out from the older skin. We ended up developing contact lenses that took away some of the lustre in my eyes. As an actor, you can cheat time, playing younger and older.

NH: You've had such a long career, and you've played women in many different eras. There's Die Another Day, which was very Noughties. How is it looking back at some of those roles, and seeing how beauty has progressed in the time since?

RP: That's really interesting. With Miranda Frost, there was all this frosted eyeshadow. I mean, I was made up to the hilt in Bond. It was far more make-up that would have been used in their contemporary films. It had the effect of ageing me really, I looked 30 when I was only 21. For me, the most successful make-up looks are striking but manage to preserve someone's essence. In my twenties, I was often masked by make-up. On Die Another Day, the sort of shaggy student I was completely disappeared.

Make-up textures have changed enormously, and I think what girls have access to now is just phenomenal in terms of texture. I love the Dior Face and Body Backstage range as a foundation. I just put a little in the palms of my hands and warm it up, before pushing it into my skin on top of the Dior Capture Day Cream, which leaves a lovely dewy finish. If I feel it's too matte, I just use the old trick of pinching and bring myself back to life.

NH: If you could live in any of your character's make-up, who would it be?

RP: Well, Jane Bennett is one. I feel my skin is different if I'm ever lucky enough to be in the countryside. I also think she is such a lovely character, and her outlook on life is beautiful. That enhances someone's beauty. I’ve played a lot of characters, and they might look stunning, but if their outlook is bitter, or they’ve got an agenda, they can’t have a radiant beauty. I also loved my character in An Education. I've always adored 60's make-up, and that was just beautiful. There's an innocence to it, you know? I modelled [my character Helen] on Julie Christie in Darling, which is one of my favourite films. I've always been proud of how that film looked.

NH: Do you have any enduring beauty rituals?

RP: I always take off my make-up at the end of the day. I prefer a cream cleanser, which I'll take off with a hot compress, because I think a little stream on your face at the end of the day is great. And don't skip toner. I used to think it was a waste of money, and that it didn't matter, but it's so vital for rebalancing the pH of your skin. That's my tip—and wear a hat.

You can shop the Dior Capture Le Sérum and Day Cream, now.